Modelli di tradizione politica bizantina nei carmi di Eugenio da Palermo

Among Eugenios of Palermo’s poems, we will examine poem XXI, which follows the model of the treatises On Kingship, and poem XXIV, composed instead according to the characteristics of an encomium. Poem XXI revisits the typical concepts of Byzantine political theory, as it is possible to find in the sixth-century treatise On Political Science and in the so-called Fürstenspiegel, from Agapetus Diaconus onwards. There is no contradiction with Eugenios’ poem XXIV (whether it was addressed to the Norman King William I or to his son William II). In fact, they represent two different perspectives and types of writings: poem XXI is a short treatise that reflects on the theme of kingship, while the other is a eulogy of the sovereign.