Cultura religiosa ed ἔξωθεν σοφία negli scritti parenetici bizantini

The Byzantine specula principum reveal familiarity with of the ancient and late antique gnomological and parenetic traditions, along with exempla drawn from Holy Scripture and religious literature. It goes without saying that the culture they extol is primarily religious, even though mastery of rhetoric—acquired in the schools of Byzantium—is a central element for both the authors and the intended recipients of this type of writing. When these works, which belong to different contexts and periods, are compared diachronically, common elements emerge that point to continuity: in the parenetic writings there is no rejection of pagan and classical wisdom, nor of the rhetoric learned from the works of the ancients (both manuals and Isocratean logoi), but this culture is always subservient to the superior paideia inspired by religion, since the wisdom books of Holy Scriptures offered a perfect model to imitate in outlining the virtues of rulers in the Christian Empire.