SOURCE: Jeffreys, Michael J. “Digenis Akritas and Kommagene.” In Popular Literature in Late Byzantium, edited by E. M. and M. J. Jeffreys, pp. 5-28. London: Variorum Reprints, 1983.

In the following essay, Jeffreys discusses the origins of Digenes Akritas and examines some of the variations between its various existing manuscripts.

Few byzantine texts offer more interest to a wider variety of scholars than Digenis Akritas. It provides material for literary historians at different levels of Greek, for students of traditional literature, for specialists in Arabic, Armenian and Russian studies, for codicologists and art-historians as well as for the general student of byzantine history, culture and society. There is an attractive edition accompanied by an English version,¹ and other independent translations²—though the original will not be very difficult for those with a good knowledge of the Greek of any period. The scholarly bibliography has reached several hundred items in...