"Earthly Ambitions and Otherworldly Hopes in Twelfth-Century Constantinople: Nicholas Kallikles’ Funerary Epigrams for the Komnenian Elite"

In medieval Byzantium, death and expectations regarding the afterlife were significant concerns for individuals and communities. This chapter analyses twelfth-century funerary epigrams by Nicholas Kallikles, which reveal the beliefs, values and behaviours of the Komnenian aristocracy. Epitaphs for aristocratic couples illuminate relationships between spouses, and parents and children, highlighting social hierarchies and emotional ties. While these texts express a pursuit of spiritual salvation and concerns for lineage, the experiences of hope vary according to gender, age and social status. By disentangling the polyphony of voices and levels of agency within these texts, this chapter elucidates how individual and familial expectations converged and how literature served as a tool to achieve hoped for ends.