Literature for Hard Times: Palaiologan Apocalyptic between Tradition and Innovation

This essay takes into consideration the apocalyptic literature produced in Byzantium from the 13th century onwards: an epoch of cultural revival, but also of social instability, political unrest, and fear of enemies threatening the Empire from East and West. The latter was precisely one of the causes of the vitality of the genre. Newly produced prophecies and narratives on the imminent end of the world mainly consisted in adaptations of older apocalypses and oracular units: in most cases, this makes it difficult to date and contextualize these sources. Another problem for (s)he who wants to study this production is the poor reliability of available editions, as well as a lack of adequate commentaries.