description
Over forty years have passed since Henry Maguire laid the foundationsfor approaching and critically assessing ekphraseis of works of art ingeneral, and of the account of Nicholas Mesarites in particular, by definingthe methodology of studying this genre of Byzantine rhetoric.' A basicmethodological point that makes Maguire's work classic is that both textand image must be studied with great care in order to reveal whether anekphrasis is truly valuable for understanding the iconography describedor is merely a textual elaboration with literary conventions and rhetoricaltechniques. Several studies that have appeared on the subject in the interimhave not carried Maguire's conclusions further.