/lit/ - Literature

>>22450929
I just asked questions of classmates and lecturers rather than reveal power level. Though it would have been pretty funny if I vocally advocated in class for a Byzantine-style monarchy with all of its social mores

>>22299150
I trust your judgement and will add Petersburg to the list! And yes I'm more than happy to read things that are outside of my worldview but obviously I'll inevitably be reading through a Christian lens which is how I approached Beckett anyway. I forgot to add that Shakespeare is also a favourite playwright of mine. I probably connected with Hamlet a little too much as a character when I first read the play.

As for Byzantine literature, I mostly read theology and as I understand, the Byzantines didn't write many plays and what not. Nevertheless, they liked satires such as Timarion by Lucian of Samosata where the protagonist goes to a Hades run by pagans. If you're after non-fiction there's also Synesius' speech "On Monarchy" where he seeks to advise Emperor Arcadius.

The Byzantines loved their histories and chronologies (autism I presume). You might be interested to know that Anna Komnene, the daughter of Alexios I, wrote an extended history of her father's reign called the "Alexiad" which is pretty unique.

If you're after a modern history of the Byzantine Empire you can't go past Warren Treadgold's tome.