The Cauldron of the Titans: Quotations from Clement of Alexandria in the Letters of Grigor Magistros Pahlawuni (990–1058)

This paper examines the prominence of Clement of Alexandria’s Protrepticus in Magistros’s Letters, revealing interesting and hitherto unexplored parallels and tendencies. By drawing on Gohar Muradyan’s recent study, Alpi discusses in detail how Magistros integrates in his writing references of varying length from Clement’s work, categorising them as “long quotations (with occasional abridgements), short quotations, and allusions (or hints)”. The allusions and direct quotes’ main purpose is “the embellishment of the letter in accordance with the stylistic rules of Byzantine—and late-antique—epistolography”: they are clever and entertaining, displaying Magistros’s erudition and shrewdness. While providing some insightful answers, this paper also poses a number of other questions which is indicative of the wealth of the legacy left by Magistros.