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Periegesis or Hodoeporikon? Genological Aspects of Late Antique Descriptions of Pilgrimages to the Holy Land
Abstract
Descriptions of journeys in antiquity resisted strict genre categorisation. In the sixth century BCE, the periplus and periegesis emerged. Hodoeporikon, a description of a journey and its Latin equivalents: the iter, itinerarium, or satire (satura), appeared not much later. The genological classification of late antique descriptions of pilgrimages to the Holy Land also presents a challenge to researchers. The oldest Itinerarium Egeriae, dating to the 4th century, and the anonymous Itinerarium Burdigalense, as well as the Itinerarium of Anonymous of Piacenza, composed two centuries later, are the most representative examples of works of this type. This article attempts to answer the question of whether these texts are a variant of the classical hodoeporikon, or whether, due to their greater focus on the visited places, they should be considered a specific type of periegesis. Do their distinctive features necessitate the recognition of a new literary genre centred on travel, exceeding the frameworks of existing genres?
Keywords:
literary studies, classical philology, genology, patrology, pilgrimage, tourism, Latin language, Holy LandDetails
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