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Byzantine descriptions of hunting appear either as independent ekphraseis adopting the form of progymnasmata, poems or letters, or as descriptive episodes within larger narrative texts of historiography, hagiography, romance or didactic poetry. All these different forms and uses turn descriptions of hunting into a broader reflection on Byzantine literature and its way of conceiving and representing man, beast and nature. Here we will deal with autonomous and semi-autonomous ekphraseis and some other descriptions characteristic of the way in which hunting metamorphoses into a literary motif. In order to avoid a merely generic categorization, we offer a discussion based on three social and ideological functions of hunting: first, the ‘ordinary’ hunt; second, the heroic-‘imperial’ hunt; and third, the sportive-‘aristocratic’ hunt. The first category spans the entire Byzantine period, while the other two belong to specific historical periods.

This essay reconsiders the idea of literary spatiality in Byzantine texts in light of recent developments in Spatial Studies, influenced primarily by cultural geography. By drawing attention to the narratological and cognitive functions of literary space, the author wishes to bring out the complementary differences in approach and theoretical perspective. Some of the conspicuous features of Digenes Akrites are used as examples of how spatial form functions and how two scholars are currently offering contrasting but interrelated analyses.