The Acritic songs (Greek: Ακριτικά τραγούδια — frontiersmen songs) are the heroic or epic poetry that emerged in the Byzantine Empire probably in the 9th century. The songs celebrated the exploits of the Akrites, the frontier guards defending the eastern borders of the Byzantine Empire. The historical background was the almost continuous Byzantine-Arab conflict between the 7th and 12th centuries. Against this background several romances were produced, the most famous of which is that of Digenis Acritas, considered by some to signal the beginnings of modern Greek literature.
Read more about Acritic Songs: Subject, Origins, Background, Poems, Legacy
Famous quotes containing the word songs:
“When we were at school we were taught to sing the songs of the Europeans. How many of us were taught the songs of the Wanyamwezi or of the Wahehe? Many of us have learnt to dance the rumba, or the cha cha, to rock and roll and to twist and even to dance the waltz and foxtrot. But how many of us can dance, or have even heard of the gombe sugu, the mangala, nyang’umumi, kiduo, or lele mama?”
—Julius K. Nyerere (b. 1922)