The paper focuses on John Tzetzes (ca. 1110-after 1166), a well-known teacher and
scholar of the Komnenian era, with the aim of examining two issues. On the one hand,
Tzetzes’ opinions about the teaching practice of schedography are collected and
analysed, while, on the other, his opinions about everyday language and its possible uses
are scrutinised through a close reading of many different passages from his works. In
particular, the long epilogue of his Theogony (with its three parts united for the first time
on the printed page), written for the sebastokratorissa Eirene around the middle of the
Twelfth Century, is discussed in detail as a unique source of debate on what is the appropriate
way of addressing and writing for audiences of different social and educational
status. The analysis and interpretation of the texts demonstrates that the “idiosyncratic”
personality Tzetzes shows in his writings is not a purely personal matter, but is strongly
related to the competitive environment of the capital and to Tzetzes’ “middle-class” position
in the Constantinopolitan society. The paper also demonstrates that the boundaries
of usage between “learned” and “colloquial” discourse are quite fluid and this fluidity
can be used in certain contexts to the advantage of a teacher in promoting his status
and financial success, or to his disadvantage if he has to defend his choices against a rival.
The paper ends with a broader analysis of the term oijkonomiva used by Tzetzes in the
Theogony epilogue and of the meaning of this term within the system of literary patronage
under the Komnenoi
