The so-called Byzantine 鈥�Palaea Historica鈥� is a text that functioned in the literature and culture of the Byzantine-Slavic commonwealth. As a collection of stories on 鈥�Old Testament鈥� themes, which are basically of biblical origin, it preserves some pre-Christian narrations coming from the Hebrew tradition, as well as some Early Christian apocrypha. Moreover, it represents different interpretations of the Bible. An important component of the 鈥�Palaea Historica鈥� are the poetic fragments 鈥� excerpts from the 鈥�Book of Psalms鈥� and from some liturgical poetry by St. John of Damascus, St. Cosmas of Maiuma, and St. Andrew of Crete. Although firstly thought to be a part of a bigger whole, the edition of the source text accepted the form of an independent title. In this volume, the presented critical edition of the second Slavonic translation of the 鈥�Palaea Historica鈥� is preceded by an introduction, which discusses the origins and characteristics of the literary relic as well as the history of its reception amongst the Slavs.
