Πτωχολέων [Ptocholeon]

Ptocholeon (a word characterizing the protagonist, but only found in one of the manuscripts) is an anonymous folk poem, composed in non-rhyming, trochaic octameter, rarely used in the late Middle Ages. None of the numerous variations of this poem in Greek was printed before the second half of the 19th century, though the poem had a significant manuscript tradition until the third quarter of the 18th century.

It is the philosophical/instructive (but with a focus on adventure) and humorously bold story of a wise old appraiser who unexpectedly, but in an infallible and demystifying fashion, discovers the trashy behind the deceptive front of flamboyant/impressive objects, animals and people. Ptocholeon seem to hold a quite prestigious position in the international context of similar stories, ranging from the pre-Christian parables of Buddhism in Asia and the later oral narratives of the Middle and Far East to the ‘modernist/novelistic’ stories or anecdotes of the Scandinavian North and the Iberian and Italian West.