The study "The Origins of Rhythm" offers a new approach to the field of Byzantine metrics by expanding the fundamental poetic rules on which the metric system of the Byzantines is based: isosyllabism, the arrangement of tone, and the structure according to cola.

It provides a general overview of the origins and evolution of various tonal measures, including the political verse, between approximately the years 400 and 1000 AD, and also offers new insights into the history of certain Byzantine literary genres, such as monodies, penitential and exhortative alphabets, hymns, praises, and satirical songs.

Small in size but rich in content, the book is aimed at a wide range of readers, particularly musicologists, metrics theorists, historians, and philologists interested in the poetry of late antiquity and the medieval period.