The Historians' History of the World 06

Michael Ducas, the historian, lived during the latter part of the fifteenth century. His history embraces the period from 1391 A.D. to the capture of Lesbos in 1462, and is valuable for judicious, prudent, and impartial statement of facts. He wrote however, in most barbarous Greek, using quite a number of foreign phrases, and being seemingly unacquainted with the Greek classics.

Easter Chronicle, Ἐπιτομὴ χρόνων τῶν ἀπο Ἀδὰμ τοῦ προτοπλάστου ἀνθρώπου ἕως κ’ ἔτους τῆς βασιλείας Ἡρακλείου τοῦ εὐσεβεστάτου καὶ μετὰ ὑπατείαν ἔτους ιθ’ καὶ ιη’ ἔτους τῆς βασιλείας Ἡρακλείου νέου Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ αὑτοῦ υἱοῦ ἱνδικτίωνος γ’ (Chronicon Paschale), edited by M. Raderi, Munich, 1615.

This is a comprehensive chronological table extending originally from the Creation to 629 A.D. It gets its name from the computation of the Easter canon upon which Christian chronology is based. After Eusebius and Syncellus it is the most important and influential production of Græco-Christian chronography. The compiler of the chronicle, which is largely put together out of earlier works, was a contemporary of the emperor Heraclius (610-641). The text, as it has been preserved, breaks off at 627 A.D.

Ephræm of Constantinople

, Ἐφραιμίου χρονικοῦ Καίσαρες, edited by Angelo Mai, in his Scriptorum veterum nova collectio, Rome, 1828.

Ephræm wrote a chronicle in iambic verse, giving Roman-Byzantine history from Julius Cæsar to the reconquest of Constantinople in 1261.

Eunapius, Μετά Δέξιππον χρονική ἱστορία, edited by D. Hoeschel, Augsburg, 1603; by A. Mai, in his Scriptorum veterum nova collectio, Rome, 1828.

Eunapius was born at Sardis in 347 A.D. He wrote a continuation of Dexippus, but most of the work is lost. Eunapius exhibits pagan sympathies, admires Julian, and gives a deal of information on the manners and customs of his age, the period covered being 270-404.

Eustathius of Epiphaneia, Χρονική ἐπιτομή, fragments preserved in the Bonn “Corpus.”

Eustathius

lived in the reign of Anastasius (491-521). His history of the world, to 502 A.D., is known only through the portions preserved by Evagrius.

Genesius, Josephus, Βασιλειῶν Βιβλία Δ.

Genesius lived in the middle of the tenth century, and wrote his Greek history by the order of the emperor Constantine VII, Porphyrogenitus, whose literary activities have just been mentioned. His work comprises the histories of Leo V, 813-820, Michael II, 820-829, Theophilus, 829-842, Michael III, 842-867, and Basilius I Macedon, 867-886. The work was first printed in the Venice “corpus.”

Georgius Monachus, Βίοι τῶν Βασιλέων, edited by G. A. Fabricius in volume VII of his Bibliotheca Græca, Hamburg, 1705-1728, 14 vols.

Georgius Monachus

(George the Monk), probably lived in the tenth century, and compiled a chronicle which comprehends the period from 813 to 948 A.D., being a continuation of Theophanes Isaurus.

Georgius Syncellus, Ἐκλογὴ Χρονογραφίας συνταγεῖσα ὑπὸ Γεωργίου Μοναχοῦ Συγκέλλου γεγονότος Ταρασίου Πατριάρχου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως ἀπὸ Ἀδὰμ μέχρι Διολητιανοῦ, first printed in the Bonn “Corpus.”

George Syncellus, Albas or Monachus, lived in the eighth and ninth centuries, and gained his epithet as being the personal attendant or syncellus of the patriarch Tarsasius, who died in 806. His chronicle extends from Adam to Diocletian, but was intended to proceed to 800 A.D., Theophanes of Isaurus actually continuing it to 811. The chronicle of Syncellus is, together with Eusebius, the most important work for a knowledge of Christian chronography.

Glycas, Michael, Βίβλος χρονική (Annales), edited by J. Meurius, Theodori Metochitæ, Historiæ Romanæ, etc., Leyden, 1618; Latin translation by Leunclavius, Basel, 1572.

Michael Glycas

was born either at Constantinople or in Sicily, but nothing is certain about his personality or period. His Annals, from the Creation, go down to the year 1118, so that he must have lived after that date. He writes clearly and concisely, and displays a knowledge of foreign languages. Meurius, in his edition, erroneously ascribed the book to Theodorus Metochita.

Gregoras Nicephorus, Ῥωμαϊκὴ ἱστορία, edited by H. Wolf, with a Latin translation, Basel, 1562.

Gregoras (1295-1359) led a life of literary activity which covered nearly all fields of Byzantine learning. His history is a continuation of the work of Pachymeres, and commences with the capture of Constantinople by the Latins in 1204 and goes down to 1359.

Hankius, Martin, De Byzantinarum rerum scriptoribus Græcis, Leipsic, 1677.—Hesychius of Miletus, Opuscula, edited by Junius, with a Latin version, Antwerp, 1572; by Meursius, Leyden, 1613; by J. C. Orellius, Leipsic, 1820.