The Historians' History of the World 06

Hesychius, called the Illustrious, was born at Miletus, and lived in the times of the emperors Anastasius I, Justin I, and Justinian II. Accounts of his personality are vague, but he is known to be the author of the following works: Ἱστορία Ῥωμαϊκή τε καὶ παντοδαπή, or Χρονικὴ ἱστορία, a synopsis of world history, from the time of Belus, the alleged founder of the Assyrian Empire (1402 B.C.), to the death of Anastasius I in 518; Ὀνοματολόγος ἢ πίναξ τῶν ἐν παιδείᾳ ὀνομαστῶν, which comprises biographies of Hellenic writers, but of which only fragments were preserved; Πάτρια Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, a book on the primitive history of the city of Byzantium which originally formed part of his history.

Joannes VI, Cantacuzenus

, Ἱστοριῶν βιβλία Δ, published by Gretserus, with a Latin translation by Jacob Pontanus, Ingolstadt, 1603; edited by Pierre Seguier, Paris, 1645.

Joannes Angelus Comnenus Palæologus Cantacuzenus, emperor of Constantinople from 1342 to 1355, is also sometimes styled Joannes VI, being confused with his ward and rival of the same name, who, nominally succeeding in 1342, did not actually rule until 1355. Cantacuzenus’ history covers the period from 1320 to 1357, including his own reign. Its style is easy, dignified, and discriminative, but often vain and hypocritical when relating to his own life or friends. It should be compared with the work of Nicephorus Gregoras, who writes of the same period. Cantacuzenus also wrote a confutation of Mohammedanism.

Joannes of Antioch, Ἱστορία Χρονική ἀπὸ Ἁδάμ. (Historia Chronographica ab Adamo), edited by Valesius in his Excerpta, Paris, 1634.

Joannes of Antioch

wrote a chronicle at a period conjectured to be about 620 A.D. Nothing is known of his personal life, but Gelzer is inclined to identify him with the patriarch John of Antioch (631-649). His history, commencing with Adam, must have been written after the death of Phocas in 610, for he describes that ruler as “bloodthirsty,” “ὁ αὐτὸς Φωκᾶς ὑπῆρχεν αἰμοπότης.”

Joannes of Epiphaneia, Ἰωάννου σχολαστικοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ ἐπάρχων Ἐπιφανέως περὶ τῆς τοῦ νέου Χοσρόου προσχωρήσεως πρὸς Μαυρίκιον τὸν Ῥωμαίων αὑτοκράτορα ἱστοριῶν τόμος ά, edited by B. Hase (with Leo Diaconus), Paris, 1819; by C. Müller, in his Fragmenta Historicorum Græcorum, Paris, 1841-1870, 5 vols. (new edition 1883); by L. Dindorf, in his Historici Græci Minores, Leipsic, 1870-1871, 2 vols.

Joannes of Epiphaneia flourished at the end of the sixth century, and his history deals with the Byzantine affairs from Justinian to Maurice. The manuscript of his work dates from the thirteenth century, and is in the Vatican.

Joannes Laurentius

, Περὶ μηνῶν συγγραφή (De Mensibus Liber), edited by Nicolaus Schow, Leipsic, 1794.

Joannes Laurentius, of Philadelphia, was a Byzantine poet of the sixth century, but his poems have not survived. His historical commentary on the Roman calendar, named above, is compiled from numerous sources, mostly otherwise unknown. He also wrote Περὶ ἀρχῶν τῆς Ῥωμαίων πολιτείας (De Magistratibus Reipublicæ Romanæ), in which he gives an unfavourable picture of the emperor Zeno.

Joannes Siculus, Die Chronik des Johannes Sikeliota, edited by A. Heinrich, Gratz, 1892.

Joannes Siculus

is supposed to have written a compendium of history from the Creation to Michael III, 866 A.D., or perhaps 1204. Much of the work is lost, the extant portion breaking off in the midst of the Trojan War, after reciting the ancient history of the Assyrians, Egyptians, Greeks, Jews, Persians, and Ptolemeans.

Joel, Χρονογράφια ἐν συνόψει, first edited by Leo Allatius in the Paris “Corpus.”

Joel lived in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and wrote a synopsis of the most important events of history, as known to him, laying stress on Byzantine affairs. The scope of the work is from Adam to 1204 A.D.

John of Ephesus, Ἱστορία ἐκκλησιάστικη, The third Book of the Ecclesiastical History of John, Bishop of Ephesus, edited by William Cureton, Oxford, 1853 (other fragments have been edited by J. P. N. Land, the Dutch historian, in his Anecdota Syriaca, Leyden, 1856, 4 vols.).