Pseudo-Simeon

Last updated

Pseudo-Simeon (or Pseudo-Symeon Magistros) is the conventional name given to the anonymous author of a late 10th-century Byzantine Greek chronicle which survives in a single codex, Parisinus Graecus 1712, copied in the 12th or 13th century. [1]

It is a universal history from the creation of the world to the year 963. [2] His main sources are Theophanes the Confessor and Symeon Logothete. [1] For the years up to 812, he uses Theophanes, George Hamartolos, John Malalas and John of Antioch. [1] [2] For later years, he uses parts of Joseph Genesius and the anonymous Chronicle on Leo the Armenian. [2] He made use of a lost anti-Photian tract that was also used by Niketas David Paphlagon. [1]

George Kedrenos used Pseudo-Simeon as the model for his own chronicle up to the year 812. [2] In the 14th century, the chronicle was translated into Slavonic. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael I Rangabe</span> Byzantine emperor from 811 to 813

Michael I Rhangabe was Byzantine emperor from 811 to 813.

George Kedrenos, Cedrenus or Cedrinos was a Byzantine Greek historian. In the 1050s he compiled Synopsis historion, which spanned the time from the biblical account of creation to his own day. Kedrenos is one of the few sources that discuss Khazar polities in existence after the sack of Atil in 969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symeon the Metaphrast</span> 10th-century Byzantine historian and hagiographer

Symeon, called Metaphrastes or the Metaphrast, was a Byzantine writer and official. He is regarded as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and his feast day falls on 9 or 28 November. He is best known for his 10-volume Greek menologion, or collection of saints' lives.

The Patrologia Graeca is an edited collection of writings by the Christian Church Fathers and various secular writers, in the Greek language. It consists of 161 volumes produced in 1857–1866 by J. P. Migne's Imprimerie Catholique, Paris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theoktistos</span> Byzantine regent

Theoktistos or Theoctistus was a leading Byzantine official during the second quarter of the 9th century and the de facto head of the regency for the underage emperor Michael III from 842 until his dismissal and murder in 855. A eunuch courtier, he assisted in the ascent of Michael II to the throne in 822, and was rewarded with the titles of patrikios and later magistros. He held the high posts of chartoularios tou kanikleiou and logothetēs tou dromou under Michael and his son Theophilos. After Theophilos' death in 842, Theoktistos became member of the regency council, but soon managed to sideline the other members and establish himself as the virtual ruler of the Empire. Noted for his administrative and political competence, Theoktistos played a major role in ending the Byzantine Iconoclasm, and fostered the ongoing renaissance in education within the Empire. He also continued the persecution of the Paulician sect, but had mixed success in the wars against the Arabs. When Michael III came of age in 855, his uncle Bardas persuaded him to throw off the tutelage of Theoktistos and his mother, the Empress-dowager Theodora, and on 20 November 855, Theoktistos was assassinated by Bardas and his followers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mizizios</span> Usurper of the Byzantine Empire

Mizizios or Mezezius was an Armenian noble who served as a general of Byzantium, later usurping the Byzantine throne in Sicily from 668 to 669.

Leo Phokas was an early 10th-century Byzantine general of the noble Phokas clan. As Domestic of the Schools, the Byzantine army's commander-in-chief, he led a large-scale campaign against the Bulgarians in 917, but was heavily defeated at the battles of Acheloos and Katasyrtai. He then plotted to seize the throne from the young Byzantine emperor Constantine VII, but was outmaneuvered by the admiral Romanos Lekapenos, who managed to become guardian and later father-in-law of the Emperor. After Lekapenos seized control of the Byzantine Empire, Leo led an unsuccessful revolt, and was captured and blinded.

Theoktiste of Lesbos is a saint of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simeon the Holy Fool</span>

Simeon the Holy Fool was a Christian monk, hermit and saint of Byzantine-Syrian origin, who lived in the sixth century AD. He is venerated by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church as one of the first "fools for Christ". It is claimed that he simulated madness in order not to be venerated for his social deeds, dragging a dead dog around, throwing nuts at women, and generally acting like an imbecile. On the other hand, he may well have been mad.

Genesius is the conventional name given to the anonymous Byzantine author of Armenian origin of the tenth century chronicle, On the reign of the emperors. His first name is sometimes given as Joseph, combining him with a "Joseph Genesius" quoted in the preamble to John Skylitzes. Traditionally, he has been regarded as the son or grandson of Constantine Maniakes.

Nikephoros Phokas, usually surnamed the Elder to distinguish him from his grandson, Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas, was one of the most prominent Byzantine generals of the late 9th century, and the first important member of the Phokas family. As a youth he was taken into the personal retinue of Emperor Basil I the Macedonian, rising quickly to the posts of protostrator and then governor of Charsianon, whence he fought with success against the Arabs. In c. 886 he led a major expedition in southern Italy, where his victories laid the foundation for the Byzantine resurgence in the peninsula. After his return, he was raised to the post of Domestic of the Schools, in effect commander-in-chief of the army, which he led with success against the Arabs in the east and the Bulgarians of Tsar Simeon in the Balkans. He died either in 895/6 or, less likely, sometime c. 900. Contemporaries and later historians lauded him for his military ability and character. Both of his sons later succeeded him as Domestics of the Schools. His grandsons Nikephoros and Leo were likewise distinguished generals, while the former became emperor in 963–969, spearheading the recovery of several lost provinces from the Arabs.

Leo the Mathematician, the Grammarian or the Philosopher was a Byzantine philosopher and logician associated with the Macedonian Renaissance and the end of the Second Byzantine Iconoclasm. His only preserved writings are some notes contained in manuscripts of Plato's dialogues. He has been called a "true Renaissance man" and "the cleverest man in Byzantium in the 9th century". He was archbishop of Thessalonica and later became the head of the Magnaura School of philosophy in Constantinople, where he taught Aristotelian logic.

Theophanes Continuatus or Scriptores post Theophanem is the Latin name commonly applied to a collection of historical writings preserved in the 11th-century Vat. gr. 167 manuscript. Its name derives from its role as the continuation, covering the years 813–961, of the chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor, which reaches from 285 to 813. The manuscript consists of four distinct works, in style and form very unlike the annalistic approach of Theophanes.

Theophanes was a Byzantine palace official and the chief adviser of Emperor Romanos Lekapenos during most of his reign. He was also an active and able diplomat, and led the naval defense of Constantinople against the Rus' invasion of 941.

Manuel the Armenian, was a prominent Byzantine general of Armenian origin, active from circa 810 until his death. After reaching the highest military ranks, a palace conspiracy forced him to seek refuge in the Abbasid court in 829. He returned to Byzantine service the next year, receiving the position of Domestic of the Schools from Emperor Theophilos, who had married his niece Theodora. Manuel remained in the post throughout Theophilos's reign, and reportedly saved the emperor's life in the Battle of Anzen in 838. According to one report, he died on 27 July 838 of wounds received during the battle, but other sources record his survival past this date, ascribing him a major role in the regency that governed the empire after Theophilos's death, and report that he died some time around 860.

<i>Sacra Parallela</i>

The Sacra Parallela is a Byzantine florilegium of quotes from the Bible and patristic texts used in the instruction of ethics, morals and asceticism.

Theodore Daphnopates was a senior Byzantine official and author. He served as imperial secretary, and possibly protasekretis, under three emperors, Romanos I Lekapenos, Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos, and Romanos II, rising to the ranks of patrikios and magistros, and the post of Eparch of the City. Daphnopates' public career ended with the accession of Nikephoros II Phokas in 963, when he went into retirement. Daphnopates also participated in the encyclopaedism movement, writing several homilies and theological as well as historical works, few of which survive. Daphnopates is best known for his surviving correspondence, and is considered by some modern scholars as the author of the last section of the chronicle of Theophanes Continuatus.

Scriptor Incertus de Leone Armenio is the conventional Latin designation given to the anonymous author of a 9th-century Byzantine historical work, of which only two fragments survive.

Symeon Logothete was a 10th-century Byzantine Greek historian and poet.

Michael Synkellos, also spelled Syncellus, was a Greek Orthodox Arab Christian priest, monk and saint. He held the administrative office of synkellos of the patriarchate of Jerusalem (c. 811–815) and the patriarchate of Constantinople (843–846). He was involved in disputes over the filioque clause and over Byzantine iconoclasm, which landed him in prison for the period 815–843. He nevertheless wrote extensively, producing grammar, theology, hagiographies, hymns and poetry. He wrote in Greek and made at least one translation from Arabic.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Kazhdan, Alexander (1991). "Symeon Magistros, Pseudo-" . In Kazhdan, Alexander (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN   0-19-504652-8.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Herbert Hunger: Handbuch der Altertumswissenschaft, XII. Byzantinisches Handbuch. 5,1. Philosophie, Rhetorik, Epistolographie, Geschichtsschreibung, Geographie, C. H. Beck, Munich 1978, pp. 355 ff.