The Byzantine Historian Agathias
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The Politics of Roman Memory in the Age of Justinian DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the D
The Politics of Roman Memory in the Age of Justinian DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Marion Woodrow Kruse, III Graduate Program in Greek and Latin The Ohio State University 2015 Dissertation Committee: Anthony Kaldellis, Advisor; Benjamin Acosta-Hughes; Nathan Rosenstein Copyright by Marion Woodrow Kruse, III 2015 ABSTRACT This dissertation explores the use of Roman historical memory from the late fifth century through the middle of the sixth century AD. The collapse of Roman government in the western Roman empire in the late fifth century inspired a crisis of identity and political messaging in the eastern Roman empire of the same period. I argue that the Romans of the eastern empire, in particular those who lived in Constantinople and worked in or around the imperial administration, responded to the challenge posed by the loss of Rome by rewriting the history of the Roman empire. The new historical narratives that arose during this period were initially concerned with Roman identity and fixated on urban space (in particular the cities of Rome and Constantinople) and Roman mythistory. By the sixth century, however, the debate over Roman history had begun to infuse all levels of Roman political discourse and became a major component of the emperor Justinian’s imperial messaging and propaganda, especially in his Novels. The imperial history proposed by the Novels was aggressivley challenged by other writers of the period, creating a clear historical and political conflict over the role and import of Roman history as a model or justification for Roman politics in the sixth century. -
Michael Psellos and Byzantine Astrology in the Eleventh Century, Culture and Cosmos , Vol
CULTURE AND COSMOS A Journal of the History of Astrology and Cultural Astronomy Vol. 13 no. 1, Spring/Summer 2009 Published by Culture and Cosmos and the Sophia Centre Press, in partnership with the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, in association with the Sophia Centre for the Study of Cosmology in Culture, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Faculty of Humanities and the Performing Arts Lampeter, Ceredigion, Wales, SA48 7ED, UK. www.cultureandcosmos.org Cite this paper as: Andrew Vladimirou, Michael Psellos and Byzantine Astrology in the Eleventh Century, Culture and Cosmos , Vol. 13 no 1, Spring/Summer 2009, pp. 24-61. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue card for this book is available from the British Library All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publishers. ISSN 1368-6534 Printed in Great Britain by Lightning Source Copyright 2018 Culture and Cosmos All rights reserved Michael Psellos and Byzantine Astrology in the Eleventh Century ________________________________________________________________ Andrew Vladimirou Abstract. The following work uses the writing of one of the most outstanding personalities of the Byzantine Empire, Michael Psellos (1018–1078?), as a conduit into the world of Byzantine astrology. The focus of the article is his celebrated chronicle, The Chronographia, which documents his life and experiences as an influential courtier at the Byzantine court in the eleventh century. Psellos was at the forefront of political life in the Empire and its fluctuating fortunes but somehow managed to combine these duties with a prodigious scholarly vocation. -
Gerhard Müller. Die Römische Kurie Und Die Reformation 1523–1534
Modern Europe AVERIL CAMERON. Agathias. New York: Oxford MODERN EUROPE University Press. 1970. Pp. ix, 168. $5.50. GERHARD MULLER. Die romische Kurie und die Agathias, a poet, anthologist, and practicing Reformation I523-I534: Kirche und Politik lawyer, wrote a continuation of Procopius, wiihrend des Pontifikates Clemens' VII. (Quel len und Forschungen zur Reformationsge relating the wars of Justinian from 552 to schichte, Number 38.) [Gutersloh:] Gutersloher 559. He is one of the few secular historians Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn. 1969. Pp. 307. DM 45. of the early Byzantine period whose work survives in full; and although we might well In attempting to comprehend the actions of prefer the accidents of preservation to have Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article/76/3/767/94214 by guest on 30 September 2021 Pope Clement VII, even Charles v's memoirs spared Eunapius, Priscus, or Menander in express the exasperation: "God knows why stead, Agathias is of uncontestable value not the Pope acted thus." Divine understanding only as a source of data but also as a repre aside, Gerhard Muller's historical under sentative of the literary tradition in which he standing of Clement's politics does omit very wrote. revealing evidence as to the pope's rationale. It is particularly from the latter standpoint Contarini, "the Venetian More," put an ar that Mrs. Cameron has studied him, for, as gument before Clement as regards the latter's she insists, Agathias prized the literary qual choice of seeking the particular good of the ity of his work at least as highly as its veracity. -
Jordanes and the Invention of Roman-Gothic History Dissertation
Empire of Hope and Tragedy: Jordanes and the Invention of Roman-Gothic History Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Brian Swain Graduate Program in History The Ohio State University 2014 Dissertation Committee: Timothy Gregory, Co-advisor Anthony Kaldellis Kristina Sessa, Co-advisor Copyright by Brian Swain 2014 Abstract This dissertation explores the intersection of political and ethnic conflict during the emperor Justinian’s wars of reconquest through the figure and texts of Jordanes, the earliest barbarian voice to survive antiquity. Jordanes was ethnically Gothic - and yet he also claimed a Roman identity. Writing from Constantinople in 551, he penned two Latin histories on the Gothic and Roman pasts respectively. Crucially, Jordanes wrote while Goths and Romans clashed in the imperial war to reclaim the Italian homeland that had been under Gothic rule since 493. That a Roman Goth wrote about Goths while Rome was at war with Goths is significant and has no analogue in the ancient record. I argue that it was precisely this conflict which prompted Jordanes’ historical inquiry. Jordanes, though, has long been considered a mere copyist, and seldom treated as an historian with ideas of his own. And the few scholars who have treated Jordanes as an original author have dampened the significance of his Gothicness by arguing that barbarian ethnicities were evanescent and subsumed by the gravity of a Roman political identity. They hold that Jordanes was simply a Roman who can tell us only about Roman things, and supported the Roman emperor in his war against the Goths. -
Menander Protector, Fragments 6.1-3
Menander Protector, Fragments 6.1-3 Sasanika Sources History of Menander the Guardsman (Menander Protector) was written at the end of the sixth century CE by a minor official of the Roman/Byzantine court. The original text is in Greek, but has survived only in a fragmentary form, quoted in compilations and other historical writings. The author, Menander, was a native of Constantinople, seemingly from a lowly class and initially himself not worthy of note. In a significant introductory passage, he courageously admits to having undertaken the writing of his History (’ st a) as a way of becoming more respectable and forging himself a career. He certainly was a contemporary and probably an acquaintance of the historian Theophylact Simocatta and worked within the same court of Emperor Maurice. His title of “Protector” seems to suggest a military position, but most scholars suspect that this was only an honorary title without any real responsibilities. Menander’s history claims to continue the work of Agathias and so starts from the date that Agathias left off, namely AD 557. His style of presentation, if not his actual writing style, are thus influenced by Agathias, although he seems much less partial than the former in presentation of the events. He seems to have had access to imperial archives and reports and consequently presents us with a seemingly accurate version of the events, although at time he might be exaggerating some of his facts. The following is R. C. Blockley’s English translation of the fragments 6.1-3 of Menander Protector’s History, which deals directly with the Sasanian-Roman peace treaty of 562 and provides us with much information about the details of negotiations that took place around this treaty. -
How to Write History: Thucydides and Herodotus in the Ancient Rhetorical Tradition
How to write history: Thucydides and Herodotus in the ancient rhetorical tradition A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Scott Kennedy, B.A., B.S. Graduate Program in Greek and Latin The Ohio State University 2018 Dissertation Committee: Anthony Kaldellis, Adviser Benjamin Acosta-Hughes Will Batstone Copyright by Scott Kennedy 2018 Abstract Modern students of Thucydides and Herodotus may find it odd to think of them as rhetoricians. Yet in the ancient world, both historians (and especially Thucydides) played an important role in rhetorical schools. They were among the favorite authors of ancient teachers of rhetoric and served as foundational pillars of the ancient curriculum, providing themes for school exercises and even for such seminal texts as Hermogenes' theoretical treatises on rhetoric. Modern scholars might never read technical rhetorical texts such as Hermogenes. They almost certainly would never turn to Hermogenes and his kind to help them understand Thucydides or Herodotus. But for our ancient intellectual predecessors, such an approach would have been unconscionable, as ancient rhetoric was the theoretical lens with which they understood and appreciated historical writings. In this dissertation, I explore the confluence of rhetoric and historiography in the ancient world through an examination of how Herodotus and Thucydides were used in ancient schools and then by later historians. Chapter 1 and 2 outline how these historians were embedded and encoded within the rhetorical curriculum. In Chapter 1, I examine how Herodotus and Thucydides entered the rhetorical curriculum and how rhetors incorporated them into the rhetorical curriculum through an examination of the surviving progymnasmata, scholia, and pedagogical myths. -
Salaminius Hermias Sozomenus – the Ecclesiastical History
0450-0450 – Salaminius Hermias Sozomenus – The Ecclesiastical History The Ecclesiastical History, comprising a History of the Church, from A.D. 323 to A.D. 425 this file has been downloaded from http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf202.html NPNF (V2-02) Socrates Scholasticus THE 179 ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF SOZOMEN, COMPRISING A HISTORY OF THE CHURCH, FROM A.D. 323 TO A.D. 425. TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK. Revised by CHESTER D. HARTRANFT, HARTFORD THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 191 Introduction. ———————————— Salaminius Hermias Sozomen ———————————— Part I.—The Life. 326 NPNF (V2-02) Socrates Scholasticus The name is an unusual and difficult one. It seems desirable to give preference to the order which Photius adopts, but to preserve the spelling in Nicephorus Callistus, and in the captions of the chief manuscripts, and therefore to call him Salaminius Hermias Sozomen. What the term Salaminius indicates, cannot yet be accurately determined. There are no data to show any official connection of Sozomen with Salamis opposite Athens, or Salamis (Constantia) in Cyprus; certainly there is no record of any naval service. In vi. 32, where he speaks of the greater lights of monasticism in Palestine, Hilarion, Hesychas, and Epiphanius, he remarks, “At the same period in the monasteries, Salamines, Phuscon, Malachion, Crispion, four brethren, were highly distinguished.” In the tart controversy between Epiphanius and the empress, the latter had said, “You have not power to revive the dead; otherwise your archdeacon would not have died.” Sozomen explains, “She alluded to Crispion, the archdeacon, who had died a short time previously; he was brother to Phuscon and Salamanus, monks whom I had occasion to mention when detailing the history of events under the reign of Valens” (viii. -
2014.A03a Greatrex, Perceptions of Procopius Addendum
Histos () a–e PERCEPTIONS OF PROCOPIUS IN RECENT SCHOLARSHIP (Addenda ) ince the publication of my article in May a number of relevant items have come to my attention, which it would be opportune to S publish here. I am grateful to the editors of Histos for allowing me to do so. I shall divide up the material, as in the article, into sections concerned with the Wars , Anecdota , and Buildings . (a) Wars In this case, an important new work has been published since my article came out in May: Anthony Kaldellis’ revision of Dewing’s translation of the entire Wars (), brought together in one paperback volume, accompanied by a large number of useful maps, plans and family trees. This is a substantial book, offering a translation that otherwise occupies five Loeb volumes, and at last makes Procopius’ major work affordable for the general public. It should be noted, moreover, that the translation represents a significant revision of Dewing’s. Kaldellis states that he has ‘revised and modernised’ it, and he has done so on an impressive scale. The translation is accompanied by explanatory notes and all the subsections within each chapter are clearly indicated. Furthermore, relevant dates are noted in the margins, while speeches are clearly signalled. No less importantly, the volume is equipped with an excellent index. Although some Procopian material on ‘barbarian’ peoples was noted in my article, some important contributions were overlooked. Kaldellis (), a wide-ranging work on Byzantine ethnography, considers late antique writers in the field, notably Priscus, Procopius and Agathias, in ch. Goffart () has valuable discussions of Procopius’ accounts of various peoples; more detailed treatments on particular peoples (and Procopius’ portrayal of them) are to be found in Curta (). -
The Andreios Eunuch-Commander Narses: Sign of a Decoupling of Martial Virtues and Masculinity in the Early Byzantine Empire?
The Andreios Eunuch-Commander Narses: Sign of a Decoupling of Martial Virtues and Masculinity in the Early Byzantine Empire? Michael Edward Stewart University of Queensland Abstract: This paper looks at the place of the sixth-century Byzantine general Narses (c. 480–573) in the history of Byzantine gender. Certainly, it has always been important for ancient and modern historians to emphasise Narses’ eunuchism. Indeed, for many modern scholars, Narses’ identity as a castrate has been more important for study than his military deeds and political achievements that proved ephemeral. For some, the presence of a eunuch in such an essential military role indicates a turning away from codes of generalship based on traditional martial courage and manliness. This paper questions such a view, suggesting that Byzantium had a much more flexible notion of eunuchs’ gender status than some recent scholarship allows. Indeed, it suggests that Narses fits into a continuing hegemony of traditional masculine values based on the supremacy of Byzantine men’s martial virtues The sixth-century Byzantine general Narses (c. 480–573) has long earned historians’ respect.1 He deserves this acclaim since his major victories over the Goths in 552 and versus the Franks and Alamanni in 554 helped to secure the Emperor Justinian I’s (ruled 527–565) retaking of Italy from the Goths after an arduous nineteen-year struggle.2 So too did Narses perform admirably for twelve years in his role as prefect 1 Michael Edward Stewart, ‘The Andreios Eunuch Commander Narses’ of Italy. Of course, it has always been important to emphasise that Narses was a eunuch. -
HYPOTHESES on the LIFE of JORDANES Como Si De Esta Gente Yo Trazase Mi Origen: Hipótesis Sobre La Vida De Jordanes
AS IF FROM THIS PEOPLE I TRACED MY ORIGIN AS IF FROM THIS PEOPLE I TRACED MY ORIGIN: HYPOTHESES ON THE LIFE OF JORDANES Como si de esta gente yo trazase mi origen: hipótesis sobre la vida de Jordanes OTÁVIO LUIZ VIEIRA PINTO UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS, REINO UNIDO [email protected] Introduction The De Origene actibusque Getarum, universally known as Getica, is one of the most well-known texts of the Early Middle Ages (Liebeschuetz, 2011; Bodelón, 2005; Amory, 2003; Christensen, 2002; Gillet, 2000; Weißensteiner, 1994; Bradley, Humanities Commons 1993; Goffart, 1988; Croke, 1987; O’Donnell,provided by 1982). It is View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk CORE brought to you by commonly regarded as one of the first accounts on the pre-Roman history of a barbarian gens – in this case, the Goths – written by a non-Roman, known as Jordanes (Wolfram, 1990: 27). In this sense, the Getica is a valuable text for scholars looking into ethnical traditions and cultural frameworks that might have been TAVIO UIZ IEIRA INTO O L V P , “As if from this People I Traced my Origin: Hypotheses on the Life of Jordanes”, Calamus 1 (2017): 197-222. ISSN 2545-627X. Recibido 15/11/2015, aceptado 04/05/2016 197 OTÁVIO VIEIRA PINTO lost or ignored by Roman authors, centred in their own cultural and literary scopes.1 In the past decades, the Getica sparkled countless historiographical debates concerning its factual accuracy, its general purpose and its effectiveness in dealing with veridical Gothic matters.2 Because it was written as Justinian was finishing – and winning – his campaign against the Ostrogoths in Italy, some researchers, such as Walter Goffart, saw in it a propagandistic tone, whose value was embedded in a contextual setup rather than a proper historical narrative (Goffart, 1988: 20- 111). -
The Works and Days of Hesychios the Illoustrios of Miletos Anthony Kaldellis
The Works and Days of Hesychios the Illoustrios of Miletos Anthony Kaldellis HERE WAS A TIME when the problems surrounding the works of Hesychios of Miletos1 could engage even the T attention of the young Friedrich Nietzsche, involved as he was in Quellenforschung regarding the ancient and Byzantine biographical notices.2 Yet despite the 1851 publication by K. Müller of Hesychios’ fragments, no one has yet examined the sum of the evidence regarding his life and work. One may even notice a retrenchment since the nineteenth century: K. Krum- bacher’s entry on Hesychios among the Byzantine historians (1897) finds no counterpart in H. Hunger’s updated survey of Byzantine scholarship (1978).3 Yet Hesychios does appear with some frequency in modern discussions, sometimes as a pagan, other times as a Christian, sometimes placed under Anastasios, other times under Justin II and Maurice. It is time to remedy this neglect, for the figure that emerges is in fact highly interest- ing and we owe to him more than most historians realize. The primary goal of this paper will be to examine all our evidence for the life and works of Hesychios and draw some preliminary conclusions regarding their dates and contents. At the end we will return to the (largely independent) question of Hesychios’ 1 This article attempts to lay the groundwork for a complete translation and historical commentary on the fragments of Hesychios to be published in Brill’s New Jacoby (Ian Worthington, ed.). The interested reader should also consult the chapter on Hesychios in W. Treadgold’s forthcoming study The Lives and Works of the Early Byzantine Historians, whose conclusions differ from mine on important points. -
Kaldellis-Hib.Pdf
This page intentionally left blank HELLENISM IN BYZANTIUM This is the first systematic study of what it meant to be ‘‘Greek’’ in late antiquity and Byzantium, an identity that could alternately become national, religious, philosophical, or cultural. Through close readings of the sources – including figures such as Julian, Psellos, and the Komnenian scholars – Professor Kaldellis surveys the space that Hellenism occupied in each period; the broader debates in which it was caught up; and the historical causes of its successive transforma- tions. The first part (100–400) shows how Romanization and Christianization led to the abandonment of Hellenism as a national label and its restriction to a negative religious sense and a positive, albeit rarefied, cultural one. The second (1000–1300) shows how Hellenism was revived in Byzantium and contributed to the evolution of its culture. The discussion looks closely at the reception of the classical tradition, which was the reason why Hellenism was always desirable and dangerous in Christian society, and presents a new model for understanding Byzantine civilization. ANTHONY KALDELLIS is Professor of Greek and Latin at The Ohio State University. He has published many articles and monographs on late antiquity and Byzantium, and is currently completing a related book on the subject of the Christian Parthenon. His most recent titles are Mothers and Sons, Fathers and Daughters: The Byzantine Family of Michael Psellos (2006) and Procopius of Caesarea: Tyranny, History and Philosophy at the End of Antiquity (2004). GREEK CULTURE IN THE ROMAN WORLD Editors SUSAN E. ALCOCK, University of Michigan JAS´ ELSNER, Corpus Christi College, Oxford SIMON GOLDHILL, University of Cambridge The Greek culture of the Roman Empire offers a rich field of study.