Hesychius of Miletus ( el, Ἡσύχιος ὁ Μιλήσιος, translit=Hesychios o Milesios),
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
chronicler and biographer, surnamed Illustrius, son of an advocate, lived in
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
in the 6th century AD during the reign of
Justinian
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...
. His writings contain more references to pagan Greek culture than Christianity, but his religion remains a matter of dispute among scholars.
According to
Photius (cod. 69) he was the author of three important works:
#A ''Compendium of
Universal History
A universal history is a work aiming at the presentation of a history of all of mankind as a whole, coherent unit. A universal chronicle or world chronicle typically traces history from the beginning of written information about the past up to t ...
'' in six books, from Belus, the reputed founder of the
Assyria
Assyria ( Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the ...
n empire, to
Anastasius I (d. 518). A considerable fragment has been preserved from the sixth book, a history of Byzantium from its earliest beginnings till the time of
Constantine the Great
Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterran ...
.
#A ''Biographical Dictionary of Learned Men'', arranged according to classes (poets, philosophers), the chief sources of which were the works of
Aelius Dionysius
Aelius Dionysius ( grc-gre, Αἴλιος Διονύσιος) was a Greek rhetorician from Halicarnassus, who lived in the time of the emperor Hadrian. He was a very skillful musician, and wrote several works on music and its history. Suda, ''s ...
and of
Herennius Philo. Much of it has been incorporated in the ''
Suda'', as we learn from that book. It is disputed, however, whether the words in the ''Suda'' ("of which this book is an epitome") mean that ''Sudas compiler himself epitomized the work of Hesychius, or whether they are part of the title of an already epitomized Hesychius used in the compilation of the ''Suda''. The second view is more generally held. The epitome referred to, in which alphabetical order was substituted for arrangement in classes and some articles on Christian writers added as a concession to the times, is assigned from internal indications to the years 829-837. Both it and the original work are
lost, with the exception of the excerpts in Photius and the ''Suda''. A smaller compilation, chiefly from
Diogenes Laërtius and the ''Suda'', with a similar title, is the work of an unknown author of the 11th or 12th century.
#A ''History of the Reign of
Justin I
Justin I ( la, Iustinus; grc-gre, Ἰουστῖνος, ''Ioustînos''; 450 – 1 August 527) was the Eastern Roman emperor from 518 to 527. Born to a peasant family, he rose through the ranks of the army to become commander of the imperial ...
'' (518–527) and the early years of Justinian, completely
lost.
In 1663
Gilles Ménage
Gilles Ménage (; 15 August 1613 – 23 July 1692) was a French scholar.
Biography
He was born at Angers, the son of Guillaume Ménage, king's advocate at Angers. A good memory and enthusiasm for learning carried him quickly through his lite ...
published an anonymous ''Vita Aristotelis'' that is commonly attributed to Hesychius.
Photius praises the style of Hesychius, and credits him with being a veracious historian.
Editions;
J. C. Orelli (1820) and
J. Flach (1882); fragments in
Karl Wilhelm Ludwig Müller, ''Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum'' iv. 143 and in
Theodor Preger's ''Scriptores originis Constantinopolitanae'', i. (1901); ''Pseudo-Hesychius'', by J Flach (1880).
References
* Anthony Kaldellis, "The Works and Days of Hesychios the Illoustrios