John the Lydian or John Lydus ( el, ; la, Ioannes Laurentius Lydus) (ca. AD 490 – ca. 565) was a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantino ...

administrator and writer on

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifacts, archaeological and historic si ...

subjects.

Life and career

He was born in 490 AD at

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sin ...

Lydia Lydia ( Lydian: ‎𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤠, ''Śfarda''; Aramaic: ''Lydia''; el, Λυδία, ''Lȳdíā''; tr, Lidya) was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern western Turkish prov ...

, whence his

cognomen A ''cognomen'' (; plural ''cognomina''; from ''con-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became here ...

"Lydus". At an early age he set out to seek his fortune 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 ( ...

, and held high court and state offices in the

praetorian prefecture of the East The praetorian prefecture of the East, or of the Orient ( la, praefectura praetorio Orientis, el, ἐπαρχότης/ὑπαρχία τῶν πραιτωρίων τῆς ἀνατολῆς) was one of four large praetorian prefectures into whic ...

under Anastasius and

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 '' renov ...

. Around 543, Lydus was appointed to a chair of Latin language and literature at an institute of higher education of Constantinople. In 552, he lost Justinian's favour and was dismissed. The date of his death is not known, but he was probably alive during the early years of

Justin II Justin II ( la, Iustinus; grc-gre, Ἰουστῖνος, Ioustînos; died 5 October 578) or Justin the Younger ( la, Iustinus minor) was Eastern Roman Emperor from 565 until 578. He was the nephew of Justinian I and the husband of Sophia, the ...

(reigned 565–578).

Literary work

During his retirement he occupied himself in the compilation of works on the antiquities of Rome, three of which have been preserved: #''De Ostentis'' (Gr. ), on the origin and progress of the art of

divination Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout history ...

#''De Magistratibus reipublicae Romanae'' (Gr. ), especially valuable for the administrative details of the time of Justinian; the work is now dated to 550 by Michael Maas. #''De Mensibus'' (Gr. ), a history of the different pagan festivals of the year. The chief value of these books consists in the fact that the author made use of the works (now lost) of old Roman writers on similar subjects. Lydus was also commissioned by Justinian to compose a panegyric on the emperor, and a history of his campaign against

Sassanid Persia The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

; but these, as well as some poetical compositions, are lost. He was interested in gynaecology and embryology and included several related passages in his "De Mensibus", with references to previous authors. His sources are mainly Greek, and two of them are Latin.

Editions and translations

There is an edition of ''De Ostentis'' by Curt Wachsmuth (1897), with full account of the authorities in the prolegomena. There is an edition of ''De Magistratibus'' and ''De Mensibus'' by

Richard Wünsch Richard Wünsch (1 June 1869 in Wiesbaden – 17 May 1915 at Iłża) was a German classical philologist. He studied classical philology at the University of Marburg, receiving his doctorate in 1893. Following graduation, he spent two years on an e ...

(1898–1903).full text a
archive.org
/ref> See also the essay by CB Hase (the first editor of the ''De Ostentis'') prefixed to I. Bekker's edition of Lydus (1837) in the Bonn ''Corpus scriptorum hist. Byzantinae''. For ''De Magistratibus'', Wünsch's edition has been superseded by Anastasius C. Bandy's 1983 edition and translation. See also: *''The Works of Ioannis Lydus'', Vols. I–IV (

Edwin Mellen Press The Edwin Mellen Press or Mellen Press is an international independent company and academic publishing house with editorial offices in Lewiston, New York, and Lampeter, Wales. It was founded, in 1972, by the religious studies scholar Profess ...

, 2013). New critical translations of De Mensibus, De Ostentis and De Magistratibus by Anastasius Bandy. Co-edited by Anastasia Bandy, Demetrios J. Constantelos and Craig J. N. de Paulo. * John the Lydian, ''De Magistratibus. On the Magistracies of the Roman Constitution.'' Translated by T. F. Carney. December 1971, Coronado Press. * John the Lydian, ''On powers, or, The magistracies of the Roman state / Ioannes Lydus''; introduction, critical text, translation, commentary, and indices by Anastasius C. Bandy. Series: Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, v. 149 . Philadelphia : American Philosophical Society, 1983, c1982. Greek text, parallel English translation. Based on the Codex Caseolinus. * ''Des magistratures de l'état romain.'' Jean le Lydien. Text, French translation and commentary by Michel Dubuisson, Jacques Schamp. Belles Lettres (2006)

Notes

References

External links

''Corpus scriptorum historiae byzantinae'' (Bonn, 1837) edition of the works of John Lydus
Greek, with Latin translation at the bottom of each page.

* ttps://books.google.com/books?id=9roiAAAAMAAJ Teubner edition of ''De Mensibus''(1898) by R. Wünsch. (Greek text only)
English translation of ''De Mensibus'' (with annotations and introduction) by Mischa Hooker, 2nd ed. (2017)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lydus, Joannes Laurentius 490 births 6th-century deaths Byzantine writers 6th-century Byzantine people 6th-century Byzantine writers Byzantine Anatolians Byzantine officials Historians of Justinian I People from Alaşehir Iberian War 565 deaths