Constantine Stilbes ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Στιλβής, ) 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 Constantinopl ...

rhetor Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...

and clergyman, and a prolific author of ecclesiastical treatises, letters, and poetry.

Biography

He was born in the mid-12th century and the date of his death is unknown. From his own writings it is clear that he became a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

and magister in the Patriarchal School of

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 (" ...

. A little before 1204 he was promoted to the

metropolitan bishop In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (alternative obsolete form: metropolite), pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis. Originally, the term referred to the ...

ric of

Cyzicus Cyzicus (; grc, Κύζικος ''Kúzikos''; ota, آیدینجق, ''Aydıncıḳ'') was an ancient Greek town in Mysia in Anatolia in the current Balıkesir Province of Turkey. It was located on the shoreward side of the present Kapıdağ Peni ...

, which he had to relinquish shortly after the Latin conquest. Although most of what is known about Stilbes comes from his own works,

Niketas Choniates Niketas or Nicetas Choniates ( el, Νικήτας Χωνιάτης; c. 1155 – 1217), whose actual surname was Akominatos (Ἀκομινάτος), was a Byzantine Greek government official and historian – like his brother Michael Akominatos, w ...

does praise a certain "Stilbes, a good man in every regard" ().

Works

Stilbes' works pertain mostly to

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing th ...

, the best known among scholars is his ''Errors of the Latin Church,'' which Stilbes compiled in the wake of the Fourth Crusade. The list describes western "errors," including their failure to honour foreign

saints In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Orth ...

and their hatred of the Emperor Constantine for creating New Rome. Stilbes is also known for his poem describing a catastrophic fire that took place in Constantinople on July 25, 1197. Running to about a thousand lines, the ''Carmen de Incendio'' describes the course of the fire along the

Golden Horn The Golden Horn ( tr, Altın Boynuz or ''Haliç''; grc, Χρυσόκερας, ''Chrysókeras''; la, Sinus Ceratinus) is a major urban waterway and the primary inlet of the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey. As a natural estuary that connects with t ...

from the Gate of the

Droungarios A ''droungarios'', also spelled ''drungarios'' ( el, δρουγγάριος, la, drungarius) and sometimes anglicized as Drungary, was a military rank of the late Roman and Byzantine empires, signifying the commander of a formation known as '' dr ...

( Turkish: Odun Kapısı) through the Latin Quarter, using ekphrases rich with Biblical and Classical metaphors. The poem is an important resource for those studying the urban topography of Medieval Constantinople, as it describes the burning of three story houses and aristocratic houses with turrets, and it makes allusions to coastal roads, aqueducts,Diethart and Hörandner (2005) p. 27. the Neorion Harbour , granaries, the Church of the Forty Martyrs, and the Church of the Theotokos Kyriotissa.

Byzantinist Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, demography, dress, religion/theology, art, literature/epigraphy, music, science, economy, coinage and politics of the Eastern Roman ...

Paul Magdalino Paul Magdalino FBA (born 10 May 1948) is Bishop Wardlaw Professor of Byzantine History in the University of St Andrews, professor of Byzantine history at Koç University, Istanbul; and a Fellow of the British Academy. His research interests inc ...

has used the poem to date the medieval reconstruction of the Kyriotissa church to between the date of the fire in 1197 and the Fourth Crusade in 1204. An annotated version of the poem is available in English translation.Layman (2015) p. 41.

References

{{Authority control 12th-century Byzantine people 13th-century Byzantine people 13th-century writers Bishops of Cyzicus Byzantine theologians 13th-century Byzantine bishops Byzantine poets Byzantine letter writers 12th-century Byzantine writers 12th-century Eastern Orthodox theologians 13th-century Byzantine writers 13th-century Eastern Orthodox theologians