Constantine Manasses (; ) was a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

chronicler A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, ...

who flourished in the 12th century during the reign of

Manuel I Komnenos Manuel I Komnenos (; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized as Comnenus, also called Porphyrogenitus (; " born in the purple"), was a Byzantine emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history o ...

(1143–1180). He was the author of a ''Synopsis Chronike'' (Σύνοψις Χρονική, "summary chronicle"), which narrates history from the creation of the world to the end of the reign of

Nikephoros III Botaneiates Nikephoros III Botaneiates (; 1002–1081), Romanization of Greek, Latinized as Nicephorus III Botaniates, was Byzantine Empire, Byzantine List of Byzantine Emperors, Emperor from 7 January 1078 to 1 April 1081. He became a general du ...

(1081), sponsored by Irene Komnene, the emperor's sister-in-law. It was probably written around 1150, shortly before Irene's death. It consists of about 7000 lines in

political verse Political verse (Greek: ''politikós stíkhos'', πολιτικός στίχος), also known as decapentasyllabic verse (from Greek: ''dekapentasíllavos'', , lit. '15-syllable'), is a common metric form in Medieval and Modern Greek poetry. It i ...

. It obtained great popularity and appeared in a free prose translation; it was also translated into Bulgarian in the 14th century. This translation, which includes several miniatures, was commissioned by tsar Ivan Alexander between 1340 and 1345. An

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

translation written in 1313 is now hosted at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

.Constantine Manases, ''Chronicle''
.

. Manasses also wrote the poetical romance ''Loves of Aristander and Callithea'', also in political verse. It is only known from the fragments preserved in the rose-garden of Macarius Chrysocephalus (14th century). Manasses also wrote a short biography of

Oppian Oppian (, ; ), also known as Oppian of Anazarbus, of Corycus, or of Cilicia, was a 2nd-century Greco-Roman poet during the reign of the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, who composed the ''Halieutica'', a five-book didactic epic on fishing. ...

, and some descriptive pieces (all except one unpublished) on artistic and other subjects.

References

External links

Full Greek text of the Malasses Chronicle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manasses, Constantine 12th-century births 1180s deaths Byzantine chroniclers 12th-century Byzantine historians 12th-century Greek painters 12th-century Byzantine artists Writers from Constantinople Eastern Orthodox chroniclers