Eustathius of Thessalonica (or Eustathios of Thessalonike; ; ) was a
Byzantine Greek
Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic; Greek: ) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the F ...
scholar and
Archbishop of Thessalonica and is a saint in the
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...
. He is most noted for his stand against the
sack of Thessalonica by the
Normans
The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; ; ) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and locals of West Francia. The Norse settlements in West Franc ...
in 1185, contemporary account of the event, for his orations and for his commentaries on
Homer
Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...
, which incorporate many remarks by much earlier researchers.
He was officially canonized on June 10, 1988, and his feast day is on
September 20.
[Great Synaxaristes: ]
Ὁ Ἅγιος Εὐστάθιος ὁ Κατάφλωρος Ἀρχιεπίσκοπος Θεσσαλονίκης
'' 20 Σεπτεμβρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
Life
A pupil of
Nicholas Kataphloron, Eustathius was appointed to the offices of superintendent of petitions (, ''
epi ton deeseon''), professor of rhetoric (), and was ordained a deacon in Constantinople.
He was ordained bishop of
Myra. Around the year 1178, he was appointed to the archbishopric of Thessalonica, where he remained until his death around 1195/1196.
Accounts of his life and work are given in the funeral orations by
Euthymius and
Michael Choniates (of which manuscripts survive in the
Bodleian Library in the
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...
).
Niketas Choniates (viii.238, x.334) praised him as the most learned man of his age, a judgment which is difficult to dispute. He wrote commentaries on
ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
poets, theological treatises, addresses, letters, and an important account of the sack of Thessalonica by
William II of Sicily in 1185.
Of his works, his commentaries on
Homer
Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...
are the most widely referred to: they display an extensive knowledge of
Greek literature from the earliest to the latest times. Other works exhibit impressive character, and oratorical power, which earned him the esteem of the
Komnenoi emperors. Politically, Eustathios was a supporter of emperor
Manuel I. An original thinker, Eustathios sometimes praised such secular values as military prowess. He decried
slavery
Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
, and praised
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 ...
for abolishing slavery in 1167.
[Roşu, Felicia (2021). Slavery in the Black Sea Region, c.900–1900 – Forms of Unfreedom at the Intersection Between Christianity and Islam. Studies in Global Slavery, Volume: 11. Brill. p. 20]
Works
His most important works are the following:
* ''On the Capture of Thessalonica'', an eye-witness account of the
siege of 1185 and subsequent sufferings of the people of Thessalonica. In early sections of this memoir Eustathios describes also political events at
Constantinople
Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
from the death of emperor
Manuel I through the short reign of
Alexios II to the usurpation of
Andronikos I, with sharp comments on the activities of all involved. The Greek text was edited by Kyriakidis, with an Italian translation by V. Rotolo; there is an English translation (with a commentary and associated essays) by J. Melville-Jones (Byzantina Australiensia Volume 8), a French translation by Paolo Odorico, and a German translation by H. Hunger.
* A number of orations, some of which have been edited by P. Wirth (''Eustathii Thessalonicensis Opera Minora''). In 2013 a translation of six of the earliest of these speeches was published with a commentary by Andrew F. Stone (Byzantina Australiensia Volume 19).
* Commentaries on Homer's ''
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...
'' and ''
Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; ) is one of two major epics of ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest surviving works of literature and remains popular with modern audiences. Like the ''Iliad'', the ''Odyssey'' is divi ...
'' (). These address questions of grammar, etymology, mythology, history and geography. They are not so much original commentaries as extracts from earlier commentators – there are many correspondences with
Homer
Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...
ic
scholia. Drawing on numerous extensive works of
Alexandria
Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...
n grammarians and critics and later commentators, they are a very important contribution to
Homeric scholarship
Homeric scholarship is the study of any Homeric topic, especially the two large surviving Epic poetry, epics, the ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey''. It is currently part of the academic discipline of classical studies. The subject is one of the oldest in ...
, not least because some of the works from which Eustathios made extracts are lost.
:Although it is likely that Eustathios quotes some authors second-hand, he seems personally acquainted with the works of the greatest ancient critics –
Aristarchos of Samothrace,
Zenodotos,
Aristophanes of Byzantium
__NOTOC__
Aristophanes of Byzantium ( ; Byzantium – Alexandria BC) was a Hellenistic Greek scholar, critic and grammarian, particularly renowned for his work in Homeric scholarship, but also for work on other classical authors such as ...
, and others. This is a great tribute to the state of the libraries of Constantinople and of classical scholarship there in the 12th century. He was also an avid reader of the ''
Deipnosophistae'' of
Athenaeus
Athenaeus of Naucratis (, or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; ) was an ancient Greek rhetorician and Grammarian (Greco-Roman), grammarian, flourishing about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century ...
. Some of the etymological and grammatical comments by Eustathios's Alexandrian predecessors are full of errors; and Eustathios's own comments are diffuse and frequently interrupted by digressions.
:The first printed edition, by Majoranus, was published in
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
in 1542–1550 (4 vols., fol.), an inaccurate reprint being later published in
Basel
Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...
in 1559–1560.
A. Politi's edition (Florence, 1730, 3 vols., folio), contains only the commentary on the first five books of the ''Iliad'' with a Latin translation. A tolerably correct reprint of the Roman edition was published at Leipzig, the first part containing the ''Odyssey'' commentary (2 vols., 4to.), 1825–1826, and the second, containing the ''Iliad'' commentary (3 vols., 4to.), edited by
J. G. Stallbaum for the ''
Patrologia Graeca,'' 1827–1829. These were superseded by the edition of M. van der Valk, 1971 onwards. Extracts from the commentaries are quoted in many editions of the Homeric poems.
* A commentary on
Dionysius Periegetes (dedicated to
John Doukas, son of
Andronikos Kamateros). This is as diffuse as the commentary on Homer, but includes numerous valuable extracts from earlier writers. (It was first printed in
R. Stephens' edition of Dionysius (Paris, 1547, 4to.), and later in that of
H. Stephens (Paris, 1577, 4to., and 1697, 8vo.), in Hudson's ''Geograph. Minor'', vol. iv., and lastly, in
Gottfried Bernhardy's edition of Dionysius (Leipzig, 1828, 8vo.).
* A commentary on
Pindar
Pindar (; ; ; ) was an Greek lyric, Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes, Greece, Thebes. Of the Western canon, canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar i ...
. No manuscript of this has come to light; but the introduction survives. (The introduction was first published by
Gottlieb Tafel in his ''Eustathii Thessalonicensis Opuscula'' (Frankfurt, 1832, 4to.), from which it was reprinted separately by Schneidewin, ''Eustathii prooemium commentariorum Pindaricorum'' (Göttingen, 1837, 8vo.).
*Other published works. Some were first published by Tafel in the 1832 ''Opuscula'' just mentioned, some appeared later, as by P. Wirth for the ''
Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae'' series.
*Unpublished works: these include theological writings and commemorative speeches. Several of the latter are important historical sources.
Editions and translations
*
*
*
* Eustathios of Thessaloniki, ''The Capture of Thessaloniki'', tr. J. R. Melville-Jones (Canberra 1988).
References
Bibliography
*
*Eustathius. ''Eustathii archiepiscopi Thessalonicensis commentarii ad Homeri'' Iliadem ''pertinentes'', vols. 1-4 (ed. Marchinus van der Valk). Leyden: Brill, 1:1971; 2:1976; 3:1979; 4:1987.
*
*
*
Smith, William (editor); ''
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'', ,
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, (1867)
*
Schaff, PhilipEustathius of Thessalonica from ''History of the Christian Church'', 1882.
*Stone, A.F., "Aurality in the Panegyrics of Eustathios of Thessaloniki in Theatron", Rhetorical Culture in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, pp. 417–28.
*
External links
{{Authority control
1110s births
1190s deaths
12th-century Byzantine bishops
12th-century Byzantine writers
12th-century Byzantine historians
12th-century Eastern Orthodox bishops
Byzantine bishops of Thessalonica
Byzantine theologians
Byzantine Thessalonian writers
Grammarians from the Byzantine Empire
Eastern Orthodox metropolitans
Saints of medieval Greece
Writers from Constantinople
Saints of medieval Macedonia
12th-century Eastern Orthodox theologians
Homeric scholars