George Kodinos or Codinus ( el, Γεώργιος Κωδινός), also
Pseudo-Kodinos, ''
kouropalates'' in the
Byzantine court, is the reputed 14th-century author of three extant works in late
Byzantine literature.
Their attribution to him is merely a matter of convenience, two of them being anonymous in the manuscripts. Οf Kodinos himself nothing is known; it is supposed that he lived towards the end of the 14th century. The works referred to are the following:
#''
Patria'' (Πάτρια Κωνσταντινουπόλεως), treating of the history, topography, and monuments of
Constantinople. It is divided into five sections: (a) the foundation of the city; (b) its situation, limits and topography; (c) its statues, works of art, and other notable sights; (d) its buildings; (e) and the construction of the
Hagia Sophia. It was written in the reign of
Basil II (976-1025), revised and rearranged under
Alexios I Komnenos (1081–1118), and perhaps copied by Codinus, whose name it bears in some (later) manuscripts. The chief sources are: the ''Patria'' of
Hesychius Illustrius of Miletus, the anonymous ''
Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai'', and an anonymous account () of St Sophia (ed.
Theodor Preger in ''Scriptores originum Constantinopolitanarum'', fasc. i, 1901, followed by the ''Patria'' of Codinus).
Procopius, ''De Aedificiis'' and the poem of
Paulus Silentiarius on the dedication of St. Sophia should be read in connexion with this subject.
#''De Officiis'' (), a treatise, written in an unattractive style between 1347 and 1368, of the court and higher