Joannes or John Zonaras ( ; 1070 – 1140) 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 ...
Roman historian, chronicler and
theologian
Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...
who lived in
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 ...
(modern-day
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
,
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
). Under
Emperor
The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos (, – 15 August 1118), Latinization of names, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus, was Byzantine Emperor, Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. After usurper, usurping the throne, he was faced with a collapsing empire and ...
he held the offices of
head justice and private secretary (''
protasēkrētis'') to the emperor, but after Alexios' death, he retired to the monastery on the Island of
Hagia Glykeria, (İncir Adası, in the
Bay of Tuzla), where he spent the rest of his life writing books.
Life
Almost nothing is known of Zonaras's life. However, various elements can be inferred from his own writings. In one of his writings he states that he "saw" the second marriage of an emperor. This could have been the marriage of
Nikephoros III with
Maria of Alania in late 1078 or perhaps even the marriage 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 ...
to
Maria of Antioch
Maria of Antioch (; 1145–1182) was a Byzantine empress by marriage to Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, and regent during the minority of her son porphyrogennetos Alexios II Komnenos from 1180 until 1182.
Early life
Maria of Antioch wa ...
in 1161 which would put Zonaras' death significantly later. It's not known with certainty if Zonaras served under
John II Komnenos
John II Komnenos or Comnenus (; 13 September 1087 – 8 April 1143) was List of Byzantine emperors, Byzantine emperor from 1118 to 1143. Also known as "John the Beautiful" or "John the Good" (), he was the eldest son of Emperor Alexio ...
(r. 1118–1143), although this is still a possibility. Zonaras' ''Epitome'' served as the basis of
Constantine Manasses' chronicle, which was commissioned by Irene Komnene, the widow of the ''
sebastokrator
''Sebastokrator'' (, ; ; ), was a senior court title in the late Byzantine Empire. It was also used by other rulers whose states bordered the Empire or were within its sphere of influence (Bulgarian Empire, Serbian Empire). The word is a compound ...
''
Andronikos Komnenos. Given that Irene died on (or shortly before) 1153, this work must have been written 1150 or 1145. Furthermore, it's possible that Irene requested this shorter chronicle precisely because she had already seen Zonaras' ''Epitome''. Therefore, it can be inferred that Zonaras had already died by 1145.
Written works
His most important work, ''Extracts of History'' (, ), in eighteen books, extends from the creation of the world to the death of Alexius (1118). The earlier part is largely drawn from
Josephus
Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...
; for Roman history he chiefly followed
Cassius Dio
Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
up to the early third century. Contemporary scholars are particularly interested in his account of the third and fourth centuries, which depend upon sources, now lost, whose nature is fiercely debated. Central to this debate is the work of Bruno Bleckmann, whose arguments tend to be supported by continental scholars but rejected in part by English-speaking scholars. An English translation of these important sections has recently been published. The chief original part of Zonaras' history is the section on the reign of
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos (, – 15 August 1118), Latinization of names, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus, was Byzantine Emperor, Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. After usurper, usurping the throne, he was faced with a collapsing empire and ...
, whom he criticizes for the favour shown to members of his family, to whom Alexios entrusted vast estates and significant state offices. His history was continued by
Nicetas Acominatus.
Various ecclesiastical works have been attributed to Zonaras — commentaries on the
Church Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical peri ...
and the poems of
Gregory of Nazianzus; lives of Saints; and a treatise on the
Apostolic Canons — and there is no reason to doubt their genuineness. The lexicon, however, which has been handed down under his name (ed.
J. A. H. Tittmann 1808) is probably the work of a certain
Antonius Monachus (Stein's
Herodotus
Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...
, ii.479 f). The first ecclesiastical denunciation of the game of
chess
Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
on the part of 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 ...
was voiced by Zonaras. It was during his retirement as a monk to the monastery of
Mount Athos
Mount Athos (; ) is a mountain on the Athos peninsula in northeastern Greece directly on the Aegean Sea. It is an important center of Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox monasticism.
The mountain and most of the Athos peninsula are governed ...
that he wrote his commentary on the canons of the Eastern Church. The
Quinisext Council required both clergy and laity to give up the use of dice (Canon 50). Zonaras wanted chess to also be included for clergy and laity to give up.
Zonaras, commenting on Canon 50, wrote, "Because there are some of the Bishops and clergy who depart from virtue and play chess (''zatikron'') or dice or drink to excess, the Rule commands that such shall cease to do so or be excluded; and if a Bishop or elder or deacon or subdeacon or reader or singer do not cease so to do, he shall be cast out: and if laymen be given to chess-playing and drunkenness, they shall be excluded."
Notes
References
*
*
* ''
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' is a biographical dictionary of classical antiquity, edited by William Smith (lexicographer), William Smith and originally published in London by John Taylor (English publisher), Tayl ...
'',
William Smith, ed., Little, Brown and Company, Boston (1849), vol. III, p. 1331 ("Joannes Zonaras").
* ''
Harper's Dictionary of Classical Literature and Antiquities'',
Harry Thurston Peck, ed. (Second Edition, 1897), p. 1684 ("Ioannes Zonaras").
* ''
Oxford Classical Dictionary
The ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'' (''OCD'') is generally considered "the best one-volume dictionary on antiquity," an encyclopædic work in English consisting of articles relating to classical antiquity and its civilizations. It was first pub ...
'', N. G. L. Hammond and H. H. Scullard, eds., Clarendon Press, Oxford (Second Edition, 1970), p. 1147 ("Johannes Zonaras").
* Thomas Banchich and Eugene Lane, ''The History of Zonaras from Alexander Severus to the Death of Theodosius the Great'', Routledge (2009).
External links
Complete works of Zonarasin Greek at the
Perseus Digital Library
The Perseus Digital Library, formerly known as the Perseus Project, is a free-access digital library founded by Gregory Crane in 1987 and hosted by the Department of Classical Studies of Tufts University. One of the pioneers of digital libraries, ...
*
Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae: ''Ioannes Zonaras''.
Immanuel Bekker ed. Greek text with Latin translation.
vol. 1,
vol. 2,
vol. 3
*Editio princeps: ''Ioannis Zonarae Monachi, qui olim Byzantii Magnus Drungarius excubiaru
seu Biglae, & protosecretarius fuit, compendium Historiarum : in tres Tomos distinctum''. 3 vols., Greek text with Latin translation. Oporinus, Basel 1557
vol.1vol. 2vol.3(
Bavarian State Library)
Epitome Historionin Greek at the
Open Library
Open Library is an online project intended to create "one web page for every book ever published". Created by Aaron Swartz, Brewster Kahle, Alexis Rossi, Anand Chitipothu, and Rebecca Hargrave Malamud, Open Library is a project of the Internet ...
Epitome Historionin Greek at th
Poesia latina siteFrench History form Severus Alexander to Justinianin
Wikisource
Wikisource is an online wiki-based digital library of free-content source text, textual sources operated by the Wikimedia Foundation. Wikisource is the name of the project as a whole; it is also the name for each instance of that project, one f ...
Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Graeca with analytical indexes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zonaras, Joannes
12th-century Byzantine historians
12th-century Eastern Orthodox theologians
Byzantine theologians
Officials of Alexios I Komnenos
Byzantine chroniclers
Year of death uncertain
1140s deaths
1070s births
People associated with Mount Athos
Eastern Orthodox chroniclers
Year of birth uncertain