John the Lydian or John Lydus (; ) ( AD 490 – 565) 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 ...

administrator and writer. He is considered a key figure in antiquarian studies from the fourth to the sixth century A.D. Although he is a secondary author, his works are significant because they are filled with valuable insights into history, astronomy, astrology, mythology, religion, and language. Additionally, they provide important information on Roman and Byzantine culture, making them worthy of in-depth study.

Life and career

He was born in AD 490 at

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Lydia Lydia (; ) was an Iron Age Monarchy, kingdom situated in western Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey. Later, it became an important province of the Achaemenid Empire and then the Roman Empire. Its capital was Sardis. At some point before 800 BC, ...

, whence his

cognomen A ''cognomen'' (; : ''cognomina''; from ''co-'' "together with" and ''(g)nomen'' "name") was the third name of a citizen of ancient Rome, under Roman naming conventions. Initially, it was a nickname, but lost that purpose when it became hereditar ...

"Lydus". At an early age he set out to seek his fortune 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 ...

, and held high court and state offices in the

praetorian prefecture of the East The praetorian prefecture of the East, or of the Orient (, ) was one of four large praetorian prefectures into which the Later Roman Empire, Late Roman Empire was divided. As it comprised the larger part of the Eastern Roman Empire, and its seat w ...

under Anastasius and

Justinian Justinian I (, ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was Roman emperor from 527 to 565. His reign was marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovatio imperii'', or "restoration of the Empire". This ambition was ...

. Around 543, Lydus was appointed to a chair of Latin language and literature at an institute of higher education of Constantinople. In 552, he lost Justinian's favour and was dismissed. The date of his death is not known, but he was probably alive during the early years of

Justin II Justin II (; ; died 5 October 578) was Eastern Roman emperor from 565 until 578. He was the nephew of Justinian I and the husband of Sophia, the niece of Justinian's wife Theodora. Justin II inherited a greatly enlarged but overextended empir ...

(reigned 565–578).

Literary work

During his retirement he occupied himself in the compilation of works on the antiquities of Rome, three of which have been preserved: #''De Ostentis'' (Gr. ), on the origin and progress of the art of

divination Divination () is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic ritual or practice. Using various methods throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a should proceed by reading signs, ...

#''De Magistratibus reipublicae Romanae'' (Gr. ), especially valuable for the administrative details of the time of Justinian; the work is now dated to 550 by Michael Maas. #''De Mensibus'' (Gr. ), a history of the different pagan festivals of the year. The chief value of these books consists in the fact that the author made use of the works (now lost) of old Roman writers on similar subjects. Lydus was also commissioned by Justinian to compose a panegyric on the emperor, and a history of his campaign against

Sassanid Persia The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, th ...

; but these, as well as some poetical compositions, are lost. He was interested in gynaecology and embryology and included several related passages in his "De Mensibus", with references to previous authors. His sources are mainly Greek, and two of them are Latin.

Editions and translations

There is an edition of ''De Ostentis'' by Curt Wachsmuth (1897), with full account of the authorities in the prolegomena. There is an edition of ''De Magistratibus'' and ''De Mensibus'' by Richard Wünsch (1898–1903).full text a
archive.org
/ref> See also the essay by CB Hase (the first editor of the ''De Ostentis'') prefixed to I. Bekker's edition of Lydus (1837) in the Bonn ''Corpus scriptorum hist. Byzantinae''. For ''De Magistratibus'', Wünsch's edition has been superseded by Anastasius C. Bandy's 1983 edition and translation. See also: *''The Works of Ioannis Lydus'', Vols. I–IV (

Edwin Mellen Press The Edwin Mellen Press, sometimes stylised as Mellen Press, is an academic publisher. It was founded in 1972 by theology professor Herbert Richardson (publisher), Herbert W. Richardson. It has been involved in a number of notable legal and acad ...

, 2013). New critical translations of De Mensibus, De Ostentis and De Magistratibus by Anastasius Bandy. Co-edited by Anastasia Bandy, Demetrios J. Constantelos and Craig J. N. de Paulo. * John the Lydian, ''De Magistratibus. On the Magistracies of the Roman Constitution.'' Translated by T. F. Carney. December 1971, Coronado Press. * John the Lydian, ''On powers, or, The magistracies of the Roman state / Ioannes Lydus''; introduction, critical text, translation, commentary, and indices by Anastasius C. Bandy. Series: Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society, v. 149 . Philadelphia : American Philosophical Society, 1983, c1982. Greek text, parallel English translation. Based on the Codex Caseolinus. * ''Des magistratures de l'état romain.'' Jean le Lydien. Text, French translation and commentary by Michel Dubuisson, Jacques Schamp. Belles Lettres (2006)

Notes

References

External links

''Corpus scriptorum historiae byzantinae'' (Bonn, 1837) edition of the works of John Lydus
Greek, with Latin translation at the bottom of each page.

* ttps://books.google.com/books?id=9roiAAAAMAAJ Teubner edition of ''De Mensibus''(1898) by R. Wünsch. (Greek text only)
English translation of ''De Mensibus'' (with annotations and introduction) by Mischa Hooker, 2nd ed. (2017)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lydus, Joannes Laurentius 490s births 6th-century deaths 6th-century Byzantine writers Byzantine Anatolians Byzantine officials Historians of Justinian I People from Alaşehir Iberian War 560s deaths