John Geometres or Kyriotes (, ), 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 ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a Conscription, conscripted or volunteer Enlisted rank, enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, a warrant officer, or an Officer (armed forces), officer. Etymology The wo ...

, and

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

. He is one of the main literary figures of the

Macedonian Renaissance Macedonian Renaissance () is a historiographical term used for the blossoming of Byzantine culture in the 9th–11th centuries, under the eponymous Macedonian dynasty (867–1056), following the upheavals and transformations of the 7th–8th c ...

Biography and work

John was probably of noble descent, but other relatives have not been identified. He was well educated and served in the

Byzantine army The Byzantine army was the primary military body of the Byzantine Empire, Byzantine armed forces, serving alongside the Byzantine navy. A direct continuation of the East Roman army, Eastern Roman army, shaping and developing itself on the legac ...

before retiring as a monk.Kazhdan (1991), p. 1059 His career encompassed the eventful reigns of

Nikephoros II Phokas Nikephoros II Phokas (; – 11 December 969), Latinized Nicephorus II Phocas, was Byzantine emperor from 963 to 969. His career, not uniformly successful in matters of statecraft or of war, nonetheless greatly contributed to the resurgence of t ...

(r. 963–969),

John I Tzimiskes John I Tzimiskes (; 925 – 10 January 976) was the senior Byzantine emperor from 969 to 976. An intuitive and successful general who married into the influential Skleros family, he strengthened and expanded the Byzantine Empire to inclu ...

(r. 969–976) and the early years of

Basil II Basil II Porphyrogenitus (; 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar Slayer (, ), was the senior Byzantine emperor from 976 to 1025. He and his brother Constantine VIII were crowned before their father Romanos II died in 963, but t ...

(r. 976–1025). As a result, his poetry is full of references to the contemporary Byzantine conflicts with the

Bulgarians Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, ...

and the

Rus' Rus or RUS may refer to: People * East Slavic historical peoples (). See Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia ** Rus' people, the people of Rus' ** Rus, a legendary eponymous ancestor, see Lech, Czech and Rus * Rus (surname), a surname found in Ro ...

, as well as the rebellions of

Bardas Skleros Bardas Skleros (Greek: Βάρδας Σκληρός) or Sclerus was a Byzantine general who led a wide-scale Asian rebellion against Emperor Basil II during the years 976 to 979. Background Bardas' father Niketas Skleros belonged to the great f ...

and Bardas Phokas. Among the Byzantine emperors, he singles out Nikephoros II Phokas for particular praise, while he denigrates his murderer and successor John Tzimiskes.Vasiliev (1958), p. 365 He was previously erroneously identified with another John, Bishop of Melitene. John Geometres wrote both in verse and in prose. His works include

epigrams An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word derives from the Greek (, "inscription", from [], "to write on, to inscribe"). This literary device has been practiced for over two millennia. ...

, including a collection on monasticism called ''Paradeisos'' ("Paradise"), hymns to the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

, an ''

encomium ''Encomium'' (: ''encomia'') is a Latin word deriving from the Ancient Greek ''enkomion'' (), meaning "the praise of a person or thing." Another Latin equivalent is '' laudatio'', a speech in praise of someone or something. Originally was the ...

'' to an oak tree, as well as prose works on

rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...

, oratory and

exegesis Exegesis ( ; from the Ancient Greek, Greek , from , "to lead out") is a critical explanation or interpretation (philosophy), interpretation of a text. The term is traditionally applied to the interpretation of Bible, Biblical works. In modern us ...

Editions

The first edition of his poems was published by

John Antony Cramer John Antony Cramer (1793 – 24 August 1848), English classical scholar and geographer, was born at Mitlödi in Switzerland. Life He was educated at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford. He resided in Oxford until 1844, during which time he h ...

in 1841, based on the 13th-century ''Paris. suppl. gr. 352'' manuscript, but his edition contained many errors. A revised edition with a translation in French was published by Émilie Marlène van Opstall in 2008. An edition and English translation of Geometres's prose ''Life of the Virgin Mary'' was published by Maximos Constas and Christos Simelidis in 2023. Maximos Constas and Christos Simelidis, ''Life of the Virgin Mary'',

Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library The Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library (est. 2010) is a series of books published by Harvard University Press in collaboration with the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. It presents editions of texts originally written in medieval Latin ...

77 (Cambridge, MA, 2023)

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Biography and work

Editions

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Further reading