Petrus Siculus, Peter Sikeliotes, or Peter of Sicily () was the putative author of a text on the history of the
Paulicians
Paulicianism (Classical Armenian: Պաւղիկեաններ, ; , "The followers of Paul"; Arab sources: ''Baylakānī'', ''al Bayāliqa'' )Nersessian, Vrej (1998). The Tondrakian Movement: Religious Movements in the Armenian Church from the 4th ...
, originally titled the ''Useful History, Refutation, and Overthrow of the Hollow and Foolish Heresy of the Manichaeans'', and known in Latin as the . He is only attested from the sole surviving manuscript of this text, and owing to textual contradictions and doubts over the authenticity of its provenance, there is no scholarly consensus on Peter's identity, or even his historical existence.
According the narrative contained within the ''History'', Peter was sent as a legate from the
Byzantine emperor
The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...
Basil I
Basil I, nicknamed "the Macedonian" (; 811 – 29 August 886), was List of Byzantine emperors, Byzantine emperor from 867 to 886. Born to a peasant family in Macedonia (theme), Macedonia, he rose to prominence in the imperial court after gainin ...
to the Paulician leader
Chrysocheir
Chrysocheir (), also known as Chrysocheres, Chrysocheris, or Chrysocheiros (Χρυσόχερης/Χρυσόχερις/Χρυσόχειρος), all meaning "goldhand", was the second and last leader of the Paulician principality of Tephrike from 8 ...
in 869–70, negotiating for an exchange of prisoners. He stayed in the Paulician city of
Tephrike/Tibrica, now
Divriği
Divriği (; ) is a town of eleven thousand people in Sivas Province, Turkey, and is the district capital of Divriği District.[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 ...]
, on the upper
Euphrates
The Euphrates ( ; see #Etymology, below) is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of West Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia (). Originati ...
, for nine months, and wrote the text during this time.
However, references to the author in the set of sermons against the Paulicians appended to the ''History'' appear to describe him as a monk and contain no reference to any imperial commission, and the ''History'' displays a knowledge of theology and heresiology that seem to better fit an ecclesiastic than an ambassador.
If the ''History'' is taken at face value, it was composed in 870–72, postdating the mission but before the death of Chrysocheir, who is treated as still alive.
The ''History'' was first published by Matthaeus Rader in
Ingolstadt
Ingolstadt (; Austro-Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ) is an Independent city#Germany, independent city on the Danube, in Upper Bavaria, with 142,308 inhabitants (as of 31 December 2023). Around half a million people live in the metropolitan ...
in 1604. Historians of the Paulicians have since debated the authenticity of the text inconclusively, with some scholars such as
Nina Garsoïan
Nina G. Garsoïan (April 11, 1923 – August 14, 2022) was a French-born American historian specializing in Armenian and Byzantine history. In 1969 she became the first female historian to get tenure at Columbia University and, subsequently, b ...
arguing that it is a later, 10th-century forgery, and others such as
Paul Lemerle defending its 9th-century background.
[Dixon 2022, p. 60.] Adding to the complexity of this debate, the text in its surviving form contains multiple narrative layers, the core content revolving around the mission to Tephrike to the east being couched within an appeal to suppress the spread of the heresy in
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
. The text in its existing form is subtitled "disguised as if written to the Archbishop of Bulgaria" (), perhaps a recognition by a later hand of the difficulty of reconciling these components.
References
External links
''Historia Manicheorum'' - Full text in Greek and Latin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrus Siculus
9th-century Byzantine writers
Byzantine diplomats
Christian anti-Gnosticism
Paulicianism
People from Sicily
European people whose existence is disputed