John Skylitzes, commonly Latinized as Ioannes Scylitzes (, ; , ; early 1040s – after 1101), 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 ...

historian of the late 11th century.

Life

Very little is known about his life. The title of his work records him as a '' kouropalatēs'' and a former ''droungarios'' of the ''Vigla'', whereby he is usually identified with a certain John Thrakesios. His major work is the ''Synopsis of Histories'' ( ), which covers the reigns of 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 ...

s from the death of

Nikephoros I Nikephoros I (; 750 – 26 July 811), also known as Nicephorus I, was Byzantine emperor from 802 to 811. He was General Logothete (finance minister) under Empress Irene, but later overthrew her to seize the throne for himself. Prior to becomi ...

in 811 to the deposition of Michael VI in 1057; it continues the

chronicle A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events ...

Theophanes the Confessor Theophanes the Confessor (; 759 – 817 or 818) was a member of the Byzantine aristocracy who became a monk and chronicler. He served in the court of Emperor Leo IV the Khazar before taking up the religious life. Theophanes attended the Second C ...

. There is a continuation of this work, known as ''Scylitzes Continuatus'', covering 1057 to 1079; some historians hypothesize that it was also written by Skylitzes.

''The Madrid Skylitzes''

The most famous manuscript of the ''Synopsis'' was produced in

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

in the 12th century known as the ''

Madrid Skylitzes The ''Madrid Skylitzes'' is a 12th-century illuminated manuscript version of the ''Synopsis of Histories'' () by John Skylitzes, which covers the reigns of the Byzantine emperors from the death of Nicephorus I in 811 to the deposition of Michael ...

'' (, ), and is now at the ''

Biblioteca Nacional de España The (National Library of Spain) is the national library of Spain. It is the largest public library in the country, and one of the largest in the world. Founded in 1711, it is an autonomous agency attached to the Ministry of Culture since 1 ...

'' in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. It features 574 miniatures, while some 100 have been lost, and is the only surviving Byzantine illuminated chronicle in Greek, providing an invaluable primary source for the visualization of contemporary Byzantium.

Explanatory notes

Citations

General and cited sources

''AHRB Skylitzes Colloquium''
Belfast, 21–22 September 2002, Institute for Byzantine Studies,

Queen's University, Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

. * Flusin, B. (trans.), J.-C. Cheynet (ed.), ''Jean Skylitzès: Empereurs de Constantinople'', Ed. Lethielleux, 2004, . * * Kiapidou, Eirini-Sophia. ''Ἡ Σύνοψη Ἱστοριῶν τοῦ Ἰωάννη Σκυλίτζη καὶ οἱ πηγές της (811‐1057). Συμβολὴ στὴ βυζαντινὴ ἱστοριογραφία κατὰ τὸν ΙΑ΄ αἰώνα'', Athens 2010. * * :: The Thurn edition supersedes the much older one by Migne. A popular edition is being prepared for Kanakis books (with parallel Modern Greek translation) and a facsimile edition of the

is also available from Militos (Μίλητος) Publishers. * Wortley, John (trans.). ''A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811–1057'' (by John Scylitzes, active 1081), Cambridge University Press, 2010.

External links

Notes by Paul Stephenson

with notes on Scylitzes by Catherine Holmes
Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Graeca with analytical indexes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skylitzes, John 11th-century Byzantine historians