Menander Protector,
Byzantine historian, was born in
Constantinople in the middle of the
6th century AD. The little that is known of his life is contained in the account of himself quoted by
Suidas. He at first took up the study of law, but abandoned it for a life of pleasure. When his fortunes were low, the patronage accorded to literature by the Emperor
Maurice, at whose court he was a military officer (hence the epithet
Protector, which denotes his military function), encouraged him to try writing history.
He took as his model
Agathias who like him had been a jurist, and his history begins at the point where Agathias leaves off. It embraces the period from the arrival of the
Kutrigurs in
Thrace during the reign of
Justinian in
538 down to the death of the emperor
Tiberius in
582. Considerable fragments of the work are preserved in the excerpts of
Constantine Porphyrogenitus and in Suidas. Although the style is sometimes bombastic, he is considered trustworthy and is one of the most valuable authorities for the history of the 6th century, especially on geographical and ethnographical matters. He was an eye-witness of some of the events he describes. Like Agathias, he wrote epigrams, one of which, on a Persian
magus, who became a convert to
Christianity and died the death of a martyr, is preserved in the
Greek Anthology (i.101).
References
The fragments can be found in:
- C. W. Müller, Fragmenta historicorum Graecorum, 4, 200
- JP Migne, Patrologia Graeca, 113
- L. Dindorf, Historici Graeci minores, 2
See also
Byzantine Empire or Byzantium is the term conventionally used since the 19th century to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire of the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople.
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historian is an individual who studies history and who writes on history.[1] The person may be an authority (or expert) over history,<ref name="wordnetprinceton" /> but this is not a requirement.
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Constantinople (Greek: Κωνσταντινούπολις, Konstantinoúpolis, or Πόλις, Polis
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The 6th century is the period from 501 to 600 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. This century is widely considered to mark the end of Classical Antiquity and the beginning of the Dark Ages.
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The Suda (Σοῦδα or alternatively Suidas Σουΐδας
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Maurice
Byzantine Emperor
solidus of Maurice's reign
Reign August 13, 582 – November 27, 602
Full name Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus
Born 539
Arabissus, Cappadocia
Died November 27, 602
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Agathias or Agathias Scholasticus (c. AD 536-582/594), of Myrina, an Aeolian city in western Asia Minor, was a Greek poet and the historian who is a principal source for that part of the reign of Justinian I covered in his history.
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The Kutrigurs (Kotrags/Kotzagerek/Kazarig) were a horde of equestrian nomads better known as the Bulgars that wandered the Eurasian plains during the dark ages. They came into existence when the Eurasian Avars conquered half of the Hunno-Bulgars.
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Thrace, (Turkish: Trakya, Romanian: Tracia, Bulgarian: Тракия or Trakiya, Greek:
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Justinian I
Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire
Justinian depicted on one of the famous mosaics of the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna
Reign 9 August 527 - 13 or 14 November 565
Full name Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus
Born
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6th century · 7th century
500s 510s 520s 530s 540s 550s 560s
535 536 537 538 539 540 541
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Tiberius II Constantine
Byzantine Emperor
Tiberius II Constantine, wearing consular robes
Reign 574 – 582
Full name Flavius Tiberius Constantinus Augustus
Born c.
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6th century · 7th century
550s 560s 570s 580s 590s 600s 610s
579 580 581 582 583 584 585
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Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos or Porphyrogenitus, "the Purple-born" (Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Ζ΄ Πορφυρογέννητος,
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Magi (singular Magus, from Latin, via Greek μάγος ; Old English: Mage; from Old Persian maguš and Proto-Kurdish mâgî
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Christianity
Foundations
Jesus Christ
Church Theology
New Covenant Supersessionism
Dispensationalism
Apostles Kingdom Gospel
History of Christianity Timeline
Bible
Old Testament New Testament
Books Canon Apocrypha
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Greek Anthology (also called Anthologia Graeca or, sometimes, the Palatine Anthology) is a collection of poems, mostly epigrams, that span the classical and Byzantine periods of Greek literature.
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Jacques Paul Migne (25 October, 1800 - 24 October, 1875) was a French priest who published inexpensive and widely-distributed editions of theological works, encyclopedias and the texts of the Church Fathers.
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The Patrologia Graeca (or Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Graeca) is an edited collection of writings by the Christian Church Fathers in the Greek language in 161 volumes plus a separate index, produced in 1857–1866 by J.P. Migne.
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Karl Krumbacher (September 23, 1856 - December 12, 1909), German scholar, an expert on Byzantine culture.
He was born at Kurnach in Bavaria, and was educated at the universities of Munich and Leipzig, and held the professorship of the middle age and modern Greek language
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