George Syncellus, Albas or Monachus, lived in the eighth and ninth centuries, and gained his epithet as being the personal attendant or syncellus of the patriarch Tarsasius, who died in 806. His chronicle extends from Adam to Diocletian, but was intended to proceed to 800 A.D., Theophanes of Isaurus actually continuing it to 811. The chronicle of Syncellus is, together with Eusebius, the most important work for a knowledge of Christian chronography.
Glycas, Michael, Βίβλος χρονική (Annales), edited by J. Meurius, Theodori Metochitæ, Historiæ Romanæ, etc., Leyden, 1618; Latin translation by Leunclavius, Basel, 1572.
Michael Glycas was born either at Constantinople or in Sicily, but nothing is certain about his personality or period. His Annals, from the Creation, go down to the year 1118, so that he must have lived after that date. He writes clearly and concisely, and displays a knowledge of foreign languages. Meurius, in his edition, erroneously ascribed the book to Theodorus Metochita.
Gregoras Nicephorus, Ῥωμαϊκὴ ἱστορία, edited by H. Wolf, with a Latin translation, Basel, 1562.
Gregoras (1295-1359) led a life of literary activity which covered nearly all fields of Byzantine learning. His history is a continuation of the work of Pachymeres, and commences with the capture of Constantinople by the Latins in 1204 and goes down to 1359.
Hankius, Martin, De Byzantinarum rerum scriptoribus Græcis, Leipsic, 1677.—Hesychius of Miletus, Opuscula, edited by Junius, with a Latin version, Antwerp, 1572; by Meursius, Leyden, 1613; by J. C. Orellius, Leipsic, 1820.
Hesychius, called the Illustrious, was born at Miletus, and lived in the times of the emperors Anastasius I, Justin I, and Justinian II. Accounts of his personality are vague, but he is known to be the author of the following works: Ἱστορία Ῥωμαϊκή τε καὶ παντοδαπή, or Χρονικὴ ἱστορία, a synopsis of world history, from the time of Belus, the alleged founder of the Assyrian Empire (1402 B.C.), to the death of Anastasius I in 518; Ὀνοματολόγος ἢ πίναξ τῶν ἐν παιδείᾳ ὀνομαστῶν, which comprises biographies of Hellenic writers, but of which only fragments were preserved; Πάτρια Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, a book on the primitive history of the city of Byzantium which originally formed part of his history.
Joannes VI, Cantacuzenus, Ἱστοριῶν βιβλία Δ, published by Gretserus, with a Latin translation by Jacob Pontanus, Ingolstadt, 1603; edited by Pierre Seguier, Paris, 1645.
Joannes Angelus Comnenus Palæologus Cantacuzenus, emperor of Constantinople from 1342 to 1355, is also sometimes styled Joannes VI, being confused with his ward and rival of the same name, who, nominally succeeding in 1342, did not actually rule until 1355. Cantacuzenus’ history covers the period from 1320 to 1357, including his own reign. Its style is easy, dignified, and discriminative, but often vain and hypocritical when relating to his own life or friends. It should be compared with the work of Nicephorus Gregoras, who writes of the same period. Cantacuzenus also wrote a confutation of Mohammedanism.
Joannes of Antioch, Ἱστορία Χρονική ἀπὸ Ἁδάμ. (Historia Chronographica ab Adamo), edited by Valesius in his Excerpta, Paris, 1634.
Joannes of Antioch wrote a chronicle at a period conjectured to be about 620 A.D. Nothing is known of his personal life, but Gelzer is inclined to identify him with the patriarch John of Antioch (631-649). His history, commencing with Adam, must have been written after the death of Phocas in 610, for he describes that ruler as “bloodthirsty,” “ὁ αὐτὸς Φωκᾶς ὑπῆρχεν αἰμοπότης.”
Joannes of Epiphaneia, Ἰωάννου σχολαστικοῦ καὶ ἀπὸ ἐπάρχων Ἐπιφανέως περὶ τῆς τοῦ νέου Χοσρόου προσχωρήσεως πρὸς Μαυρίκιον τὸν Ῥωμαίων αὑτοκράτορα ἱστοριῶν τόμος ά, edited by B. Hase (with Leo Diaconus), Paris, 1819; by C. Müller, in his Fragmenta Historicorum Græcorum, Paris, 1841-1870, 5 vols. (new edition 1883); by L. Dindorf, in his Historici Græci Minores, Leipsic, 1870-1871, 2 vols.
Joannes of Epiphaneia flourished at the end of the sixth century, and his history deals with the Byzantine affairs from Justinian to Maurice. The manuscript of his work dates from the thirteenth century, and is in the Vatican.
Joannes Laurentius, Περὶ μηνῶν συγγραφή (De Mensibus Liber), edited by Nicolaus Schow, Leipsic, 1794.
Joannes Laurentius, of Philadelphia, was a Byzantine poet of the sixth century, but his poems have not survived. His historical commentary on the Roman calendar, named above, is compiled from numerous sources, mostly otherwise unknown. He also wrote Περὶ ἀρχῶν τῆς Ῥωμαίων πολιτείας (De Magistratibus Reipublicæ Romanæ), in which he gives an unfavourable picture of the emperor Zeno.
Joannes Siculus, Die Chronik des Johannes Sikeliota, edited by A. Heinrich, Gratz, 1892.
Joannes Siculus is supposed to have written a compendium of history from the Creation to Michael III, 866 A.D., or perhaps 1204. Much of the work is lost, the extant portion breaking off in the midst of the Trojan War, after reciting the ancient history of the Assyrians, Egyptians, Greeks, Jews, Persians, and Ptolemeans.
Joel, Χρονογράφια ἐν συνόψει, first edited by Leo Allatius in the Paris “Corpus.”
Joel lived in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and wrote a synopsis of the most important events of history, as known to him, laying stress on Byzantine affairs. The scope of the work is from Adam to 1204 A.D.
John of Ephesus, Ἱστορία ἐκκλησιάστικη, The third Book of the Ecclesiastical History of John, Bishop of Ephesus, edited by William Cureton, Oxford, 1853 (other fragments have been edited by J. P. N. Land, the Dutch historian, in his Anecdota Syriaca, Leyden, 1856, 4 vols.).
John, bishop of Asia, or Ephesus, was born at Amid about 505. He led the Monophysite party and enjoyed the favour of Justinian. The third book of his history commences with the persecution under Justin in 571. He tells us that, “Most of these histories were written at the very time when the persecution was going on, and under the difficulties caused by its pressure; and it was even necessary that friends should remove the leaves on which these chapters were inscribed, and every other particle of writing, and conceal them in various places, where they sometimes remained for two or three years. When therefore matters occurred which the writer wished to record, it was possible that he might have partly spoken of them before, but he had no papers or notes by which to read and know whether they had been described or not. If therefore he did not remember that he had recorded them, at some subsequent time he probably again proceeded to their detail; and therefore occasionally the same subject is recorded in more chapters than one; nor afterwards did he ever find a fitting time for plainly and clearly arranging them in an orderly narrative.” This extract explains the cause of the confused condition of the History. John died in about his eightieth year. The first book of his history has been lost, the second is only in fragments; but a manuscript of the third, in the British Museum, is fairly complete.