Julianus, Flavius Claudius, Orationes, edited by P. Martinius and C. Cantoclarus, in their edition of Julian’s works, Paris, 1583; by Petavius, Paris, 1630; by Ezechiel Spanheim, Leipsic, 1696. (The orations have also been published separately.)
Flavius Claudius Julianus, better known as Julian the Apostate, was born at Constantinople, November 17th, 331. Julian, great as an emperor, was remarkable as an author. He wrote an immense number of elaborate works on varied subjects which are important sources of information regarding the religion and philosophy of his period. The Orations of Julian are historically valuable, especially those dealing with the family of Constantine. He also deals in them with Platonic philosophy and sun-worship, and betrays in many ways his affection for Paganism as opposed to Christianity.
Leo Diaconus, Ἱστορία βιβλίοις ύ, edited by C. B. Hase, with a Latin translation, Paris, 1818.
Leo Diaconus lived in the tenth century, and was a native of Caloë, near Mt. Tmolus. He was a student at Constantinople in 966, and he served as military chaplain under Basilius II in the war against the Bulgarians (986). His history embraces the period between 959-975. Honest and fearless when relating contemporary events, the history, although badly written, and inaccurate on geography and classical history is important, since the author is the only contemporary writer on one of the most brilliant and successful periods of Byzantine history, that of Nicephorus Phocas and Joannes Zimisces. The book contains valuable data on the history and customs of the Bulgarians and Russians, on which Leo is the oldest authority.
Leo Grammaticus, Χρονογραφία, τὰ τῶν νέων Βασιλέων περιέχουτα (Chronographia Res a Recentioribus Imperatoribus Gestas Complectens), first printed in the Paris “Corpus.”
Leo Grammaticus was one of the continuators of Theophanes. Nothing certain is known of his life. His Chronicles extend from 813 A.D. to the death of Romanus Lecapenus in 948, or 949.
Malalas, Joannes, Χρονογραφία, edited by Edmund Chilmead, with a Latin translation, Oxford, 1691.
Joannes Malalas (Malelas) was born at Antioch, most probably at about the time of Justinian the Great (528-565), although some authorities assign him to the ninth century. His voluminous chronicle originally began with the creation of the world, but the commencement is lost, and the extant portion begins with the death of Vulcanus and the accession of his son Sol, and finishes with the expedition of Marcianus the nephew of Justinian the Great. Malalas relates much that is absurd, but his account of Justinian is valuable and his work is extremely important as being the first to represent the type of a Christian-Byzantine monk’s chronicle, which is so important in the history of literature. The book is also the first important monument of the popular Grecised idiom, and hence has great philological interest. The influence of Malalas on later Byzantine, oriental, and even western annalists is immeasurable. For six centuries he was so copied and recopied, that the original work became superfluous and now there is only one manuscript of it in existence.
Malchus Philadelphus, Βυζανταϊκα, printed in the Bonn “Corpus” (Excerpta).
Malchus Philadelphus, born in Syria, and a rhetorician of Constantinople, wrote a history which was used in the Excerpta de Legationibus, a compilation undertaken by order of Constantine VII, Porphyrogenitus. The portion of his work of which we have knowledge comprehends only the period from 473 to 480 A.D., this part having been preserved by Photius.
Manasses, Constantinus, Σύνοψις ἱστορική, Latin version by Leunclavius, Basel, 1573; edited by J. Meursius, Leyden, 1616; translated into Slavonic by V. Jagíc, in the Archiv für slavische Philologie, Berlin, 1877; and by J. Bogdan, in his Vechile cronice Moldovenesci pana la Urechia, Bukarest, 1891.
Constantinus Manasses lived under the emperor Manuel Comnenus in the middle of the twelfth century, and composed several works in both rhyme and prose. His history, curiously written in a kind of rhythmical prose (“political verse”), is a chronicle from the Creation to the accession of Alexis I in 1081. The edition of Meurius was dedicated to Gustavus Adolphus.
Menander Protector, Ἱστορία, edited by Angelo Mai, in his Scriptorum Veterum nova collectio, vol. II, Rome, 1825-1838, 10 vols.; edited by C. Müller, in his Fragmenta Historicum Græcorum, vol. IV, Paris, 1841-1870, 5 vols., new edition 1883; by L. Dindorf, in his Historici Græci Minores, Leipsic, 1870-1871, 2 vols.
Menander Protector was born at Byzantium in the middle of the sixth century. As a historian, he wrote a continuation of Agathias, from 558 to 582, and in his turn he was continued by Theophylactus Simocatta. Menander is often quoted by Suidas and is one of the best sources for the history of the sixth century.
Michael Panaretus, Περὶ τῶν τῆς Τραπεζοῦντος βασιλέων, τῶν Μεγάλων Κομνῃνῶν, ὅπως καὶ πότς καὶ πόσον ἕκαστος ἐβασιλευσεν, edited by L. F. Tafel, in his Eustathii Metropolitæ Thessalonicensis opuscula etc., Frankfort, 1832; and by Ph. Fallmerayer, in the Abhandlungen of the Academy of Bavaria, 1844.
Michael Panaretus lived in the first half of the fifteenth century and gives a chronicle of the empire of Trebizond from 1204 to 1426. He was an eye-witness of many of the events described, and is particularly valuable on this account.
Neophytus, Νεοφύτου πρεσβυτέρου μοναχοῦ καὶ ἐγκλειστοῦ περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν χώραν Κύπρον σκαιῶν (Neophyti Presbyteri Monachi et Inclusi, De Calamitatibus Cypri), edited by J. B. Cotelier, in his Ecclesiæ Græcæ Monumenta, Paris, 1677-1686, 3 vols.
Neophytus was born in 1134 and lived as priest and monk in his native Cyprus. His epistle, as named above, gives an account of the usurpation of Cyprus by Isaac Comnenus and of the imprisonment of Isaac by Richard Cœur-de-Lion.
Nicephorus Callistus Xantoupulus, Historia Ecclesiastica, Latin version, edited by Joh. Lang, Basel, 1553; reprinted with scholia, 1560 (61); Antwerp, 1560; Paris, 1562, 1566, 1573; Frankfort, 1588; Greek text, with Lang’s translation, Paris, 1630, 2 vols.
Nicephorus Callistus Xantoupulus died about 1350, and the date of his birth has been inferred as about 1290. There are now extant eighteen of the twenty-three books of his ecclesiastical history, which was compiled from Eusebius, Evagrius, and other writers, and covers the period from the time of Christ to the death of Phocas in 610. The work is characterised by its elegant style, which is far above that of his contemporaries. The author’s credulity and lack of judgment, however, cause the book to abound in fables.
Nicephorus, Patriarcha, Κωνσταντινουπόλεως Ἱστορία σύντομος (Breviarum Historicum), edited, with Latin version, by D. Patavius, Paris, 1616; translated into French by Monterole, Paris, 1618, and by F. Morel, Paris, 1634; Χρονογραφικὸν σύντομον, edited by Jos. Scaliger, in his Thesaurus Temporum, Leyden, 1606; by J. Camerarius, in a Latin version, Basel, 1561.
Nicephorus, patriarch of Constantinople from 806 to 815, when he was deposed by Leo Armenus, was born in 758, and held the office of notary to the emperor Constantine VI. His Breviarum begins with the murder of Maurice in 602 and is continued to the marriage of Leo IV in 770. The Chronology begins with Adam and is brought down to the death-year of the author, 828. Nicephorus is sometimes styled “Confessor” on account of his firm opposition to the iconoclasts.