The Historians' History of the World 06

Comnena, Anna, Ἀλεξίας, Augsburg, 1610.

Anna Comnena, daughter of Alexis I Comnenus, was born 1083 A.D. Gifted by nature with rare talent, she was instructed in every branch of science. After the accession of John, 1118, she was exiled for conspiring to place her husband upon the throne. During her retirement she composed the biography of her father. The Alexias is history in the form of artistic romance. The truth is embellished to suit the purpose of the author, whose aim was to glorify the father and his daughter; but with all its defects, it is still the most interesting and one of the most valuable products of Byzantine literature. Her work is practically a continuation of that of her husband, Nicephorus Bryennius, already mentioned.

Comnenus and Proclus, Ἰστορία Πρελούμπου καὶ ἄλλων διαφόρων Δεσποτῶν τῶν Ἰωαννίνων ἀπὸ τῆς ἀλώσεως αὐτῶν παρὰ τῶν Σέρβων ἕως τῆς παραδόσεως εἰς τοὺς Τούρκους, edited by Andreas Mustoxydes, in his Ἑλληνουμνήμων (Corfu), 1843-1847; edited by G. Destunis, with a Russian translation, St. Petersburg, 1858.

This is a fragment of an alleged history of Epirus.

Constantinus VII, Flavius Porphyrogenitus, Ἱστορικὴ διήγησις τοῦ βίου καί τῶν πράξεων τοῦ Βασιλείου τοῦ βασιλέως (Vita Basilii), edited by Leo Allatius, in his Σύμμικτα, with a Latin translation, Cologne, 1653.

Constantinus VII, Flavius Porphyrogenitus, only son of the emperor Leo (VI) Philosophus, was born in 905. He reigned nominally from 911 to 959, but from 912 to 944 the Eastern Empire was usurped by Lecapenus. In his enforced retirement he devoted himself to scholarship, and became an assiduous writer, compiler, and patron of learning. Besides the Life of Basilius, he wrote works dealing with imperial and provincial government, military and naval warfare, and court ceremonial. His surname, Porphyrogenitus (“born in the purple”), was acquired from πόρφυρα, the name of an apartment in the imperial palace in which he was born, and hence the origin of the expression as applied to royalty.

Corippus, Flavius Cresconius, Corippi Africani fragmentum carminis in laudem imperatoris Justini Minoris; Carmen panegyricum in laudem Anastasii quæstoris et magistri; de laudibus Justini Augusti Minoris heroico carmine libri IV, edited by Michael Ruiz (Madrid, 1579); Antwerp, 1581; Johannis, Milan, 1820.

Flavius Cresconius Corippus, the Latin poet, left two poems which are useful in tracing the history of his times; one, Johannis, reciting the history of the war of Johannes Patricius against the Moors; the other, De Laudibus Justini, an extravagant panegyric of the younger Justin (565-578 A.D.). A remarkable fact about this work is that the identity of its author with that of the Johannis was not established until more than two centuries after its publication, for Ruiz merely asserted that he copied the book from an ancient manuscript, of which he gave no description. Corippus, however, having mentioned in his preface that he had previously composed a poem on the African wars, researches brought the missing Johannis to light in the Royal Library at Buda in 1814, the work having been wrongly catalogued. Of the life of Corippus we know but little, except that he was born in Africa in 530 A.D. and died in 585. His works are found in best form in the Bonn “Corpus.”

Corpus scriptorum historiæ Byzantinæ, Bonn, 1828-1878, 49 vols.

This great work was commenced on the recommendation and under the superintendence of Niebuhr, and after his death continued by the Royal Prussian Academy. The separate volumes have been edited by Bekker, Hase, Dindorf, and other distinguished scholars.

Critobulus of Imbros, Ἱστορία, edited by C. Müller in his Fragmenta Historicorum Græcorum, vol. V, Paris, 1870 (trans. into Hungarian by K. Szabo, in Monumenta Hungariæ Historica, Scriptores, vol. XXII, Budapest, 1875).

Critobulus of Imbros, in about the year 1470, wrote a history of the sultan Mohammed II, covering the period 1457-1467. Diffuse in style, and feebly imitating the manner of Greek classic writers, the only value of Critobulus is that he represents the Greek mind at the period when it became reconciled to the rule of the Turkish conquerors.

Dexippus, P. Herennius, fragments preserved in the Bonn “Corpus.”

Dexippus wrote three historical works, only fragments of which are extant. He was a native of Attica, and distinguished himself in the Gothic invasion of Greece, 262 A.D. His history was continued by Eunapius.

Ducas, Michael, Historia Byzantina, in the Paris, Venice, and Bonn corpora.