(Ἀγαθίας; Agathías). Historian and poet from Myrina in Asia Minor, son of the rhetor Memnon. Born c. 532, died shortly after 580 AD. He studied rhetoric in Alexandria and law in Constantinople, where he then successfully practised as a lawyer (and this is why he was named Σχολαστικός; Scholastikós).
His historical work continues that of Procopius, recounts in five books -- with long ethnographic and chronological digressions (up until 579) -- events of the years AD 552-559. He attempts to imitate Herodotus and Thucydides, meticu…