Search

[German version] (Πλανούδης/ Planoúdēs, c. AD 1255 - c. AD 1305). Before he entered monastic life ( c. 1283) P.’ first name was Manuel. He was an all-round scholar with wide interests and knowledge in many specialist areas: teacher, copyist, editor and commentator of classical authors, and translator of Latin literature. He is regarded as the first philologist of the Palaeologan period (AD 1259- AD 1453; cf. Palaeologan Renaissance). Born in Nicomedia, he went to Constantinople in AD 1261 and had close connectio…

[German version] School exercises, of various content and levels of difficulty, compiled by significant Byzantine scholars and simple teachers, used for teaching Greek grammar, spelling and syntax. Particularly favoured in the middle-Byzantine Period (12th century AD), a σχέδος/ schédos consisted of intentionally itacized (Itacism) malformations and incorrect combinations of syllables, and was constructed around the homonymy of the antístoicha ( e, o and i sounds). In this word-puzzle, which as a rule had edifying stories, fables, gnomai, lives of saints, e…

(Φώτιος/ Phṓtios). [German version] [1] Byzantine high-ranking military officer Stepson of Belisarius, son of his wife Antonina from an earlier marriage, born around AD 520, died AD 578/585. After AD 535, he accompanied Belisarius on campaigns in Italy, and after AD 541 in Persia . In a novelistic passage from the Historia arcana (1,31-35; 2,1-17; 3,2-5; 3,12f.; 3,21-29) Procopius relates that P. was incarcerated by the empress Theodora on Antonina’s orders because P. tried to thwart her affair with Theodosius, an adoptive son of her husband. How…

(see also Constantinus). [German version] [1] K. VII Porphyrogennetos Byzantine emperor (Byzantine emperor AD 905-959; sole ruler 945-959). Son of the Byzantine emperor Leon VI (886-912) and of Zoe Karbonopsina; for K. as a politician see Constantinus [9]. His literary activity was directed toward the preservation and codification of knowledge for practical purposes. Thus, the Excerpta [1], a historical and moral encyclopaedia which he inspired, are a gigantic, thematically structured compilation in 53 volumes. It consists of sections from several h…

[German version] [1] Bishop of Laodicea Bishop of  Laodicea (died c. AD 360). The Alexandrine presbyter G., dismissed by his local bishop Alexander in c. 320 because of his radical  Arianism, became bishop of Syrian Laodicea c. 330 following his stay in Antioch. In persistent animosity to  Athanasius, he and Basilius of Ancyra gathered the Trinitarian Church Party of the Homoeousians (slogan: ‘The father resembles the son in essence’ ὅμοιος κατ' οὐσίαν) in 358/9. Also, he played a role in drafting the 4th Sirman Creed (22 May 359)…

(Εὐστάθιος; Eustáthios). [German version] [1] from Caria Rhetor of the 4th cent. AD, imperial administrator, consularis Syriae Rhetor of the 4th cent. AD; studied in Athens and later settled in Tyre. He held many offices in the imperial administration, and used them to enrich himself (i.a.: rationalis summarum per orientem), in 388 he was consularis Syriae. He was at first a friend of  Libanius (panegyric: Lib. Or. 44), later his enemy (diatribe: Or. 54, cf. also Or. 1,271-275). There is no other witness apart from Libanius. Weißenberger, Michael (Greifswald) [German version] [2] Neop…

[German version] I. Preliminary remark Originally sung poetry, often accompanied by dance, metric literature was obviously subject to other formative conditions than poetry intended from the outset for spoken presentation or for reading. Texts of such kinds still show traces of their earlier sound form ( Music). Accordingly the form ranged from simple ‘melodic lines of sound’, as can be presumed for the ancient Orient and Israel ( parallelismus membrorum, strophic poetry, sometimes with rhythmic accent order, congruence of form and language s…

(Δημήτριος; Dēmḗtrios). Well-known personalities: the Macedonian King D. [2] Poliorketes; the politician and writer D. [4] of Phalerum; the Jewish-Hellenistic chronographer D. [29]. I. Politically active personalities [German version] [1] Officer under Alexander the Great Officer under Alexander [4], fought at Gaugamela as commander of a troop ( ile) of  Hetairoi and in India he commanded a hipparchy. Badian, Ernst (Cambridge, MA) Bibliography Berve 2, no. 256. [German version] [2] D. Poliorketes Son of  Antigonus [1], born 337/6 BC (Diod. Sic. 19,96,1). In 320 he m…