John Skylitzes' extraordinary Middle Byzantine chronicle covers the reigns of the Byzantine emperors from the death of Nicephorus I in 811 to the deposition of Michael VI in 1057, and provides the only surviving continuous narrative of the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. A high official living in the late eleventh century, Skylitzes used a number of existing Greek histories (some of them no longer extant) to create a digest of the previous three centuries. It is without question the major historical source for the period and is cited constantly in modern scholarship. This edition features introductions by Jean-Claude Cheynet and Bernard Flusin, along with extensive notes. It will be an essential and exciting addition to the libraries of all historians of the Byzantine age.

The first complete English translation of John Skylitzes' Middle Byzantine chronicle, with introductions and notes.

About the Author
John Skylitzes lived and wrote towards the end of the eleventh century AD. He was a kouropalates (official in charge of running the palace) and a former commander of the elite Vigla regiment. His major work is the Synopsis of Byzantine History. There is also a continuation of this work, known as Skylitzes Continuatus, covering 1057-1079, which some historians believe was also written by Skylitzes.

Reviews
'As John Wortley indicates, this translation took many years to come to fruition. But it now has the potential to contribute very substantially to those reassessments of the political and cultural history of Byzantium in the tenth and eleventh centuries which are currently underway in a variety of scholarly contexts across Europe and North America.' Catherine Holmes, Early Medieval Europe



Book Information
ISBN 9780521767057
Author John Skylitzes
Format Hardback
Page Count 526
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 950g
Dimensions(mm) 231mm * 157mm * 33mm