Scylitzes

John Skylitzes wrote Synopsis of Histories (Greek: Σύνοψις Ἱστοριῶν), as a continuation of the Chronicle by Theophanes. Synopsis of Histories covers the period from 811-1057 CE and survives in nine manuscripts ( Neville, 2018:155). Neville (2018:155) describes the text as follows

The Synopsis historion provides one of the only political narratives for later tenth and early eleventh- century history. It covers the period from 811– 1057 and survives in nine manuscripts. Th e text is a compilation of selections from older histories, sometimes copied word for word, sometimes with deletions or embellishments by Skylitzes.¹ It was composed in the late eleventh century.² Th e text is a narrative of political and military history focusing on the lives and choices of emperors, revolts, and occasionally ecclesiastical politics.³

Th e Synopsis opens with a prologue in which the author criticizes much of recent Byzantine historical writing, which he accused of being too focused on recent events, too rooted in personal prejudices, and lacking in detail and factual accuracy. Instead, Skylitzes praised the work of George the Synkellos and Th eophanes Confessor. He claimed that he would omit passages from his sources that he believed contained more emotion than fact. In the prologue, Skylitzes names fourteen histories that he used as sources for his own. Most of these texts have not survived. It cannot be confi rmed that he used all of these, and he may have relied on other sources that he does not mention explicitly⁴.

Footnotes

1 Bernard Flusin , “ Re- writing History: John Skylitzes’ ‘Synopsis Historion ,’ ” in John Skylitzes: A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811– 1057 , trans. John Wortley ( Cambridge : Cambridge University Press , 2010 ), xii – xiii . For more on how Skylitzes utilized and modifi ed his sources, see especially Catherine Holmes , “ Th e Rhetorical Structures of John Skylitzes’ Synopsis Historion ,” in Rhetoric in Byzantium , ed. Elizabeth Jeff reys ( Aldershot : Ashgate , 2003 ), 187– 99 ; Catherine Holmes , Basil II and the Government of Empire: 976– 1025 ( Oxford : Oxford University Press , 2005 ) .

2 Flusin, “Re- writing History,” xii; Werner Seibt , “ Ioannes Skylitzes. Zur Person des Chronisten ,” Jahrbuch der Ö sterreichischen Byzantinistik 25 ( 1976 ): 85 . Holmes, Basil II , 85 .

3 Flusin, “Re- writing History,” xxiii– xxix.

4 Ibid., xii– xxiii; 1– 3.

Neville (2018:157) provided the following on Scylitzes Continuatus (Scylitzes' Continuation)

Scylitzes Continuatus is the name given to the extension of the history that exists in some manuscripts. This section covers the years 1057– 1079. Eudoxos Tsolakēs, Werner Seibt, Catherine Holmes, and Bernard Flusin believe that the Continuatus was written by Skylitzes himself, likely at a slightly later date than the first part of the Synopsis and possibly using the history of Michael Attaleiates. By contrast, Alexander Kazhdan, Eirene-Sophia Kiapidou, Carl de Boor, and Gyula Moravcsik believe that the Continuatus was the work of a different author.