George Syncellus

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George Syncellus (

Tarasius, patriarch of Constantinople. He later retired to a monastery to write what was intended to be his great work, a chronicle of world history, Ekloge chronographias (Ἐκλογὴ Χρονογραφίας), or Extract of Chronography. According to Anastasius Bibliothecarius, George "struggled valiantly against heresy [i.e. Iconoclasm] and received many punishments from the rulers who raged against the rites of the Church", although the accuracy of the claim is suspect.[1]

As a

Metropolitan Bishop of Sardis
in 803).

George, however, did not follow this path, instead retreating from the world to compose his great chronicle. It would appear that the Emperor Nikephoros I incurred George's disfavour at around the same time: in 808, Nikephoros discovered a plot against him, and punished the suspected conspirators, amongst whom were not only secular figures "but also holy bishops and monks and clergy of the Great Church, including the synkellos...men of high repute and worthy of respect"; it is unknown whether the synkellos in question was George himself or a colleague/successor, but the attack on the clergy, including George's friends and colleagues, would not have endeared the Emperor to George, and is suggested as the motivating factor in the "pathological hatred" towards Nikephoros I in the chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor[2] The date of his death is uncertain; a reference in his chronicle makes clear that he was still alive in 810, and he is sometimes described as dying in 811, but there is no evidence for this, and textual evidence in the Chronicle of Theophanes suggests that he was still alive in 813.[3]

His

Eusebius of Caesarea, arranging his events strictly in order of time, and naming them in the year which they happened. Consequently, the narrative is regarded as secondary to the need to reference the relation of each event to other events, and as such is continually interrupted by long tables of dates, so markedly that Krumbacher described it as being "rather a great historical list [Geschichtstabelle] with added explanations, than a universal history
."

George reveals himself as a staunch upholder of

Eusebius have been restored by the aid of George's work. His chief authorities were Annianus of Alexandria and Panodorus of Alexandria, through whom George acquired much of his knowledge of the history of Manetho; George also relied heavily on Eusebius, Dexippus and Sextus Julius Africanus.[4]

George's chronicle was continued after his death by his friend Theophanes;

Nicephorus
. This work, written between 873 and 875, spread George's preferenced dates for historical events through the West. Meanwhile, in the East George's fame was gradually overshadowed by that of Theophanes.

References

  1. ^ Mango and Scott, The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor
  2. ^ Mango and Scott, The Chronicle of Theophanes. Mango and Scott note that the attitude of Theophanes's Chronicle is likely to be due to George Synkellos rather than Theophanes; the Life of Theophanes by Patriarch Methodius is excessively favourable to Nikephoros, "a tactless tribute if Theophanes was known to hold Nikephoros in such deep detestation."
  3. ^ Mango and Scott, The Chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor
  4. ^ a b Chisholm 1911.

Sources

  • Editio princeps by Jacques Goar (1652) in Bonn Corpus scriptorum hist. Byz., by Karl Wilhelm Dindorf (1829).
  • Heinrich Gelzer, Sextus Julius Africanus, ii. I (1885).
  • H Gelzer. Sextus Julius Africanus und die byzantinische Chronographie. New York: B. Franklin, 1967, reprint of Leipzig: 1898.
  • K Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinische Litteratur (2nd ed., Munich, 1897).
  • William Adler. Time immemorial: archaic history and its sources in Christian chronography from Julius Africanus to George Syncellus. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, c. 1989.
  • Alden A. Mosshammer, ed., Georgii Syncelli Ecloga chronographica. Leipzig:
    Teubner
    , 1984.
  • William Adler, Paul Tuffin, translators. The chronography of George Synkellos: a Byzantine chronicle of universal history from the creation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "George the Syncellus". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 11 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 747.
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Georgius Syncellus". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

External links

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