Menander Protector

Menander Protector (Menander the Guardsman, Menander the Byzantian; Greek: Μένανδρος Προτήκτωρ or Προτέκτωρ) was a Byzantine historian, born in Constantinople in the middle of the 6th century AD. The little that is known of his life is contained in the account of himself quoted in the Suda (Mu, 591: Μένανδρος). Menander mentions his father Euphratas, who came from Byzantium, and his brother Herodotus. He at first took up the study of law, but abandoned it for a life of pleasure. When his fortunes were low, the patronage accorded to literature by the Emperor Maurice, at whose court he was a military officer (hence the epithet Protector, which denotes his military function), encouraged him to try writing history.

Menander took as his model

magus who became a convert to Christianity and died the death of a martyr, is preserved in the Greek Anthology

(i.101).

Fragments of his work can be found in:

C. W. Müller, Fragmenta historicorum Graecorum, 4, 200
J. P. Migne, Patrologia Graeca, 113
L. Dindorf, Historici Graeci minores, 2

Translations:

Roger Blockley: The History of Menander the Guardsman. Liverpool 1985.

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Menander Protector". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

v t e Byzantine historians
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