Peter the Patrician
Peter | |
---|---|
Magister officiorum of the Byzantine Empire | |
In office 539–565 | |
Monarch | Justinian I |
Preceded by | Basilides[1] |
Succeeded by | Anastasius[1] |
Personal details | |
Born | c. 500 |
Died | 565 |
Peter the Patrician (
Biography
Early career: envoy to Italy
Peter was born in
Peter then returned to Constantinople with letters from Theodahad and the
Magister officiorum
Peter remained imprisoned in Ravenna for three years, until released in June/July 539 by the new Gothic king,
In 550, he was sent as envoy by Justinian to negotiate a peace treaty with Persia, a role he reprised in 561, when he met the Persian envoy Izedh Gushnap at
His son Theodore, nicknamed Kontocheres or Zetonoumios, would succeed him as magister officiorum in 566, after a brief interval where the post was held by the
Assessment
As one of the leading officials of the age, Peter was a controversial figure, receiving greatly differing assessments from his contemporaries. To
From quite early in his career, Peter was renowned for his learning, his passion for reading, and his discussions with scholars.[20] As a speaker, he was eloquent and persuasive; Procopius calls him "fitted by nature to persuade men",[21] while Cassiodorus, who witnessed his embassies to the Ostrogoth court, also praises him as vir eloquentissimus and disertissimus ("most eloquent man"), and as sapientissimus ("most wise").[3] On the other hand, the late 6th-century historian Menander Protector, who relied on Peter's work for his own history, accuses him of boastfulness and of rewriting the records to enhance his own role and performance in the negotiations with the Persians.[22]
Writings
Peter wrote three books, all of which survive only in fragments: a history of the first four centuries of the
Peter was the first late Roman/Byzantine author to write on imperial ceremonies,[2] beginning a tradition that lasted unto the 14th century. His histories are also an important historical source; for instance, his work alone preserves the negotiations and provisions of the Roman–Persian treaty of 298 between Galerius and Narseh.[26]
The Lost History of Peter the Patrician, published by Routledge in 2015, is an annotated translation from the Greek by Thomas M. Banchich of the fragments of Peter's History, including additional fragments which used to be considered the work of the Roman historian Cassius Dio's so-called Anonymous Continuer.
References
- ^ a b Martindale 1992, p. 1482.
- ^ a b c d e ODB, p. 1641.
- ^ a b Martindale 1992, p. 994.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-674-72481-5.
- ^ Bury 1923, pp. 161–164.
- ^ Bury 1923, pp. 164–166.
- ^ a b Procopius. De Bello Gothico, I.4.
- ^ Bury 1923, pp. 168–169.
- ^ Bury 1923, pp. 172–173.
- ^ Bury 1923, pp. 173–175.
- ^ ODB, p. 1267.
- ^ Lee 1993, p. 43.
- ^ Martindale 1992, p. 996.
- ^ a b Martindale 1992, pp. 996–997.
- ^ Evans 1996, p. 259; Dignas & Winter 2007, pp. 144–148.
- ^ a b Martindale 1992, p. 997.
- ^ Martindale 1992, pp. 997–998.
- ^ Martindale 1992, pp. 1255–1256.
- ^ Procopius. Secret History, XXIV.24.
- ^ a b Martindale 1992, p. 998.
- ^ Procopius. De Bello Gothico, I.3.
- ^ a b Maas 2005, p. 390.
- ^ Potter 1990, Ch. 2.
- ^ ODB, pp. 596, 1641.
- ^ ODB, pp. 1629–1630.
- ^ Dignas & Winter 2007, p. 122.
Sources
- Bury, John Bagnell (1923) [1889]. History of the Later Roman Empire: From Arcadius to Irene (395 A.D. to 800 A.D.), Volume II. New York and London: Macmillan & Company.
- Dignas, Beate; Winter, Engelbert (2007). Rome and Persia in Late Antiquity: Neighbours and Rivals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-61407-8.
- Evans, James Allan Stewart (1996). The Age of Justinian: The Circumstances of Imperial Power. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-02209-6.
- ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
- Lee, A. D. (1993). Information and Frontiers: Roman Foreign Relations in Late Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-39256-3.
- Maas, Michael (2005). The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-81746-3.
- ISBN 0-521-20160-8.
- Potter, David S. (1990). Prophecy and History in the Crisis of the Roman Empire: A Historical Commentary on the Thirteenth Sibylline Oracle. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Further reading
- Antonopoulos, Panagiotis T. (1985). "Petrus Patricius. Some Aspects of his Life and Career". In Vavřínek, Vladimiŕ (ed.). From Late Antiquity to Early Byzantium: Proceedings of the Byzantinological Symposium in the 16th International Eirene Conference. Prague. pp. 49–53.
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