Theophylact Simocatta
Theophylact Simocatta (
Life
Simocatta is best known as the author of History, a work split into eight books, about the reign of the emperor
Edward Gibbon wrote:
His want of judgement renders him diffuse in trifles and concise in the most interesting facts.[4]
This notwithstanding, Simocatta's general trustworthiness is admitted. The history contains an introduction in the form of a dialogue between History and Philosophy.
Nicolaus Copernicus translated Greek verses by Theophylact into Latin prose and had his translation, dedicated to his uncle Lucas Watzenrode, published in Kraków in 1509 by Johann Haller. It was the only book that Copernicus ever brought out on his own account.[5]
Simocatta was also the author of Physical Problems, a work on natural history,[6] and of a collection of 85 essays in epistolary form.[7]
In regards to the Far East, Simocatta wrote a
Works
- Quaestiones physicae (in Latin). Leiden: Jan Paedts Jacobszoon. 1597.
- Theophylact Simocatta. The History of Theophylact Simocatta - An English Translation with Introduction and Notes. Translated by Michael Whitby; Mary Whitby.
Notes
- ^ "Snub-nosed cat". Other forms of the name are Simocattos and Simocatos.
- ^ J.D.C. Frendo, "History and Panegyric in the Age of Heraclius: The Literary Background to the Composition of the 'Histories' of Theophylact Simocatta", Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 1988.
- J. Pontanus, and C.G. de Boorin 1887.
- ^ E. Gibbon, The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire, The Folio Society (1997), s.v. "Simocatta".
- ^ Angus Armitage, The World of Copernicus, pp. 75–77.
- ^ Cf. ed. J. Ideler in Physici et medici Graeci minores, i. 1841.
- ISBN 978-88-6760-097-7.
- ^ a b Yule (1915), pp 29-31.
- ^ Yule (1915), p. 29, footnote #4.
References
- Michael and Mary Whitby, translators, The History of Theophylact Simocatta: An English Translation with Introduction, Oxford University Press, 1986, ISBN 0-19-822799-X, 9780198227991
- Angus Armitage, The World of Copernicus, New York, Mentor Books, 1947.
- Yule, Henry (1915). Henri Cordier (ed.), Cathay and the Way Thither: Being a Collection of Medieval Notices of China, Vol I: Preliminary Essay on the Intercourse Between China and the Western Nations Previous to the Discovery of the Cape Route. London: Hakluyt Society. Accessed 21 September 2016.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Simocatta, Theophylact". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 25 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 124.
External links
- Whitby, Michael (2015). "Theophylact Simocatta". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
- Greek Opera Omnia by Migne Patrologia Graeca with analytical indexes
- Raw Greek OCR of Carl de Boor's Teubner edition Theophylacti Simocattae Historiae (1887) from the Lace collection at Mount Allison University.
