Agathias
Encyclopedia
Agathias or Agathias Scholasticus ( c. AD 530-582/594), of Myrina (Mysia)
, an Aeolian city in western Asia Minor
(now in Turkey), was a Greek
poet
and the principal historian
of part of the reign of the Roman emperor Justinian I
between 552 and 558.
. His father was Memnonius. His mother was presumably Pericleia. A brother of Agathias is mentioned in primary sources, but his name has not survived. Their probable sister Eugenia is known by name. The Suda
clarifies that Agathias was active in the reign of the Roman emperor Justinian I
, mentioning him as a contemporary of Paul the Silentiary
, Macedonius of Thessalonica
and Tribonian
.
Agathias mentions being present in Alexandria
as a law student at the time when an earthquake destroyed Berytus (Beirut
). The law school of Berytus had been recognized as one of the three official law schools of the empire (533). Within a few years, as the result of the disastrous earthquake of 551
, the students were transferred to Sidon
. The dating of the event to 551: as a law student, Agathias could be in his early twenties, which would place his birth to c. 530.
He mentions leaving Alexandria for Constantinople
shortly following the earthquake. Agathias visited the island of Cos
, where "he witnessed the devastation caused by the earthquake". At the fourth year of his legal studies, Agathias and fellow students Aemilianus, John and Rufinus are mentioned making a joint offering to Michael
the Archangel
at Sosthenium, where they prayed for a "prosperous future".
He returned to Constantinople
in 554 to finish his training, and practised as an advocatus
(scholasticus) in the courts. John of Epiphania
reports that Agathias practiced his profession in the capital. Evagrius Scholasticus
and Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos describe Agathias as a rhetor
("public speaker"). The Suda and a passage of John of Nikiû
call him "Agathias the scholastic". He is known to have served as pater civitatis ("Father of the City", effectively a magistrate
) of Smyrna
. He is credited with constructing public latrine
s for the city. While Agathias mentions these buildings, he fails to mention his own role in constructing them.
Literature, however, was his favorite pursuit, and Agathias remains best known as a poet. Of his Daphniaca, a collection of short poems in hexameter
on 'love and romance' in nine books, only the introduction has survived. But he also composed over a hundred epigram
s, which he published together with epigrams by friends and contemporaries in a Cycle of New Epigrams or Cycle of Agathias, probably early in the reign of emperor Justin II
(r. 565-578). This work largely survives in the Greek Anthology
-- the edition by Maximus Planudes
preserves examples not found elsewhere. Agathias's poems exhibit considerable taste and elegance.
He also wrote marginal notes on the Description of Greece of Pausanias
.
Almost equally valued are Agathias's Histories, which he started in the reign of Justin II. He explains his own motivation in writing it, as simply being unwilling to let "the momentous events of his own times" go unrecorded. He credits his friends with encouraging him to start this endeavor, particularly one Eutychianus. This work in five books, On the Reign of Justinian, continues the history of Procopius
, whose style it imitates, and is the chief authority for the period 552-558. It deals chiefly with the struggles of the Imperial army, under the command of general Narses
, against the Goths
, Vandals
, Franks
and Persians
.
The work survives, but seems incomplete. Passages of his history indicate that Agathias had planned to cover both the final years of Justin II and the fall of the Huns
but the work in its known form includes neither. Menander Protector
implies that Agathias died before having a chance to complete his history. The latest event mentioned in the Histories is the death of the Persian king Khosrau I
(r. 531-579); which indicates that Agathias was still alive in the reign of Tiberius II Constantine
(r. 578-582). The emperor Maurice
(r. 582-602) is never mentioned, suggesting that Agathias was dead by 582.
Menander Protector
continued the history of Agathias, covering the period from 558 to 582. Evagrius Scholasticus
alludes to Agathias' work, but he doesn't seem to have had access to the full History.
Myrina is known to have erected statues to honor Agathias, his father Memnonius, and Agathias' unnamed brother. He seems to have been known to his contemporaries more as an advocatus and a poet. There are few mentions of Agathias as a historian.
Few details survive of his personal life - mainly in his extant poems. One of them tells the story of his pet cat eating his partridge
. Another mentions him visiting Ephyra (now Kichyro
), in Epiros in Greece. No full account of his life survives.
"The author prides himself on his honesty and impartiality, but he is lacking in judgment and knowledge of facts; the work, however, is valuable from the importance of the events of which it treats" (Enc. Brit. 1911).
Edward Gibbon
contrasts Agathias as "a poet and rhetorician" with Procopius, "a statesman and soldier."
Christian commentators note the superficiality of Agathias' nominal Christianity: "There are reasons for doubting that he was a Christian, though it seems improbable that he could have been at that late date a genuine pagan" (Catholic Encyclopedia). "No overt pagan could expect a public career during the reign of Justinian, yet the depth and breadth of Agathias' culture was not Christian" (Kaldellis).
Agathias (Histories 2.31) is the only authority for the story of Justinian's closing of the re-founded Platonic (actually neoplatonic
) Academy
in Athens (529), which is sometimes cited as the closing date of "Antiquity
". The dispersed neo-Platonists, with as much of their library as could be transported, found temporary refuge in the Persian capital of Ctesiphon
, and afterwards— under treaty guarantees of security that form a document in the history of freedom of thought
— at Edessa
, which just a century later became one of the places where Muslim thinkers encountered ancient Greek culture and took an interest in its science and medicine.
Agathias's Histories are also a source of information about pre-Islamic Iran, providing - in summary form - "our earliest substantial evidence for the Khvadhaynamagh tradition", that later formed the basis of Ferdowsi
's Shahname and provided much of the Iranian material for al-Tabari
's History.
Myrina (Mysia)
Myrina , was one of the Aeolian cities on the western coast of Mysia, about 40 stadia to the southwest of Gryneion. Its site is believed to be occupied by the modern Sandarlik at the mouth of the Koca Çay....
, an Aeolian city in western Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
(now in Turkey), was a Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and the principal historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
of part of the reign of the Roman emperor Justinian I
Justinian I
Justinian I ; , ; 483– 13 or 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.One of the most important figures of...
between 552 and 558.
Biography
Agathias was a native of Myrina (Mysia)Myrina (Mysia)
Myrina , was one of the Aeolian cities on the western coast of Mysia, about 40 stadia to the southwest of Gryneion. Its site is believed to be occupied by the modern Sandarlik at the mouth of the Koca Çay....
. His father was Memnonius. His mother was presumably Pericleia. A brother of Agathias is mentioned in primary sources, but his name has not survived. Their probable sister Eugenia is known by name. The Suda
Suda
The Suda or Souda is a massive 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world, formerly attributed to an author called Suidas. It is an encyclopedic lexicon, written in Greek, with 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often...
clarifies that Agathias was active in the reign of the Roman emperor Justinian I
Justinian I
Justinian I ; , ; 483– 13 or 14 November 565), commonly known as Justinian the Great, was Byzantine Emperor from 527 to 565. During his reign, Justinian sought to revive the Empire's greatness and reconquer the lost western half of the classical Roman Empire.One of the most important figures of...
, mentioning him as a contemporary of Paul the Silentiary
Paul the Silentiary
Paul the Silentiary, also known as Paulus Silentiarius , was an epigrammatist and an officer in the imperial household of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, responsible for the silence in the imperial palace....
, Macedonius of Thessalonica
Macedonius of Thessalonica
Macedonius of Thessalonica or Macedonius Consul a Byzantine hypatos during the reign of Justinian, is the author of 42 epigrams in the Greek Anthology, the best of which are some delicate and fanciful amatory pieces...
and Tribonian
Tribonian
Tribonian or Tribonianos was a jurist during the reign of the Emperor Justinian I, who revised the legal code of the Roman Empire.Tribonian was born in Pamphylia around the year 500...
.
Agathias mentions being present in Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
as a law student at the time when an earthquake destroyed Berytus (Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
). The law school of Berytus had been recognized as one of the three official law schools of the empire (533). Within a few years, as the result of the disastrous earthquake of 551
551 Beirut earthquake
The 551 Beirut earthquake occurred on 9 July of 551 AD. It had an estimated magnitude of about 7.6 on the moment magnitude scale and a maximum felt intensity of X on the Mercalli intensity scale. It triggered a devastating tsunami which affected the coastal towns of Phoenicia, causing great...
, the students were transferred to Sidon
Sidon
Sidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...
. The dating of the event to 551: as a law student, Agathias could be in his early twenties, which would place his birth to c. 530.
He mentions leaving Alexandria for Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
shortly following the earthquake. Agathias visited the island of Cos
Kos
Kos or Cos is a Greek island in the south Sporades group of the Dodecanese, next to the Gulf of Gökova/Cos. It measures by , and is from the coast of Bodrum, Turkey and the ancient region of Caria. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Kos peripheral unit, which is...
, where "he witnessed the devastation caused by the earthquake". At the fourth year of his legal studies, Agathias and fellow students Aemilianus, John and Rufinus are mentioned making a joint offering to Michael
Michael (archangel)
Michael , Micha'el or Mîkhā'ēl; , Mikhaḗl; or Míchaël; , Mīkhā'īl) is an archangel in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic teachings. Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans refer to him as Saint Michael the Archangel and also simply as Saint Michael...
the Archangel
Archangel
An archangel is an angel of high rank. Archangels are found in a number of religious traditions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Michael and Gabriel are recognized as archangels in Judaism and by most Christians. Michael is the only archangel specifically named in the Protestant Bible...
at Sosthenium, where they prayed for a "prosperous future".
He returned to Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
in 554 to finish his training, and practised as an advocatus
Advocatus
An advocatus, or advocate, was generally a medieval term meaning "lawyer". The term was also used in continental Europe as the title of the lay lord charged with the protection and representation in secular matters of an abbey, known more fully as an advocatus ecclesiae.-Middle Ages:The office is...
(scholasticus) in the courts. John of Epiphania
John of Epiphania
John of Epiphania was a late sixth century Byzantine historian.John was born in Epiphania . He was a Christian and served as a legal counselor to the Patriarch of Antioch, Gregory . John was also a cousin of the church historian Evagrius Scholasticus.John obviously received good training...
reports that Agathias practiced his profession in the capital. Evagrius Scholasticus
Evagrius Scholasticus
Evagrius Scholasticus was a Syrian scholar and intellectual living in the 6th century AD, and an aide to the patriarch Gregory of Antioch. His surviving work, Ecclesiastical History, comprises a six-volume collection concerning the Church's history from the First Council of Ephesus to Maurice’s...
and Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos describe Agathias as a rhetor
Rhetoric
Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...
("public speaker"). The Suda and a passage of John of Nikiû
John of Nikiû
John of Nikiû was an Egyptian Coptic bishop of Nikiû/Pashati in the Nile Delta and appointed general administrator of the monasteries of Upper Egypt in 696...
call him "Agathias the scholastic". He is known to have served as pater civitatis ("Father of the City", effectively a magistrate
Roman Magistrates
The Roman Magistrates were elected officials in Ancient Rome. During the period of the Roman Kingdom, the King of Rome was the principal executive magistrate. His power, in practice, was absolute. He was the chief priest, lawgiver, judge, and the sole commander of the army...
) of Smyrna
Smyrna
Smyrna was an ancient city located at a central and strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Thanks to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to prominence. The ancient city is located at two sites within modern İzmir, Turkey...
. He is credited with constructing public latrine
Latrine
A latrine is a communal facility containing one or more commonly many toilets which may be simple pit toilets or in the case of the United States Armed Forces any toilet including modern flush toilets...
s for the city. While Agathias mentions these buildings, he fails to mention his own role in constructing them.
Literature, however, was his favorite pursuit, and Agathias remains best known as a poet. Of his Daphniaca, a collection of short poems in hexameter
Hexameter
Hexameter is a metrical line of verse consisting of six feet. It was the standard epic metre in classical Greek and Latin literature, such as in the Iliad and Aeneid. Its use in other genres of composition include Horace's satires, and Ovid's Metamorphoses. According to Greek mythology, hexameter...
on 'love and romance' in nine books, only the introduction has survived. But he also composed over a hundred epigram
Epigram
An epigram is a brief, interesting, usually memorable and sometimes surprising statement. Derived from the epigramma "inscription" from ἐπιγράφειν epigraphein "to write on inscribe", this literary device has been employed for over two millennia....
s, which he published together with epigrams by friends and contemporaries in a Cycle of New Epigrams or Cycle of Agathias, probably early in the reign of emperor Justin II
Justin II
Justin II was Byzantine Emperor from 565 to 578. He was the husband of Sophia, nephew of Justinian I and the late Empress Theodora, and was therefore a member of the Justinian Dynasty. His reign is marked by war with Persia and the loss of the greater part of Italy...
(r. 565-578). This work largely survives in the Greek Anthology
Greek Anthology
The Greek Anthology is a collection of poems, mostly epigrams, that span the classical and Byzantine periods of Greek literature...
-- the edition by Maximus Planudes
Maximus Planudes
Maximus Planudes, less often Maximos Planoudes , Byzantine grammarian and theologian, flourished during the reigns of Michael VIII Palaeologus and Andronicus II Palaeologus. He was born at Nicomedia in Bithynia, but the greater part of his life was spent in Constantinople, where as a monk he...
preserves examples not found elsewhere. Agathias's poems exhibit considerable taste and elegance.
He also wrote marginal notes on the Description of Greece of Pausanias
Pausanias (geographer)
Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece , a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from firsthand observations, and is a crucial link between classical...
.
Almost equally valued are Agathias's Histories, which he started in the reign of Justin II. He explains his own motivation in writing it, as simply being unwilling to let "the momentous events of his own times" go unrecorded. He credits his friends with encouraging him to start this endeavor, particularly one Eutychianus. This work in five books, On the Reign of Justinian, continues the history of Procopius
Procopius
Procopius of Caesarea was a prominent Byzantine scholar from Palestine. Accompanying the general Belisarius in the wars of the Emperor Justinian I, he became the principal historian of the 6th century, writing the Wars of Justinian, the Buildings of Justinian and the celebrated Secret History...
, whose style it imitates, and is the chief authority for the period 552-558. It deals chiefly with the struggles of the Imperial army, under the command of general Narses
Narses
Narses was, with Belisarius, one of the great generals in the service of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I during the "Reconquest" that took place during Justinian's reign....
, against the Goths
Goths
The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
, Vandals
Vandals
The Vandals were an East Germanic tribe that entered the late Roman Empire during the 5th century. The Vandals under king Genseric entered Africa in 429 and by 439 established a kingdom which included the Roman Africa province, besides the islands of Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Balearics....
, Franks
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
and Persians
Persian people
The Persian people are part of the Iranian peoples who speak the modern Persian language and closely akin Iranian dialects and languages. The origin of the ethnic Iranian/Persian peoples are traced to the Ancient Iranian peoples, who were part of the ancient Indo-Iranians and themselves part of...
.
The work survives, but seems incomplete. Passages of his history indicate that Agathias had planned to cover both the final years of Justin II and the fall of the Huns
Huns
The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
but the work in its known form includes neither. Menander Protector
Menander Protector
Menander Protector , Byzantine historian, was 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 by Suidas. He at first took up the study of law, but abandoned it for a life of pleasure...
implies that Agathias died before having a chance to complete his history. The latest event mentioned in the Histories is the death of the Persian king Khosrau I
Khosrau I
Khosrau I , also known as Anushiravan the Just or Anushirawan the Just Khosrau I (also called Chosroes I in classical sources, most commonly known in Persian as Anushirvan or Anushirwan, Persian: انوشيروان meaning the immortal soul), also known as Anushiravan the Just or Anushirawan the Just...
(r. 531-579); which indicates that Agathias was still alive in the reign of Tiberius II Constantine
Tiberius II Constantine
Tiberius II Constantine was Byzantine Emperor from 574 to 582.During his reign, Tiberius II Constantine gave away 7,200 pounds of gold each year for four years....
(r. 578-582). The emperor Maurice
Maurice (emperor)
Maurice was Byzantine Emperor from 582 to 602.A prominent general in his youth, Maurice fought with success against the Sassanid Persians...
(r. 582-602) is never mentioned, suggesting that Agathias was dead by 582.
Menander Protector
Menander Protector
Menander Protector , Byzantine historian, was 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 by Suidas. He at first took up the study of law, but abandoned it for a life of pleasure...
continued the history of Agathias, covering the period from 558 to 582. Evagrius Scholasticus
Evagrius Scholasticus
Evagrius Scholasticus was a Syrian scholar and intellectual living in the 6th century AD, and an aide to the patriarch Gregory of Antioch. His surviving work, Ecclesiastical History, comprises a six-volume collection concerning the Church's history from the First Council of Ephesus to Maurice’s...
alludes to Agathias' work, but he doesn't seem to have had access to the full History.
Myrina is known to have erected statues to honor Agathias, his father Memnonius, and Agathias' unnamed brother. He seems to have been known to his contemporaries more as an advocatus and a poet. There are few mentions of Agathias as a historian.
Few details survive of his personal life - mainly in his extant poems. One of them tells the story of his pet cat eating his partridge
Partridge
Partridges are birds in the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are a non-migratory Old World group.These are medium-sized birds, intermediate between the larger pheasants and the smaller quails. Partridges are native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East...
. Another mentions him visiting Ephyra (now Kichyro
Kichyro
Kichyros , later called Ephyra , was the capital of ancient Thesprotia, according to the myth built by the Pelasgian leader Thesprotos. Thucydides describes it as situated in the district Elaeatis in Thesprotia, away from the sea. At its site is the famous Necromanteion...
), in Epiros in Greece. No full account of his life survives.
Assessment as a historian
- "His pages abound in philosophic reflection. He is able and reliable, though he gathered his information from eye- witnesses, and not, as Procopius, in the exercise of high military and political offices. He delights in depicting the manners, customs, and religion of the foreign peoples of whom he writes; the great disturbances of his time, earthquakes, plagues, famines, attract his attention, and he does not fail to insert "many incidental notices of cities, forts, and rivers, philosophers, and subordinate commanders." Many of his facts are not to be found elsewhere, and he has always been looked on as a valuable authority for the period he describes." —Catholic EncyclopediaCatholic EncyclopediaThe Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia and the Original Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language encyclopedia published in the United States. The first volume appeared in March 1907 and the last three volumes appeared in 1912, followed by a master index...
.
"The author prides himself on his honesty and impartiality, but he is lacking in judgment and knowledge of facts; the work, however, is valuable from the importance of the events of which it treats" (Enc. Brit. 1911).
Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament...
contrasts Agathias as "a poet and rhetorician" with Procopius, "a statesman and soldier."
Christian commentators note the superficiality of Agathias' nominal Christianity: "There are reasons for doubting that he was a Christian, though it seems improbable that he could have been at that late date a genuine pagan" (Catholic Encyclopedia). "No overt pagan could expect a public career during the reign of Justinian, yet the depth and breadth of Agathias' culture was not Christian" (Kaldellis).
Agathias (Histories 2.31) is the only authority for the story of Justinian's closing of the re-founded Platonic (actually neoplatonic
Neoplatonism
Neoplatonism , is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, based on the teachings of Plato and earlier Platonists, with its earliest contributor believed to be Plotinus, and his teacher Ammonius Saccas...
) Academy
Platonic Academy
The Academy was founded by Plato in ca. 387 BC in Athens. Aristotle studied there for twenty years before founding his own school, the Lyceum. The Academy persisted throughout the Hellenistic period as a skeptical school, until coming to an end after the death of Philo of Larissa in 83 BC...
in Athens (529), which is sometimes cited as the closing date of "Antiquity
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...
". The dispersed neo-Platonists, with as much of their library as could be transported, found temporary refuge in the Persian capital of Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon, the imperial capital of the Parthian Arsacids and of the Persian Sassanids, was one of the great cities of ancient Mesopotamia.The ruins of the city are located on the east bank of the Tigris, across the river from the Hellenistic city of Seleucia...
, and afterwards— under treaty guarantees of security that form a document in the history of freedom of thought
Freedom of thought
Freedom of thought is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints....
— at Edessa
Edessa, Mesopotamia
Edessa is the Greek name of an Aramaic town in northern Mesopotamia, as refounded by Seleucus I Nicator. For the modern history of the city, see Şanlıurfa.-Names:...
, which just a century later became one of the places where Muslim thinkers encountered ancient Greek culture and took an interest in its science and medicine.
Agathias's Histories are also a source of information about pre-Islamic Iran, providing - in summary form - "our earliest substantial evidence for the Khvadhaynamagh tradition", that later formed the basis of Ferdowsi
Ferdowsi
Ferdowsi was a highly revered Persian poet. He was the author of the Shahnameh, the national epic of Iran and related societies.The Shahnameh was originally composed by Ferdowsi for the princes of the Samanid dynasty, who were responsible for a revival of Persian cultural traditions after the...
's Shahname and provided much of the Iranian material for al-Tabari
Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari
Abu Ja'far Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari was a prominent and influential Sunni scholar and exegete of the Qur'an from Persia...
's History.
Editions and translations of the Histories
- Bonaventura VulcaniusBonaventura VulcaniusBonaventura Vulcanius was a leading personality in Dutch humanism of the 16th and 17th century....
(1594) - Barthold G. Niebuhr, in Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae (Bonn, 1828)
- Jean P. MigneMignéMigné is a commune in the Indre department in central France.-References:*...
, in Patrologia GraecaPatrologia GraecaThe Patrologia Graeca is an edited collection of writings by the Christian Church Fathers and various secular writers, in the ancient Koine or medieval variants of the Greek language. It consists of 161 volumes produced in 1857–1866 by J. P. Migne's Imprimerie Catholique...
, vol. 88 (Paris, 1860), col. 1248-1608 (based on Niebuhr's edition) - Karl Wilhelm DindorfKarl Wilhelm DindorfKarl Wilhelm Dindorf , German classical scholar, was born at Leipzig....
, in Historici Graeci Minores, vol. 2 (Leipzig, 1871), p. 132-453. - R. Keydell, Agathiae Myrinaei Historiarum libri quinque in Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae, vol. 2, Series Berolinensis, Walter de GruyterWalter de GruyterWalter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG is a scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. Its origins date back to 1749 when it was given the right to print books by King Frederick II of Prussia. -De Gruyter Mouton:...
, 1967 - S. Costanza, Agathiae Myrinaei Historiarum libri quinque (Universita degli Studi, Messina, 1969)
- J. D. Frendo, Agathias: The Histories in Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae (translation with introduction and short notes), vol. 2A, Series Berolinensis, Walter de GruyterWalter de GruyterWalter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG is a scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. Its origins date back to 1749 when it was given the right to print books by King Frederick II of Prussia. -De Gruyter Mouton:...
, 1975
Further reading
- A. Cameron, 'Agathias on the Sasanians', in Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 23 (1969) pp 67–183.
- A. Cameron, Agathias (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970). ISBN 0-19-814352-4.
- A. Kaldellis, 'Things are not what they are: Agathias Mythistoricus and the last laugh of Classical', in Classical Quarterly, 53 (2003) pp 295–300.
- A. Kaldellis, 'The Historical and Religious Views of Agathias: A Reinterpretation', in , 69 (1999) pp 206–252.
- A. Kaldellis, 'Agathias on history and poetry', in Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 38 (1997), pp 295–306
- W. S. Teuffel, 'Agathias von Myrine', in Philologus (1846)
- C. Krumbacher, (2nd ed. 1897)
External links
- Poems by Agathias English translations
- Encyclopædia Britannica 1911:Agathias
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Agathias
- Agathias on the Persians: excerpts from History (English)
- Gerald Bechtle, Bryn Mawr Classical Review of Rainer Thiel, Simplikios und das Ende der neuplatonischen Schule in Athen, Stuttgart, 1999 (in English).
- "Encyclopedia of Past Events