Peter the Patrician
Encyclopedia
Peter the Patrician (ca. 500 – 565) was a senior East Roman or Byzantine
official, diplomat and historian. A well-educated and successful lawyer, he was repeatedly sent as envoy to Ostrogothic Italy in the prelude to the Gothic War of 535–554. Despite his diplomatic skill, he was not able to avert war, and was imprisoned by the Goths in Ravenna for a few years. Upon his release, he was appointed to the post of magister officiorum
, head of the imperial secretariat, which he held for an unparalleled 26 years. In this capacity he was one of the leading ministers of emperor Justinian I
(r. 527–565), playing an important role in the emperor's religious policies and the relations with Sassanid Persia; most notably he led the negotiations for the peace agreement of 562 that ended the 20-year long Lazic War
. His historical writings survive only in fragments, but provide unique source material on early Byzantine ceremonies and diplomatic issues between Byzantium and the Sassanids.
Peter was born in Thessalonica in ca. 500, and was of Illyrian
origin according to Procopius
; according to Theophylact Simocatta
however, his origin was from Solachon, near Dara
in Mesopotamia
. After studying law, he embarked on a successful career as a lawyer in Constantinople
, which brought him to the attention of empress Theodora
. In 534, on account of his rhetorical skills, he was employed as an imperial envoy to the Ostrogoth court
at Ravenna
. At the time, a power struggle was developing there between queen Amalasuntha
, regent to the young king Athalaric
, and her cousin Theodahad
. Following the death of Athalaric, Theodahad usurped the throne, imprisoned Amalasuntha and sent messages to Justinian hoping for recognition. Peter met the envoys at Aulon
, on his way to Italy, and notified Constantinople, seeking new instructions. Justinian ordered him to convey the message to Theodahad that Amalasuntha was under the emperor's protection and not to be harmed. Nevertheless, at the time Peter arrived in Italy, Amalasuntha was killed; Procopius
' narrative in the Gothic War is ambiguous here, but in his Secret History, he explicitly claims that Peter arranged the murder of Amalasuntha on instructions from Theodora, who feared her as a potential rival. Whatever assurances might have been privately given by Theodora to Theodahad, in public, Peter strongly condemned the act, and declared that there would be "war without truce between the emperor and themselves" as a result.
Peter then returned to Constantinople with letters from Theodahad and the Roman Senate
to the imperial couple, bearing pleas for a peaceful solution, but by the time he reached the imperial capital, Justinian had resolved on war and was preparing his forces. Consequently Peter returned to Italy in the summer of 535 conveying an ultimatum
: only if Theodahad abdicated and returned Italy to imperial rule, could war be averted. A two-pronged Byzantine offensive followed soon thereafter, attacking the outlying possessions of the Ostrogothic kingdom: Belisarius
took Sicily
, while Mundus invaded Dalmatia
. Upon hearing these news, Theodahad despaired, and Peter was able to secure wide-ranging concessions from him: Sicily was to be ceded to the Empire; the Gothic king's authority within Italy was widely restricted; a gold crown was to be sent as an annual tribute and up to 3,000 men for the imperial army were to be provided. All this underlined Theodahad's subject status. Theodahad however, fearing that his first offer would be rejected, then instructed Peter, under oath, to offer the cession of all Italy, but only if the original concessions were rejected by Justinian. In the event, Justinian rejected the first proposal, and was delighted to learn of the second one. Peter was sent back to Italy with letters to Theodahad and the Gothic nobles, and for a time it seemed as if the cradle of the Empire would return peacefully to the fold. It was not to be: upon their arrival in Ravenna, the Byzantine envoys found Theodahad in a changed disposition. Supported by the Gothic nobility and buoyed up by a success in Dalmatia, he resolved to resist, and imprisoned the ambassadors.
who had been captured by the Byzantines. As a reward for his services, Justinian then appointed Peter to the post of magister officiorum
("Master of the Offices"), one of the highest positions in the state, heading of the palace secretariat, the imperial guards (the Scholae Palatinae
), and the Public Post with the dreaded agentes in rebus
. He would hold this post for 26 consecutive years, longer by a wide margin than any other before or after. At about the same time or shortly thereafter, he was raised to the supreme title of patrician and the supreme senatorial rank of gloriosissimus ("most glorious one"). He was also awarded an honorary consulship
. As magister, he took part in the discussions with Western bishops in 548 on the Three-Chapter Controversy
, and was repeatedly sent as an envoy in 551–553 to Pope Vigilius
, who opposed the emperor on the issue. Peter is also recorded as attending the Second Council of Constantinople
in May 553.
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 Dara
, to end the Lazic War
. Reaching an agreement over the Persian evacuation of Lazica and the delineation of the border in Armenia
, the two envoys concluded a fifty-year peace between the two empires and their respective allies. The annual Roman subsidies to Persia would resume, but the amount was lowered from 500 to 420 pounds of gold. Further clauses regulated cross-border trade, which was to be limited to the two cities of Dara and Nisibis
, the return of fugitives, and the protection of the respective religious minorities (Christians in the Persian Empire and Zoroastrians in Byzantium). In exchange for Persian recognition for the existence of Dara, whose construction had originally sparked a brief war
, the Byzantines agreed to limit their troops there and remove the seat of the magister militum per Orientem from the city. As disagreements remained on two border areas, Suania and Ambros, in spring 562, Peter travelled to Persia to negotiate directly with the Persian Shah, Chosroes I, without however achieving a result. He then returned to Constantinople, where he died sometime after March 565.
His son Theodore, nicknamed Kondocheres or Zetonoumios, would succeed him as magister officiorum in 566, after a brief interval where the post was held by the quaestor sacri palatii
("Quaestor of the Sacred Palace") Anastasius
. He held the post until some time before 576, being appointed as comes sacrarum largitionum ("Count of the Sacred Largess") thereafter; in the same year year he also led an unsuccessful embassy to Persia to end the ongoing war over the Caucasus
.
, Peter was a paragon of every virtue, an intelligent, firm but fair administrator and a kind man. Procopius also attests to his mild manners and desire to avoid giving insult, however at the same time he accuses him of "robbing the scholares" (the members of the Scholae) and being "the biggest thief in the world and absolutely filled with shameful avarice", as well as being responsible for the murder of Amalasuntha.
From quite early in his career, Peter was renowned for his learning, his passion for reading and his discussions with scholars. As a speaker, he was eloquent and persuasive; Procopius calls him "fitted by nature to persuade men", 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"). 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.
, from the death of Julius Caesar
in 44 BC to the death of Constantius II
in 361 AD, of which about twenty fragments are extant; a history of the office of magister officiorum from its institution under Constantine I
to the time of Justinian, containing a list of its holders and descriptions of various imperial ceremonies, several of which are reproduced in the chapters 84–95 of the first volume of the 10th-century De Ceremoniis
; and an account of his diplomatic mission to the Persian Empire in 561–562, which has been used as a source by Menander Protector. Until recently, Peter was also ascribed the authorship of the 6th-century Peri Politikes Epistemes ("On Political Science"), a six-volume book discussing political theory, drawing extensively from Classical texts such as Plato
's The Republic and Cicero
's De re publica
. It too survives only in fragments.
Peter was the first late Roman/Byzantine author to write on imperial ceremonies, 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
.
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
official, diplomat and historian. A well-educated and successful lawyer, he was repeatedly sent as envoy to Ostrogothic Italy in the prelude to the Gothic War of 535–554. Despite his diplomatic skill, he was not able to avert war, and was imprisoned by the Goths in Ravenna for a few years. Upon his release, he was appointed to the post of magister officiorum
Magister officiorum
The magister officiorum was one of the most senior administrative officials in the late Roman Empire and the early centuries of the Byzantine Empire...
, head of the imperial secretariat, which he held for an unparalleled 26 years. In this capacity he was one of the leading ministers of 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...
(r. 527–565), playing an important role in the emperor's religious policies and the relations with Sassanid Persia; most notably he led the negotiations for the peace agreement of 562 that ended the 20-year long Lazic War
Lazic War
The Lazic War or Colchic War, also known as the Great War of Egrisi in Georgian historiography, was fought between the Byzantine Empire and Sassanid Persia for control of the region of Lazica, in what is now western Georgia...
. His historical writings survive only in fragments, but provide unique source material on early Byzantine ceremonies and diplomatic issues between Byzantium and the Sassanids.
Early career: envoy to Italy
Illyrians
The Illyrians were a group of tribes who inhabited part of the western Balkans in antiquity and the south-eastern coasts of the Italian peninsula...
origin according to 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...
; according to Theophylact Simocatta
Theophylact Simocatta
Theophylact Simocatta was an early seventh-century Byzantine historiographer, arguably ranking as the last historian of Late Antiquity, writing in the time of Heraclius about the late Emperor Maurice .-Life:His history of the reign of emperor Maurice is in eight books...
however, his origin was from Solachon, near Dara
Dara (Mesopotamia)
Dara or Daras was an important East Roman fortress city in northern Mesopotamia on the border with the Sassanid Empire. Because of its great strategic importance, it featured prominently in the Roman-Persian conflicts of the 6th century, with the famous Battle of Dara taking place before its walls...
in Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
. After studying law, he embarked on a successful career as a lawyer in 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:...
, which brought him to the attention of empress Theodora
Theodora (6th century)
Theodora , was empress of the Roman Empire and the wife of Emperor Justinian I. Like her husband, she is a saint in the Orthodox Church, commemorated on November 14...
. In 534, on account of his rhetorical skills, he was employed as an imperial envoy to the Ostrogoth court
Ostrogothic Kingdom
The Kingdom established by the Ostrogoths in Italy and neighbouring areas lasted from 493 to 553. In Italy the Ostrogoths replaced Odoacer, the de facto ruler of Italy who had deposed the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire in 476. The Gothic kingdom reached its zenith under the rule of its...
at Ravenna
Ravenna
Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...
. At the time, a power struggle was developing there between queen Amalasuntha
Amalasuntha
Amalasuntha was a queen of the Ostrogoths from 526 to 534....
, regent to the young king Athalaric
Athalaric
Athalaric was the King of the Ostrogoths in Italy. He was a son of Eutharic and Amalasuntha. His maternal grandfather was Theodoric the Great. He succeeded his grandfather as king in 526....
, and her cousin Theodahad
Theodahad
Theodahad was the King of the Ostrogoths from 534 to 536 and a nephew of Theodoric the Great through his sister Amalafrida. He might have arrived in Italy with Theodoric and was an elderly man at the time of his succession...
. Following the death of Athalaric, Theodahad usurped the throne, imprisoned Amalasuntha and sent messages to Justinian hoping for recognition. Peter met the envoys at Aulon
Vlorë
Vlorë is one of the biggest towns and the second largest port city of Albania, after Durrës, with a population of about 94,000 . It is the city where the Albanian Declaration of Independence was proclaimed on November 28, 1912...
, on his way to Italy, and notified Constantinople, seeking new instructions. Justinian ordered him to convey the message to Theodahad that Amalasuntha was under the emperor's protection and not to be harmed. Nevertheless, at the time Peter arrived in Italy, Amalasuntha was killed; 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...
' narrative in the Gothic War is ambiguous here, but in his Secret History, he explicitly claims that Peter arranged the murder of Amalasuntha on instructions from Theodora, who feared her as a potential rival. Whatever assurances might have been privately given by Theodora to Theodahad, in public, Peter strongly condemned the act, and declared that there would be "war without truce between the emperor and themselves" as a result.
Peter then returned to Constantinople with letters from Theodahad and the Roman Senate
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
to the imperial couple, bearing pleas for a peaceful solution, but by the time he reached the imperial capital, Justinian had resolved on war and was preparing his forces. Consequently Peter returned to Italy in the summer of 535 conveying an ultimatum
Ultimatum
An ultimatum is a demand whose fulfillment is requested in a specified period of time and which is backed up by a threat to be followed through in case of noncompliance. An ultimatum is generally the final demand in a series of requests...
: only if Theodahad abdicated and returned Italy to imperial rule, could war be averted. A two-pronged Byzantine offensive followed soon thereafter, attacking the outlying possessions of the Ostrogothic kingdom: Belisarius
Belisarius
Flavius Belisarius was a general of the Byzantine Empire. He was instrumental to Emperor Justinian's ambitious project of reconquering much of the Mediterranean territory of the former Western Roman Empire, which had been lost less than a century previously....
took Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, while Mundus invaded Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
. Upon hearing these news, Theodahad despaired, and Peter was able to secure wide-ranging concessions from him: Sicily was to be ceded to the Empire; the Gothic king's authority within Italy was widely restricted; a gold crown was to be sent as an annual tribute and up to 3,000 men for the imperial army were to be provided. All this underlined Theodahad's subject status. Theodahad however, fearing that his first offer would be rejected, then instructed Peter, under oath, to offer the cession of all Italy, but only if the original concessions were rejected by Justinian. In the event, Justinian rejected the first proposal, and was delighted to learn of the second one. Peter was sent back to Italy with letters to Theodahad and the Gothic nobles, and for a time it seemed as if the cradle of the Empire would return peacefully to the fold. It was not to be: upon their arrival in Ravenna, the Byzantine envoys found Theodahad in a changed disposition. Supported by the Gothic nobility and buoyed up by a success in Dalmatia, he resolved to resist, and imprisoned the ambassadors.
Magister officiorum
Peter remained imprisoned in Ravenna for three years, until released in June/July 539 by the new Gothic king, Witigis, in exchange for Gothic envoys sent to PersiaSassanid Empire
The Sassanid Empire , known to its inhabitants as Ērānshahr and Ērān in Middle Persian and resulting in the New Persian terms Iranshahr and Iran , was the last pre-Islamic Persian Empire, ruled by the Sasanian Dynasty from 224 to 651...
who had been captured by the Byzantines. As a reward for his services, Justinian then appointed Peter to the post of magister officiorum
Magister officiorum
The magister officiorum was one of the most senior administrative officials in the late Roman Empire and the early centuries of the Byzantine Empire...
("Master of the Offices"), one of the highest positions in the state, heading of the palace secretariat, the imperial guards (the Scholae Palatinae
Scholae Palatinae
The Scholae Palatinae , were an elite military guard unit, usually ascribed to the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great as a replacement for the equites singulares Augusti, the cavalry arm of the Praetorian Guard...
), and the Public Post with the dreaded agentes in rebus
Agentes in rebus
The agentes in rebus , were the late Roman imperial courier service and general agents of the central government from the 4th to the 7th centuries.- History :...
. He would hold this post for 26 consecutive years, longer by a wide margin than any other before or after. At about the same time or shortly thereafter, he was raised to the supreme title of patrician and the supreme senatorial rank of gloriosissimus ("most glorious one"). He was also awarded an honorary consulship
Roman consul
A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...
. As magister, he took part in the discussions with Western bishops in 548 on the Three-Chapter Controversy
Three-Chapter Controversy
The Three-Chapter Controversy, a phase in the Chalcedonian controversy, was an attempt to reconcile the Non-Chalcedonian Christians of Syria and Egypt with Chalcedonian Eastern Orthodoxy, following the failure of the Henotikon...
, and was repeatedly sent as an envoy in 551–553 to Pope Vigilius
Pope Vigilius
Pope Vigilius reigned as pope from 537 to 555, is considered the first pope of the Byzantine Papacy.-Early life:He belonged to a aristocratic Roman family; his father Johannes is identified as a consul in the Liber pontificalis, having received that title from the emperor...
, who opposed the emperor on the issue. Peter is also recorded as attending the Second Council of Constantinople
Second Council of Constantinople
The Second Council of Constantinople is recognized as the Fifth Ecumenical Council by the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Old Catholics, and a number of other Western Christian groups. It was held from May 5 to June 2, 553, having been called by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian...
in May 553.
Dara (Mesopotamia)
Dara or Daras was an important East Roman fortress city in northern Mesopotamia on the border with the Sassanid Empire. Because of its great strategic importance, it featured prominently in the Roman-Persian conflicts of the 6th century, with the famous Battle of Dara taking place before its walls...
, to end the Lazic War
Lazic War
The Lazic War or Colchic War, also known as the Great War of Egrisi in Georgian historiography, was fought between the Byzantine Empire and Sassanid Persia for control of the region of Lazica, in what is now western Georgia...
. Reaching an agreement over the Persian evacuation of Lazica and the delineation of the border in Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
, the two envoys concluded a fifty-year peace between the two empires and their respective allies. The annual Roman subsidies to Persia would resume, but the amount was lowered from 500 to 420 pounds of gold. Further clauses regulated cross-border trade, which was to be limited to the two cities of Dara and Nisibis
Nisibis
Nusaybin Nisêbîn) is a city in Mardin Province, Turkey, populated mainly by Kurds. Earlier Arameans, Arabs, and Armenians lived in the city. The population of the city is 83,832 as of 2009.-Ancient Period:...
, the return of fugitives, and the protection of the respective religious minorities (Christians in the Persian Empire and Zoroastrians in Byzantium). In exchange for Persian recognition for the existence of Dara, whose construction had originally sparked a brief war
Anastasian War
The Anastasian War was fought from 502 to 506 between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Sassanid Empire. It was the first major conflict between the two powers since 440, and would be the prelude to a long series of destructive conflicts between the two empires over the next century.-Prelude:Several...
, the Byzantines agreed to limit their troops there and remove the seat of the magister militum per Orientem from the city. As disagreements remained on two border areas, Suania and Ambros, in spring 562, Peter travelled to Persia to negotiate directly with the Persian Shah, Chosroes I, without however achieving a result. He then returned to Constantinople, where he died sometime after March 565.
His son Theodore, nicknamed Kondocheres or Zetonoumios, would succeed him as magister officiorum in 566, after a brief interval where the post was held by the quaestor sacri palatii
Quaestor sacri palatii
The quaestor sacri palatii , in English Quaestor of the Sacred Palace, was the senior legal authority in the late Roman and early Byzantine empires, responsible for drafting laws. In the later Byzantine Empire, the office of the quaestor was altered and it became a senior judicial official for the...
("Quaestor of the Sacred Palace") Anastasius
Anastasius (Samaria)
Anastasius was a Byzantine official, active in the reign of Justin II . He was a native of Samaria. He held the positions of magister officiorum and quaestor sacri palatii. He seems to have died by the mid-570s.- Biography :...
. He held the post until some time before 576, being appointed as comes sacrarum largitionum ("Count of the Sacred Largess") thereafter; in the same year year he also led an unsuccessful embassy to Persia to end the ongoing war over the Caucasus
Roman-Persian War of 572–591
This was a war fought between the Sassanid Empire of Persia and the Roman Empire, termed by modern historians as the Byzantine Empire. It was triggered by pro-Roman revolts in areas of the Caucasus under Persian hegemony, although other events contributed to its outbreak...
.
Assessment
As one of the leading officials of the age, Peter was a controversial figure, receiving greatly differing assessments from his contemporaries. To John Lydus, a mid-level bureaucrat of the praetorian prefecture of the EastPraetorian prefecture of the East
The praetorian prefecture of the East or of Oriens was one of four large praetorian prefectures into which the Late Roman Empire was divided...
, Peter was a paragon of every virtue, an intelligent, firm but fair administrator and a kind man. Procopius also attests to his mild manners and desire to avoid giving insult, however at the same time he accuses him of "robbing the scholares" (the members of the Scholae) and being "the biggest thief in the world and absolutely filled with shameful avarice", as well as being responsible for the murder of Amalasuntha.
From quite early in his career, Peter was renowned for his learning, his passion for reading and his discussions with scholars. As a speaker, he was eloquent and persuasive; Procopius calls him "fitted by nature to persuade men", while Cassiodorus
Cassiodorus
Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus Senator , commonly known as Cassiodorus, was a Roman statesman and writer, serving in the administration of Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths. Senator was part of his surname, not his rank.- Life :Cassiodorus was born at Scylletium, near Catanzaro in...
, who witnessed his embassies to the Ostrogoth court, also praises him as vir eloquentissimus and disertissimus ("most eloquent man"), and as sapientissimus ("most wise"). On the other hand, the late 6th-century historian 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...
, 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.
Writings
Peter wrote three books, all of which survive only in fragments: a history of the first three centuries of the Roman EmpireRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, from the death of Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
in 44 BC to the death of Constantius II
Constantius II
Constantius II , was Roman Emperor from 337 to 361. The second son of Constantine I and Fausta, he ascended to the throne with his brothers Constantine II and Constans upon their father's death....
in 361 AD, of which about twenty fragments are extant; a history of the office of magister officiorum from its institution under Constantine I
Constantine I
Constantine the Great , also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine, was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine and co-Emperor Licinius issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all...
to the time of Justinian, containing a list of its holders and descriptions of various imperial ceremonies, several of which are reproduced in the chapters 84–95 of the first volume of the 10th-century De Ceremoniis
De Ceremoniis
De Ceremoniis is the Latin title of a description of ceremonial protocol at the court of the Eastern Roman emperor in Constantinople. It is sometimes called De ceremoniis aulae byzantinae...
; and an account of his diplomatic mission to the Persian Empire in 561–562, which has been used as a source by Menander Protector. Until recently, Peter was also ascribed the authorship of the 6th-century Peri Politikes Epistemes ("On Political Science"), a six-volume book discussing political theory, drawing extensively from Classical texts such as Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
's The Republic and Cicero
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
's De re publica
De re publica
De re publica is a dialogue on Roman politics by Cicero, written in six books between 54 and 51 BC. It is written in the format of a Socratic dialogue in which Scipio Africanus Minor takes the role of a wise old man — an obligatory part for the genre...
. It too survives only in fragments.
Peter was the first late Roman/Byzantine author to write on imperial ceremonies, 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
Galerius
Galerius , was Roman Emperor from 305 to 311. During his reign he campaigned, aided by Diocletian, against the Sassanid Empire, sacking their capital Ctesiphon in 299. He also campaigned across the Danube against the Carpi, defeating them in 297 and 300...
and Narseh
Narseh
Narseh was the seventh Sassanid King of Persia , and son of Shapur I ....
.