The Early Byzantine Historians

Resumen del libro

The Early Byzantine Historians is the first analytic study of every significant Byzantine historian from Eusebius of Caesarea (c.255-339) to Theophylact Simocatta (c.585-after 641?). Written for general readers as well as professional scholars, and filled with new interpretations and discoveries, the book presents a remarkable portrait gallery of forty historians who were gifted writers, incisive thinkers, engaging personalities, or all three at once. They include often neglected key figures like Eunapius of Sardis, Priscus of Panium, Philostorgius, and Hesychius of Miletus; Eustathius of Epiphania, whose universal history largely survives in plagiarizations by John Malalas and John of Antioch and preserves previously overlooked parts of earlier lost histories; and Procopius of Caesarea and Ammianus Marcellinus, two of the greatest historians of all time. Individually and as a group, these historians provide many insights into early Byzantine society and intellectual life and had a decisive influence on Byzantine culture and modern perceptions of Byzantine history.

'A detailed survey of all known Byzantine historical writings, secular and ecclesiastical, to the end of Late Antiquity in the seventh century...The reader will have at his disposal an authoritative work of reference, indispensible to all serious students of a pivotal period.' - Cyril Mango, Exeter College, UK

' A remarkable accomplishment...Treadgold describes and evaluates the work of forty historians spread across three hundred years and more. The style is easy, plain, forceful, clear, reasonable - everything it should be. Beyond that, Treadgold is interested not just in the texts, but in the ancient authors as human beings, and looks to discover their individual purposes, methods, and peculiarities.' - Ramsay MacMullen, Yale University, USA

'A masterly survey of the historians on whom our knowledge of the dramatic history of early Byzantium, from Constantine to the eve of the Moslem conquest, depends.'- Fergus Millar, Oriental Institute, University of Oxford, UK

'Treadgold very capably interweaves the study of writing traditions, individual historians, and the time period they chronicled. The end product is an engaging, comprehensive study, beginning with the foundation of Greek historiography up to the seventh century...everyone who likes Byzantine history will enjoy this historiography.' - M Johnson, Choice Reviews Online





Preface
The Greek Background
Eusebius of Caesarea
Ammianus Marcellinus
The New Classical Historians
The New Church Historians
Procopius of Caesarea
Procopius' Contemporaries
Procopius' Successors
The Last Early Byzantine Historians
Conclusion
Chronological Table of the Early Byzantine Historians
List of English Translations of the Early Byzantine Historians
Bibliography

WARREN TREADGOLD is National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of Byzantine Studies at Saint Louis University, USA, and author of many books and articles on Byzantine history and literature, including A History of the Byzantine State and Society (1997) and A Concise History of Byzantium (2001).