Listed 13 sub titles with search on: Biographies for destination: "THESSALONIKI Ancient city MAKEDONIA CENTRAL".
Daughter of Philip, wife of Cassander, murdered by her son Antipater.
355 - 296
Son of Antipater, brother of Plistarchus, husband of Thessalonice, daughter of Philip, at war with Athens, invades Attica, captures Salamis, makes Demetrius tyrant of Athens, murders Olympias, poisons sons of Alexander, restores Potidaeans, restores Thebes, attacks Pyrrhus, joins in war against Antigonus, besieges Elatea, instigates Lachares to make himself tyrant of Athens, brings Greece low, his miserable end, his sons, his family extirpated by deity.
Antipater (Antipatros). A poet of Thessalonica, who flourished towards the end of the last century preceding the Christian era. We have thirty-six of his epigrams remaining.
Antipater (Antipatros), of Thessalonica, the author of several epigrams in the Greek Anthology, lived, as we may infer from some of his epigrams, in the latter part of the reign of Augustus (B. C. 10 and onwards), and perhaps till the reign of Caligula. (A. D. 38.) He is probably the same poet who is called, in the titles of several epigrams, " Antipater Macedo". (Jacobs, Anthol. xiii.)
Antiphanes, an Epgrammatic poet, several of whose epigrams are still extant in the Greek anthology. He lived after the time of Meleager (i.e. after B. C. 100), but before the time of Philip of Thessalonica, that is, about the reign of Augustus; for Philip incorporated the epigrams of Antiphanes in his Anthology, by which means they have come down to our times. (Jacobs, ad Anthol. Graec. xiii.)
Epigonus, (Epigonos) of Thessalonica, the author of two epigrams in the Greek Anthology. (Brunck. Anal. vol. ii. p. 306; Jacobs, vol. iii., vol. xiii.)
Macedonius (Makedonios), of Thessalonica, a poet of the Greek Anthology, whom Suidas (s. v. Agathias) mentions as contemporary with Agathias and Paul the Silentiary and Tribonianus, in the time of Justinian. Suidas also calls him the Consul (toi hupatoi). There are altogether fortythree epigrams by him in the Anthology, most of which are of an erotic character, and in an elegant style. (Brunck, Anal. vol. iii. p. 111; Jacobs, Anth. Graec. vol. iv. p. 81, p. 215, No. 357, vol. xiii. p. 641, No. 30, p. 913; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iv. p. 481.)
Cameniata, Joannes (Ioannes Kameniata), cubuclesius, or bearer of the crosier, to the archbishop of Thessalonica, was an eye-witness of the capture of that town by the Arabs in A. D. 904. Leo, a Syrian renegade, who held a command under the Arabs, made a descent in that year near Thessalonica, with a fleet of fifty-four ships chiefly manned with negro slaves, surprised, took, and plundered the town, then the second in the Greek empire, and sailed off with a great number of captives. Among these were Cameniata and several of his family, who would have been put to death by the Arabs, had not Cameniata saved his and their lives by shewing the victors a spot where the inhabitants had buried part of their riches. The Arabs, however, did not restore him to liberty, but carried him to Tarsus in Cilicia for the purpose of exchanging him for Arab prisoners who had been taken by the Greeks. At Tarsus, Cameniata wrote a description of the capture of Thessalonica, entitled Ioannou klerikou kai kouboukleisiou tou Kameniatou eis ten halosin tes Thessalonikes, which is commonly called by its Latin title "De Excidio Thessalonicensi". It is divided into seventy-nine chapters, and is as important for the plunder of Thessalonica by the Arabs as the work of Joannes Anagnosta for the sack of the same town by the Turks in 1430. The Greek text of this elegant work was first published, with a Latin translation, by Leo Allatius in his Summikta, 1653-1658, where it is divided into forty-five sections. The second edition is by Combefisius, who published it with an improved Latin translation in his "Historiae Byzantinae Scriptores post Theophanem", Paris, 1685, which forms part of the Parisian "Corpus Script. Hist. Byzant". Combefisius divided it into seventy-nine chapters. The third and last edition, in the Bonn Collection, was published by Em. Bekker together with Theophanes (continuatus), Symon Magister, and Georgius Monachus, Bonn, 1838.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Gaza, Theodorus, one of the latest of the scholars and writers of the Byzantine
empire, was a native, not of Athens, as some have erroneously supposed, but of
Thessalonica; and on the capture of that city by the Turks (A. D. 1430), he fled
into Italy. He appears to have gone first to Mantua, where he studied the Latin
tongue, under Victorinus of Feltre, who was then teaching at Mantua. In A. D.
1439 he was at the council of Florence; and in 1440 he was at Sienna. He afterwards
settled at Ferrara, where he was appointed rector and professor of Greek in the
Gymnasium on its establishment (which took place under duke Lionel, who occupied
the duchy from 1441 to 1450); and, by his talents and reputation, attracted students
thither from all parts of Italy. At Ferrara he composed his elements of grammar.
It has been said that before this appointment he was reduced to the greatest destitution;
but this is doubtful, though he has himself recorded that he gained his subsistence
at one time by transcribing books; and a copy of the Politica of Aristotle and
of the Iliad of Homer, transcribed by him, were, a century since, and perhaps
still are, extant at Venice.
In 1450 he was, with several other Greeks, invited to Rome by Pope
Nicholas V., and was employed in translating the works of Greek authors into Latin.
After the death of Nicholas, Theodore went (A. D. 1456) to Naples, where he obtained
an honourable appointment from the king, Alfonso the Magnanimous, to whose favour
he was recommended by Panonnita, the king's secretary. On the death of Alfonso
(A. D. 1458), he returned to Rome, where he remained, under the patronage of Cardinal
Bessarion, by whose recommendation he was provided with a benefice in the southern
part of the kingdom of Naples; according to some statements, in Apulia, according
to others in the country of the Bruttii, i. e. in Calabria. The benefice was itself
small; and the fraud or carelessness of those who received the in come for him
(as he continued to reside at Rome), made it still less. Disappointed in the hope
of a reward for his literary labours (especially for his translations of Aristotle's
De Historia Animalium) from the Pope (Sixtus IV.), whose niggardly recompense
he is said to have thrown indignantly into the Tiber, he retired (according to
the account most commonly received) to his benefice, and there ended his days.
He was certainly buried there. Hody has, however, shown reason to doubt the truth
of the story of his indignation at the Pope's niggardliness (although this niggardliness
is made the subject of an indignant remonstrance by Melancthon, and of some bitter
verses by Jul. Caes. Scaliger); and several authorities of the period in which
he lived state that he died at Rome. It is remarkable that the place of the death
of a man so eminent should be thus doubtful. Melchior Adam states that Rudolphus
Agricola heard him (A. D. 1476 or 1477) "Aristotelis scripta enarrantem";
an obscure expression, but which, if founded in fact, shows that he must have
at least paid a visit to Ferrara during or after his second residence at Rome.
His death occurred A. D. 1478, when he must have been far advanced in years.
The ability and learning of Theodore Gaza received the highest praise
in his own and the succeeding age. His accurate acquaintance with the Latin language,
and his ready and elegant employment of it, made it doubtful whether his Latin
versions of Greek writers or his Greek versions of Latin writers were the more
excellent. Hody has collected the eulogies passed upon him in prose and verse
by many scholars, including Politian, Erasmus, Xylander, Jul. Caes., and Jos.
Scaliger, Melancthon, and Huet. He was, however, severely criticised in his own
day by Georgius Trapezuntius and his son Andreas. He had incurred the enmity of
George by making new Latin versions of writings which George had already translated
; and Politian, though elsewhere the eulogist of Theodore, charges him with having
concealed the obligations which he owed to the versions of his predecessor.
His works are as follows:
1. Grammatikes eisagoges ta eis tessara, or Introductivae Grammatices Libri IV.
This Greek grammar was first printed by Aldus Manutius at Venice 1495: it long
enjoyed a high reputation, and was repeatedly reprinted, entire or in separate
portions. A Latin version was also made of the first and second books by Erasmus,
and of the other parts by others.
2. Peri menan, or De Mensibus, a treatise on the months of the Athenian calendar,
first printed, with the grammar, by Aldus, as above. This also has been repeatedly
reprinted, either by itself, or with a Latin version by Perellus; the version
has also been separately printed, and is inserted in the Thesaurus of Gronovius.
3. Peri Apchaiogonias Tonrkon, Epistola ad Franc. Philelphum de Origine Turcarum,
published with a Latin version by Allatius, in his Summikta. Colon. Ag. 1653.
vol. ii. A Latin version by Castalio had been previously published with the version
of the History of Laonicus Chalcocondyles, by Clauserus. Fol. Basil, 1556.
4. Epistola Latina ad Christophor. Personam, printed in the Giornale de' Lett.
d' Italia, Ven. 1714; and in the Dissertazioni Vossiane of Apostolo Zeno, Ven.
1753.
Some other letters of his are mentioned by Allatius, Contra Creygthon.;
and a Commentarius ad Statuas Philostrati is noticed by Nic. Comnenus, Praenotion
Mystagog. He also took part in the controversy on the comparative merits of the
Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy; but his Contradictorius Liber ad Bessarionem,
pro Aristotele, in Plethonem, has never been printed. Some other unpublished writings
of his are noticed by Fabricius.
His principal translations from Greek into Latin were as follows:
1. Aristotelis de Historia Animalium Libri IX.; de Partibus Animallium Libri IV.
; De Generatione Animalium Libri V. In the preface he calls himself "Theodorus
Graecus Thessalonicensis", Venet. 1476. These translations have been frequently
reprinted among the works of Aristotle, with or without the original.
2. Aristotelis Problemata. This version was made under the pontificate of Nicholas
V., and revised under that of Sixtus IV.; and was printed at Rome 1475. The earliest
edition mentioned by Fabricius is that of Venice 1493.
3. Theophrasti Historia Plantarum Libri X., and De Causis Plantarum Libri VI.
This version, prepared during the pontificate of Nicholas V., was first printed
at Treviso 1483. It has been repriced, with corrections, by Heinsius and Bodaeus.
The little book, Theophrasti de Suffruclibus, Theodoro Gaza Interprete, published
by H. Sybold, at Strasburg, is merely a reprint of the last four books of the
Historia Plantarum.
4. Alexandri Aphrodisiei Problematum Libri II., printed at Venice 1501; and often
reprinted. Gaza, in his preface to this translation, rejects the common opinion,
that it was the work of Alexander Aphrodisiensis, and ascribes it to some later
writer; but he does not name Alexander Trallianus. 5. Aelianus de Instruendis
Aciebus. Fabricius does not mention any earlier edition of this version than that
of Cologne 1524; but it was printed at Rome as early as 1487, by Eucherius Silberus.
6. Chrysostomi Homiliae quinque de Incomprehensibili Dei Natura. This version
is found in several of the editions of Chrysostom's works. In Fabricius there
is a notice of some other unpublished translations by Gaza, as of the Aphorismi
of Hippocrates, and the Libri de Re Militari of the emperor Maurice.
His versions from Latin into Greek were:
1. Markou Tnlliou Kikeronos Hpomaiou Katon e peri Geros, M. T. Ciceronis Cato
sive de Senectute; and
2. the Oneiros tou Skipionos, Somnium Scipionis, of the same author. These were
both printed by Aldus Manutiusat Venice 1519.
3. A letter of Pope Nicholas V. to Constantine Palaeologus, the last emperor of
Constantinople. Both the original and the version are given in the Opuscula Aurea
Theologica of Arcudius, Rome 1630, and again 1670.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Chryspcocces, Georgius (Georgios o Chrusokokkes), was a learned Greek physician, who lived in the middle of the fourteenth century of the Christian aera, and wrote several valuable works on astronomy and mathematics. It would seem that Georgius Chrysococces is identical with Chrysococces the friend of Theodore Gaza, both of whom were employed for some time in the library of the Vatican, and saved several valuable Greek MSS. from oblivion or destruction. None of the works of Chrysococces have been printed, although their publication would apparently be a valuable acquisition to the history of astronomy. His principal works extant in MS. are: Exegesis eis ten suntaxin ton Person en kephalaiois mx, sun tois Astronomikoisdiagrammasikai Geographikois pinaxin,"Expositio in Constructionem Persarum per Capita 47, cum Astronomicis Designationibus, et Geographicis Tabulis", in the Bibl. Ambrosiana. It seems that this work is the same which we find in the Royal Library at Paris, under the title Georgiou tou Chrusokokke tou iatrou Astronomika. There is another Codex in the same library, intitled Georgion iatrou tou Chrusokokke peri tes heureseos tes hemeras tes haplos suxugias heliou kai seleues, De inveniendis Syzygiis Lunae solaribus per singulos Anni Menses."In the Royal Library at Madrid is Pw=s dei= kataskeuacein (Wrosko/pon, htoi ) Astro/labon", Quomodo construendum sit Horoscopium, aut Astrolabium. A codex in the Ambrosian Library, inscribed Ekdosis eis to ioudaikon Exapterugon, "Editio et Expositio Syntagmatis Canonum Astronomicorum Judaicorum", is attributed to Georgius Chrysococces, who has also left a MS. of Homer's Odyssey, written and accompanied with scholia by himself, in the year of the world 6844 (A. D. 1336), as it is said in the copy of this work which was formerly in the Bibl. Palatina at Heidelberg, whence it was sent to Rome by the Spaniards, and kept in the Vatican library till 1815, when it was sent back to Heidelberg with the rest of the Palatine library by order of pope Pius VII. It is doubtful if Georgius Chrysococces is the same Chrysococces who wrote a history of the Byzantine empire, of which a fragment on the murder of sultan Murad I. in A. D. 1389 is given by Fabricius. The complete astronomical works of Chrysococces, as stated above, have not been published, but several of his Astronomical and Geographical tables have been inserted in various modern works on Astronomy and Geography.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Matthaeus Camariota (ho Kamariota), a native of either Constantinople or Thessalonica, was the son of a Greek priest who perished during the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453. Matthaeus, the son, was also present at the capture, but survived the event. He is praised for his knowledge of philosophy and rhetorical talents. He wrote: 1. "Epistola de capta Constantinopoli," a very prolix production, the greater extant portion of which was translated into Latin by Theodore Zygomala, and published with the Greek text by M. Crusius in his "Turco-Graecia." 2."Epitome in Hermogenem et Rhetoricae Liber." 3. "Synopsis Rhetorica." 4. "Commentarii in Synesii Epistolas." 5."Encomium in tres Hierarchas, Basilium, Gregorium et Chrysostomum." 6. (perhaps) "Matthaei Monachi et Presbyteri Thessalonicensis de Divina Gratia et Lumine, &c." 7."Tractatus de iis qui Spuria et Aliena docent." Matthaeus was the tutor of Georgius Scholarius. It would seem that in 1438 he accompanied John VII. Palaeologus to Italy, and was present at the councils of Ferrara and Florence; and if we can trust Phranza (iii. 19), he became, after the fall of the Greek capital, patriarch of Constantinople, under the name of Gennadius, but finally abdicated and retired into a convent. (Fabr. Bibl. Graec. vol. vi. p. 118, vol. xii. p. 107; Cave, Hist. Liter. Append. p. 110, ed. Geneva.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Harmenopulus Constantinus, nomophylax and judge of Thessalonice, a Graeco-Roman
jurist and canonist, whose date has been a subject of much controversy. Suarez
(Notil. Basil 5) says that his Prochiron was written in A. D. 1143. Jacques Godefroi,
in his Manuale Juris (i. 9), makes it two years later, and Freher, in the Chronologia
prefixed to the Jus Graeco-Romanum of Leunclavius, follows Suarez. Selden, in
his Uxor Hebraica (iii. 29) adopted the common opinion, which placed Harmenopulus
in the middle of the twelfth century; but he seems to have been the first to impugn
this opinion in his treatise De Synedriis (i. 10). The common belief was founded
on the asserted fact that Harmenopulus never, in any authentic passage, cites
the Novells of any emperor later than Manuel Comnenus (A. D. 1143-1180), and that
in his treatise on Heresies, in the commencement of his account of the Bogomili,
he describes them as a sect which had sprung up shortly before his time (ou pro
pollou sunxste ter kath hemar nxnxar). Now it is known that this heresy originated
in the reign of Alexius Comnenus. The reason which induced Selden to ascribe to
Harmenopulus nopulus a much later date was a composition of Philotheus (who was
patriarch of Constantinople in A. D. 1362), which appears to be addressed in the
form of a letter to Harmenopulus as a contemporary. The letter exists in various
manuseripts, and is printed in the J. G. R. of Leunclavius. It blames Harmenopulus,
for inserting in his writings the anathemas which were denounced by some of the
eastern emperors against seditious or rebellious subjects, whereas such denunciations
ought not to be directed against Christians, however criminal, whose belief was
orthodox. " Skilled as you are in such matters, venerable nomophylax and
general judge Harmenopulus, why did you not add that the tomoi had fallen into
disuse, in consequence of the ordinances of the holy Chrysostom. However, I proceed
to supply this deficiency in the works of my friend." The tomi synodici,
which contain the objectionable anathema here referred to, still exist. That of
Constantinus Porphyroge nitus alone is given in Leunclavius, J. G. R., and to
this are added the tomi of Manuel Comnenus and Michael Palaeologus (reigned A.
D. 1261-1282), in the supplementary volume of Meerman's Thesaurus, where they
are copied from a manuscript in which they are appended to the Promptuarium of
Harmenopulus. Some of the best critics, though not ignorant of this letter of
Philotheus, still refused to depart from the opinion which ascribed Harmenopulus
to the twelfth century. They must have believed the so-called letter of Philotheus
to have been a literary forgery, or have supposed that the patriarch addressed
such language as we have quoted to an author who lived two centuries before him.
The Promptuarium of Harmenopulus has been interpolated and altered otherwise it
might be cited in favour of the later date, attributed to its author. As we have
it in the edition of Reiz, in the supplemental or eighth volume of Meerman's Thesaurus
Juris Civilis, it cites a constitution of the patriarch Athanasius of A. D. 1305.
In lib. 4. tit. 6. s. 21, 22, 23, of the Promptuarium or Hexabiblon of Harmenopulus,
are mentioned the names of Michael, who was patriarch of Constantinople in 1167,
and of Arsenius, who was patriarch in 1255, but the sections in which these names
occur are not found in the older manuscripts.
Such was the evidence with respect to the date of Harmenopulus, when
Lambecius, who had originally ascribed Harmenopulus to the twelfth century, found
a note written in a manuscript at Vienna, which induced him to change his opinion.
This manuscript note is put forward by Lambecius as the testimony of Philotheus,
but upon what ground does not appear, since there is no name affixed to it in
the Vienna manuscript. It states that the Epitome of the Canons of Harmenopulus,
the nomophylax and judge of Thessalonice, was composed in the reign of "our most
pious and Christian lady and empress the lady Anna Palaeologina, and her most
beloved son, our most pious and Christian king, and emperor of the Romans, the
Lord Joannes Palaeologus, in the year of the Creation 6853, in the 13th Indiction",
i.e. in A. D. 1345. This testimony has satisfied the majority of more modern critics,
as Fabricius (Bibl. Gr. vol. xii.), Heineccius, Ritter, Zepernic (ad, Beck. de
Novellis Lanuis), Pohl (ad Suarcs. Notit. Basil. p. 16, n. (a)), Heimbach (de
Basil. Orig.), Zachariae (Hist. Jur. Gr. Rom. Delin.). On the other hand, Ch.Waechtler
is censured by his editor Trotz (Praef. ad Waechtleri Opusc.) for still adhering,
like Cave and Bayle, to the ancient belief.
The general reception of the more modern opinion, which places Harmenopulus
in the middle of the fourteenth century, has been favoured by a circumstantial
narrative of his life, resting upon an authority which has deceived many recent
writers, hut is now known to be utterly unworthy of credit. Nic. Comnenus Papadopoli,
in his Praenotiones Mystagogicae, published in 1696, gives a biography of Harmenopulus,
the materials of which he professes to have derived from the Paralipomena of G.
Coressius, and Maximus Planudes upon the Nomocanon of Photius. (Fabric. Bibl.
Gr. vol. xi.)
The questionable narrative of Nic. Comnenus, which is the source of
the modern biographies, is to the following effect. Harmenopulus was born at Constantinople
about A. D. 1320, nearly sixty years after Constantinople had been recovered from
the Latins. His father held the office of Curopalates, and his mother, Muzalona,
was cousin of the emperor Joannes Cantacuzenus. He commenced the study of his
native language under the monk Philastrius, and when he attained the age of sixteen
years his father thought that it was time to initiate him into Latin literature.
Accordingly, the education of the young Harmenopulus was confided to Aspasius,
a Calabrian nonk, who was sent for expressly from Italy to undertake this charge.
While under this master, Harmenopulus attended the lectures of Leo, who was afterwards
archbishop of Mytilene, and whom Nic. Comnenus believes to be the same with Leo
Magentinus, the commentator on Aristotle. At the age of twenty he devoted himself
entirely to jurisprudence, under the jurist Simon Attaliata, great-grandson of
Michael Attaliata, the author of a legal compendium. Possessed of a keen and active
intellect, he soon mastered the whole extent of the science, and had scarcely
attained the age of twenty-eight, when he earned and obtained the title of antecessor,
which was usually conferred by the emperors on those only who had grown grey in
the successful study and practice of the law. At the age of thirty he was appointed
judge of the superior court (judex Dromi). Soon afterwards he was invited to become
a member of the council of the emperor Joannes Cantacuzenus, and, though he was
the youngest of the royal councillors, the first place of honour was assigned
to him. He discharged the high functions of his office with so much sagacity and
prudence, that, after the dethronement of the emperor Cantacuzenus, in 1355, he
experienced no change of fortune from the succeeding emperor, Joannes Palaeologus.
Upon the death of his father, he was appointed Curopalates in his place, and received
the title of Sebastus. Soon afterwards he was named prefect of Thessalonice, and
nomophylax. Loaded with honours and wealth (for his wife Briennia was a lady of
large fortune), he applied himself to the interpretation of law with an extent
of skill and learning which are every where conspicuous in his works. Comnenus
professes to refute Maximus Margunius, who is stated to have cited the Orations
of Harmenopulus; for, says Comnenus, the author of the Hexabiblus and Epitome
of the Canons left no orations. Nay, in the commencement of his commentary on
the Digest, he calls himself an ineloquent man, slow of speech, and states that
for this cause he left the defence of clients, and betook himself to the more
umbratile province of legal meditation and authorship. Besides this commentary
on the Digest, Comnenus ascribes to him commentaries upon the Code and the Novells,
and scholia on the Novells of Leo, and says that he was the author of the Tomus
contra Gregorium Palamam, which is published by Allatius in Graecia Orthodoxa
(vol. i., 4to. Rome, 1652), and that he closely followed the jurist Tipucitus,
and was far more learned than Balsamo, &c. For fuller particulars relating to
the works of Harmenopulus, Comnenus refers to his own Graeciac Sapientis Testimonium,
but we cannot find any mention of this treatise of Comnenus in the catalogues,
and it was never seen by Fabricius.
We may here stop to remark, that the greater part of the above account
is probably sheer invention. The title of antecessor is not met with in authentic
history under the later emperors -the story of Simon Attaliata, the descendant
of Michael Attaliata, is very like a fable- and there is no evidence that the
compilations of Justinian were known at Constantinople, in their original form,
in the age when Harmenopulus is stated to have commented upon them. (Heimbach,
Anecdota, vol. i.) At all events, they were not likely to be annotated by a practical
jurist.
To return to the apocryphal biography. About the fortieth year of
his age, Harmenopulus, in the midst of the avocations of office, turned his attention
to the difficulties of the canon law, a species of study to which the Greeks of
the middle ages were more addicted than to the cultivation of elegant literature.
In this pursuit he acquired the highest reputation, and became no less celebrated
as a canonist than he had previously been as a civilian. He died at Constantinople
in 1380, or, according to more exact accounts, on the 1st of March, 1383.
A Greek translation of the Donation of Constantine the Great to the
papal see is attributed to Harmenopulus. It is printed in Fabricius (Bibl. Gr.
vol. vi.). To the catalogues of Lambecius, Montfaucon, &c., we must refer for
an account of the manuscripts of a Greek lexicon, and other minor works of this
author, which have not been printed.
The works by which Harmenopulus is known to the world are the following:
1. Prochxiron Nomon, seu Promptuarium Juris Civilis, seu Manuale Legum, dictum
Hexabitblbes. This work (which is cited indifferently by all the above names)
is based on the older Prochiron of Basileius Constantinus, and Leo, of which it
was intended to correct the errors and supply the deficiencies. In fact, it incorporates
the whole of the older work, the portions of which are distinguished, in the best
manuscripts, by the mark of Saturn(s), while to the additions is prefixed the
sign of the sun. In the printed edition of Reiz, the extracts from the old Prochiron
are denoted by an asterisk (*), and the whole of the older original Prochiron
has been recently published in a distinct and separate form by Zachariae with
very valuable Prolegomena (Heidelb. 1837). Harmenopulus also, in his preface (Prothcoria
§ 20) acknowledges his obligations to the Romaica of Magister (Eustathius) and
other previous sources. He says that he pored over the Plator ton Nomon (by which
we understand the Basilica to be designated), and the Novells promulgated by subsequent
emperors. One of the most interesting parts of the work to the unprofessional
reader consists of the extracts (lib. 2. tit. 4) from the architect Julianus of
Ascalon. They begin with an account of measures of length, borrowed from Eratosthenes
and Strabo, and proceed with regulations of police (edicta or eparchica) prescribed
by governors of Syria, with respect chiefly to the processes of building, and
the modes of carrying on trade. In one of these edicts (lib. 2. tit. 4. s. 51)
is a citation from the third book of Quaestiones of Papinian, which may possibly
be taken from the original work of Papinian, as we cannot find it in the Digest.
The arrangement of the Hexabiblus, (so called from its division into six books)
is defective, but in legal merit it is superior to most of the productions of
the lower empire. A resemblance has been supposed to exist between some of the
ideas of Harmenopulus and those of the early glossators on the Corpus Juris in
the West, and consequently some communication between them has been suspected.
Thus Harmenopulus, like Accursius, derives the name of the Lex Falcidia from falx,
instead of deriving it from the name of its proposer, Falcidius (lib. 5. tit.
9. s. 1). The first book is occupied chiefly with judicial procedure, the second
with the law of property, corporeal and incorporeal, the third with contracts,
the fourth with the law of marriage, the fifth with the law of wills, and the
sixth with penal law. An appendix of four titles (the last of which relates to
the ordination of bishops) seems to be the addition of a later hand, and it is
doubtful whether the collection of leges yeorgicae or colonariae or rusticae of
Justinian (qu. Justinian the younger), which, in the manuscripts and printed editions,
usually follows the Hexabiblus, was made by Harmenopulus.
The Hexabiblus until recently possessed validity as a system of living
law in the greater part of the European dominions of Turkey. In Moldavia and Wallachia
it has been supplanted, at least in part, by modern codes. In 1830, by a proclamation
of Capodistrias, the judges in Greece were directed to consult the Manual of Harmenopulus,
and subsequently, by a constitution of Feb. 23 (O.S.), 1835, Otho I. directs that
it shall continue in force until the new codes shall be published. (Zachariae,
Hist. Jur. Gr. Rom. Delin. 58, 59; Maurer, das Griechische Volk.)
The first edition of this work was that of Theodoricus Adamaeus of
Suallemberg, Paris, 1540. This was followed by the Latin translation of Bernardus
a Rey, Coloniae, 1547, and by another Latin translation made by Mercier, Lyon.
1556. The edition of Denis Godefroi, Geneva, 1547, was the best, until the appearance
of the very valuable edition of Reiz in the supplement to Meerman's Thesaurus,
La Haye, 1780. From the edition of Reiz, the ancient Greek text was reprinted
En Athenair, 1835. A translation into modern Greek appeared at Venice, 1744, and
has been relprinted, with the addition of a translation of the Epitome of Canons,
in 1777, 1805, and 1820. A new translation by K. Klonares was printed En Nauplio,
1833. There is an old translation into German from the Latin by Justin Gobler,
Frank. 1556.
2. Epitome Divinorum et Sacrorum Canonum, a compilation, which is based upon the
second part of the Nomocanon of Photius, as altered by Jehannes Zonaras. It is
divided into six sections ; the first relating to bishops; the second to priests,
deacons, and subdeacons; the third to clerici; the fourth to monks and monasteries;
the fifth to laymen, including penances for offences; the sixth to women. It is
printed with a Latin translation and scholia (some of which bear the name of Philotheus,
and others of Citrensis, while the greater part are anonymous) in the beginning
of the first volume of Leunclavius, J. G. R.
3. Pxri hairxsxon, seu De Opinionibus Haereticorum qui singulis Temporibus exrtiterunt.
This treatise was first published by Leunclavius, with a Latin translation, at
the end of Theorianus on the Embassy of Manuel Comnenus to the Armenian Court,
Bale, 1578. It is also to be found in the J. G. R. of Leunclavius, vol. i.; in
Morell's Bibl. Patr. vol. ii. and in other authors who have written upon Sects.
To the end of this treatise is appended the Confession of Faith of Harmenopulus,
which Nic. Comnenus (Praenot. Mystag.) asserts that Harmenopulus recited twice
in his last illness upon the very day of his death. In the first and probably
more genuine edition of 1578, Harmenopulus, in this creed, represents the Holy
Spirit as proceeding from the Father alone; whereas, in the J. G. R. of Leunclavius,
vol. i., the words kai tou huiou are interpolated.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Leontius Pilatus or Pylatus, a Greek of Thessalonica, and a disciple of Barlaam. Boccacio met hint at Venice and persuaded him to give up his intention of visiting Rome, and to go to Florence, where, through Boccacio's interest, he obtained the appointment of public teacher, with a salary. He was for some time (apparently for three years) the guest of Boccacio, to whom he gave private lessons in Homer. Boccacio has given a curious description of the person and manners of Leontius; he ascribes to him a thorough acquaintance with Greek literature, and an inexhaustible fund of information on Grecian history, mythology, and arts. He does not appear to have written anything; but Boccacio, in his Peri genealogias Deorum, has repeatedly cited the remarks which he had heard Leontius make. His wandering disposition led him to leave Florence; and his subsequent history appears to be unknown. (Boccacio, De Genealog. Deor. xv. 6, 7.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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