Byzantine Historical Writing, 900–1400

Abstract

This chapter talks about how the dates 900 and 1400 are not entirely arbitrary divisions in the history of Byzantine historical writing. Approximately thirty-one pieces of Greek historical writing produced in the Byzantine world (excluding Latin occupied areas) survive from the period 900–1400. It also includes a work whose author, Niketas Choniates, published more than one version, as well as works that might not be considered strictly historical because they record limited episodes in a speech or letter format, and in a rhetorical context of apology, request, panegyric, or denunciation. Other works in this border zone, however, have not been included despite the rich historical information they contain: such are the tenth-century hagiographies of the patriarchs Ignatios and Euthymios, and the self-canonizing autobiography of Nikephoros Blemmydes.