Constantine Manasses

Constantine Manasses (Greek Κωνσταντίνος Μανασσῆς, * in 1130 in Constantinople Opel; † around 1187 ) was a diplomat, writer and author of a world chronicle. It is unlikely that he was bishop of the Byzantine Greek city Naupaktos.

Life

Manasseh belonged to the circle of literati who were funded by the sebastokratorissa Irene Comnenus, a sister of Manuel I.. In 1160 he took part in an embassy to the Holy Land and the Crusader states located there by order of the Byzantine emperor. Goal was the courtship of widowed Emperor Manuel I.. Was New Empress Maria of Antioch.

Works

About the author does not necessarily pleasant journey to the Holy Land, he reports in his work Hodoiporikon. He also wrote a narrative of Aristander and Kalithea, a preserved only in a few fragments of romance in verse. However, his most important work is a written around the year 1181 World Chronicle Chronike synopsis. It describes the events from the beginning of the world until the year 1081 in verse. She enjoyed next to the Byzantine world also great popularity in the neighboring Balkan region. In the 14th century, was commissioned by Tsar Ivan Alexander a Bulgarian translation and expansion (see Manasses Chronicle ), which was richly illustrated. Furthermore, still preserved some minor works of Constantine Manasses.

Editions

• Immanuel Bekker: Breviarium historiae metricum. Bonn 1837 ( full text in the Google Book Search ).
• I. Bogdan: The Slavic Manasses Chronicle. Munich 1966 ( limited preview on Google Book Search.
• K. Horna: The Hodoiporikon of Constantine Manasses. In: Byzantine Journal 13, 1904, pp. 325-347.
• Otto Mazal: The novel of Konstantinos Manasses. Graz-Vienna - Cologne 1967 ( limited preview on Google Book Search ).