John Kaminiates

John Kaminiates (medium Ιωάννης Καμινιάτης Greek ) is the name of a Byzantine historian, who lived in the late 10th century 9./frühen.

John is known only on the basis of written by him writing, in which he described as an eyewitness to the sacking of Thessalonica (904 ) by the Arabs under the apostate Greeks Leon of Tripoli. He describes himself as a cleric of inferior rank. His surname Kaminiates is possibly derived from the Slavic place names " Steinort ", although derivations from the Greek are possible. According to him, he had siblings, was married and had three children.

In his historical work in Greek language, he first describes Thessalonica and the wider environment. In the second part, he describes in some detail the siege and capture of the city he lived with several relatives. In the third and final part, he tells about the fate of the prisoners, to whom he is said to have also been consulted. In captivity, a certain Gregory of Cappadocia should have encouraged him to record the events literary. The vivid description is under the theme of the punishment of the sins of the Byzantines by the government of God, so as to set an example. Despite some problems in the writing of research is certainly seen as a valuable complement to the political history of the early 10th century in Greece, especially in proportion to the Byzantines to the Slavs in this room.

The work is only in later manuscripts from the 15th/16th. Century survived. Problematic are parallels to the Turkish conquest Thessalonikês 1430. This and literary style elements that are quite uncharacteristic of the 10th century, some researchers have (especially Alexander Kazhdan ) led to the assumption that Scripture is not contemporary and only in the 15th century has been written. But this is likely to be rejected in the recent research, as Kazhdans documents are not really convincing on closer inspection.

Editions and translations

• Ioannis Caminiatae de Expugnatione Thessalonicae. Edited by Gertrud Böhlig. Berlin. 1973 [ critical edition ]
• Taking Thessalonikês by the Arabs in the year 904 Translated, introduced and explained by Gertrud Böhlig. Styria, Graz, inter alia, In 1975. [ German translation]
• John Kaminiates. The Capture of Thessaloniki. Edited by David Frendo and Athanasios Fotiou. Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, Perth 2000. [ Edition and English translation with introduction and notes ]