The Bibliotheca was the 9th century work of ByzantinePatriarchPhotius, composed of 279 reviews of books which he had read. It was not meant to be used as a reference work, but was widely used as such in the 9th century, and is generally seen as the first Byzantine work that could be called an Encyclopedia. The works he notes are mainly Christian and pagan authors from the 5th century BC to his own time in the 9th century AD. Almost half the books mentioned no longer survive. This earthenware dish was made in 9th century Iraq. ... The Byzantine Empire is the term conventionally used to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered at its capital in Constantinople. ... Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. ... Photius (b. ... Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon, 1902 An encyclopedia (alternatively encyclopaedia) is a written compendium of knowledge. ... (6th century BC - 5th century BC - 4th century BC - other centuries) (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium AD) The 5th and 6th centuries BC are a period of philosophical brilliance among advanced civilizations. ...
The way to public life was probably opened for him by the marriage of his brother Sergius to the princess Irene, sister of Theodora, who upon the death of her husband Theophilus in 842, had assumed the regency of the empire.
The fall of Photius followed; he was removed from his office and banished about the end of September 867, a few days after the accession of Basil, and Ignatius was reinstated on November 23.
The most important of the works of Photius is his renowned Bibliotheca or Myriobiblon, a collection of extracts and abridgments of 280 volumes of classical authors (usually cited as Codices), the originals of which are now to a great extent lost.