Saint Theophanes the Confessor (about 758/760, Constantinople - March 17, 817 or 818, Samothrace) was an aristocratic but ascetic Byzantine monk and chronicler. Both the Orthodox and the Catholics celebrate his memory on March 12. Map of Constantinople. ... March 17 is the 76th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (77th in Leap years). ... Samothrace Samothrace (in Greek: Σαμοθρακη, Samothraki) is an island in Greece, in the northern Aegean Sea. ... Byzantine Empire (Greek: ) is the term conventionally used since the 19th century to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered at its capital in Constantinople. ... Generally a chronicle (Latin chronica) is historical account of facts and events in chronological order. ... Separate articles treat Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Orthodox Judaism. ... March 12 is the 71st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (72nd in Leap years). ...

Biography

Theophanes was born at Constantinople, of wealthy, noble iconodule parents: Isaac, imperial governor of the islands of the White Sea, and of Theodora, of whose family nothing is known. As he was orphaned at an early age, the Byzantine emperor Constantine V Copronymus (740-775) saw to his education and upbringing at the imperial court; he would hold several offices under this patron. His chronicle preserves a vibrant childhood memory of icebergs created from the thawing of the frozen Black Sea, and floating past Constantinople in February of 764. Iconodules (or Iconophile) is someone who supports or is in favour of religious images, or icons, also known as Iconography, and is in opposition to an Iconoclast (someone against Iconography). ... This is a list of Byzantine Emperors. ... An iceberg (a partial loan translation, possibly to Dutch ijsberg, cognate to German Eisberg) is a large piece of ice that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water. ... Map of the Black Sea. ... Map of Constantinople. ... Events Empress Shotoku succeeds Emperor Junnin on the throne of Japan. ...

He was married at the age of twelve, but induced his wife to lead a life of virginity, and in 799, after the death of his father-in-law, they separated with mutual consent to embrace the religious state, she choosing a convent on an island near Constantinople, while he entered the monastery called Polychronius in the district of Sigiane=Sigriano near Cyzicus on the Asian side of the Sea of Marmora. Later he built a monastery on his own lands on the island of Calonymus (now Calomio). Cyzicus was an ancient town of Mysia in Asia Minor, situated on the shoreward side of the present peninsula of Kapu-Dagh (Arctonnesus), which is said to have been originally an island in the Sea of Marmara, and to have been artificially connected with the mainland in historic times. ... The Sea of Marmara (Turkish: Marmara denizi, Modern Greek: Μαρμαρα̃ Θάλασσα or Προποντίδα) (also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea) is an inland sea that separates the Black Sea from the Aegean Sea (thus the Asian part of Turkey from its European part) by Bosporus and...

After six years he returned to Sigriano, founded an abbey known by the name "of the great acre", and governed it as abbot. As such he was present at the Second General Council of Nicaea in 787, and signed its decrees in defense of the sacred images. This article is about the year 787. ...

When the emperor Leo V the Armenian (813-820) again began his iconoclastic warfare, he ordered Theophanes to be brought to Constantinople and tried in vain to induce him to condemn what had been sanctioned by the council. Theophanes was cast into prison and for two years suffered cruel treatment; he was then banished to Samothracia, where, overwhelmed with afflictions, he lived only seventeen days and is credited with many miracles after his death, probably 12 March, AD 817, on which day he is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology. March 12 is the 71st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (72nd in Leap years). ... Events Louis the Pious divides his empire among his sons. ...

Chronicle

At the urgent request of his friend George Syncellus (d. 810), Theophanes undertook the continuation of his chronicle, during the years 810-15 (P. G., CVIII, 55), making use of material already prepared by Syncellus, probably also the extracts from the works of Socrates, Sozomenus, and Theodoret, made by Theodore Lector, and the city chronicle of Constantinople. George Syncellus (died after 810) was a Byzantine chronicler and ecclesiastic. ... This article is about the ancient Greek philosopher, for all other uses see: Socrates (disambiguation) Socrates (June 4, ca. ... Salminius Hermias Sozomen (c. ... Theodoret (393 – c. ...

Theofanes' chronicle of world events from the accession of Diocletian in 284 (the point where the chronicle of George Syncellus ends) to the downfall of Michael I Rhangabes in 813, is valuable for preserving the accounts of lost authorities on Byzantine history that would be otherwise lost for the seventh and eighth centuries. The language occupies a place midway between the stiff ecclesiastical and the vulgar Greek. Emperor Diocletian. ... For other uses, see number 284. ... George Syncellus (died after 810) was a Byzantine chronicler and ecclesiastic. ... Michael I on a contemporary coin Michael I Rhangabes, an obscure nobleman who had married Procopia, the daughter of Nicephorus I, and been made master of the palace. ... Events June 22 - Byzantine Emperor Michael I is defeated in a war against the Bulgarians. ... // Overview Events The Roman-Persian Wars end. ... (7th century — 8th century — 9th century — other centuries) Events The Iberian peninsula is taken by Arab and Berber Muslims, thus ending the Visigothic rule, and starting almost 8 centuries of Muslim presence there. ...

The work consists of two parts, the first giving the history, arranged according to years, the other containing chronological tables, full of inaccuracies. It seems that Theophanes had only prepared the tables, leaving vacant spaces for the proper dates, but that these had been filled out by someone else (Hurter, "Nomencl." I, Innsbruck, 1903, 735). In chronology, in addition to reckoning by the years of the world and the Christian era, Theophanes introduces in tabular form the regnal years of the Roman emperors, of the Persian kings and Arab caliphs, and of the five oecumenical patriarchs, a system which leads to considerable confusion, and therefore of little value.

The first part, though lacking in critical insight and chronological accuracy, which could scarcely be expected from a man of such ascetical disposition, greatly surpasses the majority of Byzantine chronicles (Krumbacher, "Geschichte der byzant. Litteratur," 1897, 342). The translation (or rather paraphrase) of Theophanes becomes interesting with the reign of Justin II (565), the excerpts from the earlier portion being scanty. At that time there were very few good Greek scholars in the West, and Anastasius shows himself no exception. Flavius Iustinus Iunior Augustus Flavius Iustinus Iunior Augustus or Justin II (c. ...

His Chronicle was much used by succeeding chroniclers, and in 873-875 a compilation in barbarous Latin (in vol. ii. of De Boor's edition) was made by the papal librarian Anastasius from Nicephorus, George the Syncellus, and Theophanes for the use of a deacon named Johannes in the second half of the ninth century, and thus was known to Western Europe. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... The Pope (from Greek: pappas, father; from Latin: papa, Papa, father) is the head of the Catholic Church, which considers him the successor of St. ... As a means of recording the passage of time the 9th century was that century that lasted from 801 to 900. ...

There is also extant a further continuation, in six books, of the Chronicle down to the year 961 by a number of mostly anonymous writers (called Scriptores post Theophanem), who undertook the work by the instructions of Constantine Porphyrogenitus.

Sources and references

(incomplete)

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Catholic Encyclopedia.
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication in the public domain.
• C. Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur (1897); Ein Dithyrambus auf Theophanes Confessor (a panegyric on Theophanes by a certain protoasecretis, or imperial chief secretary, under Constantine Porphyrogenitus) and Eine neue Vita des Theophanes Confessor (anonymous), both edited by the same writer in 'Sitzungsberichte' of the Royal bavarian Academy of Sciences (1896, pp. 583-625; and 1897, pp. 371-399)
• Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the West (ed. Bury), v. p. 500.

Editions of the Chronicle: The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... The Catholic Encyclopedia (also referred to as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia today) is an English-language encyclopedia published in 1913 by the The Encyclopedia Press, designed to give authoritative information on the entire cycle of Catholic interests, action and doctrine. // History The writing of the encyclopedia began on January 11... Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos (the Purple-born) ( 905 – November 9, 959) was the son of Byzantine emperor Leo VI and nephew of Alexander III. He earned his nickname as the legitimate (or more accurately legitimized) son of Leo, as opposed to the others who claimed the throne during his lifetime. ...

• Editio princeps, J. Goar (Paris, 1655)
• with annotations and corrections by Combefis (Venice, 1729).
• J. P. Migne, Patrologia Graeca, cviii.
• J. Classen in Bonn Corpus Scriptorum Hist. Byzantinae (1839-41)
• C. de Boor (Leipzig, 1883-85), with an exhaustive treatise on the MS. and an elaborate index, and an edition of the Latin version by Anastasius Bibliothecarius
• the monograph by J. Pargoire, "Saint Theophane le Chronographe et ses rapports avec saint Theodore studite," in Bufai'rH'd Xpovuci, ix. (St Petersburg, 1902).

Editions of the Continuation:

• in J. P. Migne, Pair. Gr., cix.
• I. Bekker, Bonn Corpus Scriptorum Hist. Byz. (1838).