Johannes Kaminiates

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Johannes Kaminiates ( Middle Greek Ιωάννης Καμινιάτης ) is the name of a Byzantine historian who lived in the late 9th / early 10th century.

John is only known because of the writing he wrote, in which he described as an eyewitness the sack of Thessalonike (904) by the Arabs under the renegade Greek Leon of Tripoli . He describes himself as a cleric of low rank. His nickname Kaminiates is possibly derived from the Slavic place name "Steinort", although derivations from the Greek are also possible. According to him, he had siblings, was married and had three children.

In his historical work in Greek, he first describes Thessalonike and the wider environment. In the second part, he describes in great detail the siege and conquest of the city that he experienced together with several relatives. In the third and last part, he reports on the fate of the prisoners, to whom he is also said to have belonged. While in captivity, a certain Gregorios of Cappadocia is said to have encouraged him to record the events in literature. The lively description is under the leitmotif of the punishment of the sins of the Byzantines by the rule of God in order to make an example. Despite some problems, the writing is regarded in research as a valuable addition to the political history of the early 10th century in Greece, especially in the relationship between the Byzantines and the Slavs in this area.

The work is only in later manuscripts from the 15th / 16th centuries. Century handed down. Parallels to the Turkish conquest of Thessalonike in 1430 are problematic. This and literary stylistic elements, which are quite untypical for the 10th century, have led some researchers (especially Alexander Kazhdan ) to the assumption that the script is not contemporary and only in the 15th century has been written. However, this has tended to be rejected in recent research, as Kazhdan's evidence is not really convincing on closer inspection.

Editions and translations

  • Ioannis Caminiatae de Expugnatione Thessalonicae . Edited by Gertrud Böhlig. Berlin 1973. [critical edition]
  • The capture of Thessalonica by the Arabs in 904 . Translated, introduced and explained by Gertrud Böhlig. Styria, Graz a. a. 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]

literature

Remarks

  1. ^ Herbert Hunger: The high-level profane literature of the Byzantines . Vol. 1. Munich 1978, p. 357.
  2. ↑ John Kaminiates. The Capture of Thessaloniki . Edited by David Frendo and Athanasios Fotiou. Perth 2000, pp. XXXIX-XL.
  3. ↑ See John Kaminiates. The Capture of Thessaloniki . Edited by David Frendo and Athanasios Fotiou. Perth 2000, pp. XXXVII ff.
personal data
SURNAME Johannes Kaminiates
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ιωάννης Καμινιάτης
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine historian
DATE OF BIRTH 9th century
DATE OF DEATH 10th century