Leon Deacon

Leon Diakonos ( Middle Greek Λέων ο Διάκονος , Latinized Leo Diaconus ; * around 950; † around 1000) was a Byzantine historian . His history is one of the most important historical sources for Byzantine history in the second half of the 10th century.

Information about Leon can be found in his history. He was born in Kaloe in Ionia around 950 and studied in Constantinople , where he was ordained a deacon . Under Basil II he took part in a campaign against the Bulgarians in 986 and fled together with the remains of the imperial army after the failed siege of Sofia .

He began to write a history of the Byzantine Empire around 992. His history is divided into ten short books and describes the time of the emperors Romanos II. , Nikephoros II. Phokas and Johannes I. Tzimiskes (959 to 976); a few insets also report on the following years. The work is based on the ancient models (see also Macedonian Renaissance ). For the first time in Byzantium since the 7th century, Leon wrote contemporary history in imitation of Thucydides and used a classical language. He was also based on the late antique classicist historians, especially Agathias . The description is based largely on eyewitness accounts, although Leon apparently also consulted written sources. In research, the script is counted among the most important contemporary historical works in Byzantium, although Leon was not particularly critical in its presentation; towards the Phokai and especially Emperor Nikephorus II, for example, he was very positive. Leon probably died before he could continue his work.

Michael Psellos followed up on Leon's work in the 11th century and also drew on an ancient tradition ( historia perpetua , a continuous contemporary history).

Editions and translations

• Leonis Diaconi Caloënsis historiae libri decem et Liber de velitatione bellica Nicephori Augusti. (= Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae. Vol. 3). Published by Karl Benedikt Hase . Weber, Bonn 1828, digitized .
• Leon Diakonos: Nikephoros Phokas "The pale death of the Saracens" and Johannes Tzimiskes. The time from 959 to 976 in the depiction of Leon Diakonos (= Byzantine historians. Vol. 10, ZDB -ID 532553-5 ). Translated by Franz Loretto. Verlag Styria, Graz et al. 1961.
• The History of Leo the Deacon. Byzantine military expansion in the tenth century (= Dumbarton Oaks Studies. Vol. 41). Introduction, translation, and annotations by Alice-Mary Talbot and Denis F. Sullivan. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington DC 2005, ISBN 0-88402-306-0 (English translation with a detailed introduction and a good commentary).

literature

• Herbert Hunger : The high-level profane literature of the Byzantines . Volume: 1: Philosophy, rhetoric, epistolography, historiography, geography (= Handbook of Classical Studies . Dept. 12: Byzantine Handbook. Part 5, Vol. 1). Beck, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-406-01427-5 , p. 367 ff.
• Johannes Karayannopulos, Günter Weiß: Source studies on the history of Byzantium (324-1453) (= writings on the intellectual history of Eastern Europe. Vol. 14). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1982, ISBN 3-447-02244-2 , pp. 368 f., No. 263.
• Warren Treadgold : The Middle Byzantine Historians. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke 2013, ISBN 978-1-137-28085-5 , p. 236 ff.

Web links

• Writings by Leo Diaconus in the SBBPK
• Entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia , Robert Appleton Company, New York 1913.