Madrid illuminated manuscript of the Skylitz

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The only known contemporary depiction of the Greek fire in the Skylitzes Matritensis shows the victory of the Byzantine fleet over the ships of the usurper Thomas at the time of Emperor Michael II.

The Madrid illuminated manuscript of the Skylitzes (usually Skylitzes Matritensis , also called Codex Græcus Matritensis Ioannis Skylitzes or Madrid Skylitzes ) is a work of Byzantine illumination . It contains the imperial story of Johannes Skylitzes with the title Synopsis Historion ( Greek Σύνοψις Ιστοριών ) and is illustrated with 574 miniatures . It is located in the Spanish National Library in Madrid (signature Codex Vitr. 26-2). The Madrid manuscript of the Skylitz is the only surviving illustrated Greek chronicle from the Middle Byzantine period.

The Synopsis Historion , written by the Byzantine historian Johannes Skylitzes in the 1170s, deals with the history of the Byzantine emperors between the death of Emperor Nikephorus I in 811 and the deposition of Emperor Michael VI. 1057 and follows on from the Chronicle of Theophanes .

An illustrated copy of the synopsis was made between 1150 and 1175 in the vicinity of the Norman royal court in Palermo . The template was a manuscript from the imperial scriptorium in Constantinople , one of the two writers of the text was probably an employee of the Norman royal chancellery. The one-column text is interrupted by one to three miniatures, which usually illustrate the text passage immediately before or after the miniature and have more or less extensive captions. The common appearance of Byzantine, Western and Arabic elements in the miniatures gives the manuscript a special cultural meaning.

photos

  • Leon VI with a Bulgarian delegation; the battle of Bulgarophygon .

  • Thomas the Slav seeks refuge with the Arabs.

  • Thomas the Slav negotiates with the Saracens; Thomas's troops defeat the imperial army.

  • The murder of Bardas at the feet of Michael III. in the years 865-866; Return of the army and coronation of Basil I as vice emperor.

literature

  • Sebastián Cirac Estopañán: Scylitzes Matritensis I: Reproducciones y miniatures. Herder, Barcelona and Madrid 1965.
  • André Grabar , Manolis Manoussakas: L'illustration du manuscrit de Skylitzès de la Bibliothèque Nationale de Madrid. Institute Hellenique d'Études Byzantines et Postbyzantines, Venice 1979.
  • Synopsis Historiarum. Kōdika's Vitr. 26-2 tēs Ethnikēs Bibliothēkēs tēs Madritēs; Codex Matritensis Graecus Vitr. 26-2 conscripta a Joanne Scylitze. Militos (Μίλητος) Publishers, Athens 2000, ISBN 960-8460-16-6 (facsimile and commentary).
  • Vasiliki Tsamakda : The Illustrated Chronicle of Ioannes Skylitzes. Alexandros Press, Leiden 2002, ISBN 90-806476-2-4 .

Web links

Commons : Madrid Skylitzes  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Guglielmo Cavallo : La cultura italo-greca nella produione libraria . In: I Bizantini in Italia , Milan 1982, p. 559.