Menander protector

Menander ( Protector ; † after 582) was a late antique or early Byzantine Greek historian in the time of the Eastern Roman emperor Maurikios .

life and work

Menander's nickname suggests that he belonged to the imperial guard, the protectores domestici . Perhaps he got this very well paid post, which at that time hardly included any real duties, as a reward for writing his historical work. It is more likely that Menander had previously made a career at court. Otherwise we have practically no knowledge about his life, but we do know that he apparently also worked as a poet (an epigram has been handed down), studied law and enjoyed a classical education. Menander, who was undoubtedly a Christian, is said to have spent part of his youth quite uncontrollably; he enjoyed life in the big city of Constantinople , but eventually moderated himself, perhaps also because of the education he received. He clearly belonged to the educated civil elite of the Eastern Roman Empire.

In the time of Emperor Maurikios (582 to 602) Menander wrote his historical work in ancient Greek, which followed the histories of Agathias and dealt with at least the years 558 to 582. In principle it is possible that Menander's work went even further than the fragments suggest, but it was rather unusual in late antique historiography to deal with the reign of the reigning emperor. Maurikios himself is said to have promoted the writing of Menander's histories . The exact title is not known; It is also unknown how many books the work was divided into (it is assumed that there are between eight and ten books). It was not unusual in late antiquity for a dignitary and poet to grapple with historical facts, as the example of Olympiodorus of Thebes , Priskos or Agathias shows. Of Menander's work, however, only fragments in the Suda , the Excerpta de sententiis and especially in the Excerpta de legationibus have survived; however, the fragments in the Suda are to be assessed as less reliable. Some of the fragments from Menander's history (some of which are quite extensive) are of great value. Menander passed on the peace treaty, the Emperor Justinian , which Menander portrayed positively, concluded with the Sassanid king Chosrau I in 562. Menander apparently quotes this contract in full.

In general he offers very important information about the Eastern Roman diplomacy around the year 570. His remarks on the contacts of Eastern Rome with the Kök Turks are just as important . A delegation led by the influential Maniakh traveled from Sogdia to Constantinople in 568 to establish contacts in the name of the Turkish ruler Sizabulos , who was enemies of the Persians. In August 569 the Roman general Zemarchus traveled to Sogdia himself and concluded an alliance with the Turks. This only existed for a few years (see also Turxanthos ).

When writing his work, Menander seems to have relied less on personal experience than the historians Olympiodoros, Priskos or Prokop , who also had many diplomatic details to offer. Rather, Menander probably relied on the archives. So he followed the work of Petros Patrikios in negotiations with Persia ; perhaps he also used the work of Theophanes of Byzantium , but this is controversial. In other places Menander depicts “barbarians” purely according to topical patterns and not according to his own knowledge. Overall, Menander's work, written in ancient Greek , is still very much in the classical tradition. The presentation of the events seems to have concentrated on the East following the fragments, but it is not impossible that the later selection from Menander's work was selective and that he also took the West into account. Stylistically, he sometimes seems to have given preference to the content over the form, which is evidenced by the reproduction of the complete text of the contract with Persia.

Menander's work was continued around 630 by Theophylaktos Simokates , the last ancient historian in the classical tradition.

Editions / translations

Entry in Clavis Historicorum Antiquitatis Posterioris (CHAP) .

• Roger C. Blockley : The History of Menander the Guardsman . Liverpool 1985 (with the fragments counted again).
• Ernst Doblhofer : Byzantine diplomats and Eastern barbarians: Sections of the Priskos and Menander Protector selected from the Excerpta de legationibus of Konstantinos Porphyrogennetos ( Byzantine historians 4) . Graz 1955 (contains only the fragments from the Excerpta de legationibus ).

literature

• Barry Baldwin: Menander Protector . In: Dumbarton Oaks Papers. Volume 32, 1978, pp. 99-125 (informative review).
• Dariusz Brodka: The Menander Protector's understanding of history . In: Dariusz Brodka u. a. (Ed.): Continuity and Change. Studies in Late Antique Historiography (Electrum 13). Krakow 2007, pp. 95-103.
• John Martindale: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire IIIb . Cambridge 1992, p. 873.
• Warren Treadgold : The early Byzantine Historians . Basingstoke 2007, pp. 293-299.

Web links

• Literature by and about Menander Protektor in the catalog of the German National Library

Remarks

1. ↑ Some information can be found in the Suda , a Middle Byzantine lexicon; see for example his foreword to the histories there ( Suda , keyword Menandros , Adler number: mu 591 , Suda-Online ).
2. ↑ His father Euphratas is said to have had little education, while Menander's brother had to break off his studies in law, cf. Baldwin, Menander , p. 101 f.
3. ↑ Baldwin, Menander , p. 106 f.
4. ↑ Baldwin, Menander , p. 105 f.
5. ↑ Fragment 12 from Müller's Edition ( Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum IV), Fragment 6.1 from Blockleys Edition ( English translation ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ). 
6. ↑ See Baldwin, Menander , p. 104.
7. ↑ Baldwin, Menander , p. 108.
8. ↑ See Baldwin, Menander , p. 109 f.