ZONARAS, JOHN

Byzantine historian, canonist; b. toward the end of the 11th century; d. after 1160. After a career as a civil servant and court official under alexius i comnenus, he entered a monastery c. 1118 on Hagia Glykeria, in the Princes' Islands, where he wrote his history and other works. His Historical Epitome, recounting events from creation to 1118, stands upon a much higher level than the other Byzantine universal chronicles. Not only did he use sources no longer surviving, such as the complete text of Cassius Dio and several lost Byzantine historians, but he reproduced them in great length and detail, and treated them critically, up to a point. He is thus of value as a source for all periods from the early Roman Empire to his own day. The work was much read, excerpted, and translated—e.g., into Old Slavonic—in the later Middle Ages. His massive commentary on the canons of the Apostles (see apostolic constitutions), the councils and synods, and the Fathers is perhaps the greatest achievement of Byzantine Canon Law. It was closely followed by his 12th-century successors, Alexius Aristenos and Theodore Balsamon. His other works include discussions of particular points of Canon Law, homilies, lives of saints, commentaries on liturgical hymns, and a lexicon. Not all is yet published.

Bibliography: j. zonaras, Epitomae historiarum libri, ed. m. pinder, 4 v. (Bonn 1841–97); Lexicon, ed. j. a. h. tittmann, 2 v. (Leipzig 1808); Patrologia graeca, ed. j. p. migne (Paris 1857–66) 137–138, commentary on Canon Law. m. weingart, Byzantské kroniky v literatuře církevněslovanské, 2 v. (Bratislava 1923) 1:125–159. m. dimaio, "Zonaras Ecclesiasticus: Three Source Notes on the Epitome Historiarum," Greek Orthodox Theological Review 25 (1980) 77–82. i. grigoriadis, Linguistic and literary Studies in the Epitome Historion of John Zonaras, (Thessalonike 1998)

[r. browning/eds.]