Theophanes of Byzantium, Ἱστορικῶν λόγοι δέκα, fragments edited by C. Müller, in his Fragmentorum Historicorum Græecorum, vol. IV, Paris, 1841-1870, 5 vols., new edition, 1883; by L. Dindorf, in his Historici Græci Minores, Leipsic, 1870-1871, 2 vols.
Theophanes of Byzantium lived probably in the sixth century. His history deals with the Persian War under Justin II, from the breaking of the truce with Chosroes in 567, and going down to the tenth year of the war. Theophanes preserved the record of the bringing of the silkworm to Italy, the Romans not knowing previously that silk was the product of an insect.
Theophanes Isaurus, Χρονικόν, edited by J. Goar, Paris, 1655.
Theophanes Isaurus, named also the Confessor, was born of noble parentage during the reign of Constantine V (741-775), and while a youth married the daughter of Leo the Patrician. After discharging sundry public offices he retired from the world and founded a monastery, his wife going into a convent. He attended the Council of Nicæa in 787, where he vehemently defended image worship, and when, in 813, he was called upon to recant his views, he preferred imprisonment and banishment. His history begins with Diocletian, 284 A.D., at the point where Georgius Syncellus stopped, and continues to 813, the time of his imprisonment, his death occurring in 818. The work is of no high order, but is valuable in the absence of better sources of information. His accounts of the affairs of the Eastern Empire are far more trustworthy than those relating to the Western Empire, in regard to which he makes the most extraordinary mistakes. A continuation of Theophanes’ Chronicle was prepared at the command of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, and has come down to us under the title of Χρονογραφία συγγραφεῖσα ἐκ προστάγματος Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ φιλοχρλιστου δεσπότου καὶ αὐτοράτορος … ἀρχομένη ὅπου ἔληξε Θεοφάνης … τω βασιλεῖ Μιχαὴλ υἱοῦ Θεοφίλου τοῦ κουροπαλάτου, ἤγουν ἀπο τῆς βασιλεάς Λέοντος τοῦ Ἀρμενίου (Scriptores post Theophanen), edited by Leo Allatius, in his Σύμμικτα, Cologne, 1653; and by Combesius, in the Paris “Corpus.” The period dealt with is 813-961, and the compilation is by sundry anonymous writers. Georgius Monachus and Leo Grammaticus also took up his history from 813.
Theophilus Abbas, Life of Justinian, edited by James Bryce, in the Archivio Storico of the Società Romana de Storia Patria, Rome, 1887.
Theophilus Abbas was cited by N. Allemannus, in his Anecdota, published in 1623, as the author of a life of Justinian. Nothing, however, was known of the work or of the author until 1887, when Mr. Bryce discovered the work in manuscript in the Barberini Library, Rome. The manuscript purports to be extracted from an original Slavonic manuscript, but the work appears to be of such a legendary character as not to be of much historical value. This Theophilus is not at all to be identified with the jurist Theophilus, who aided Justinian in the drawing up of his Code.
Theophylactus Simocatta, Ἱστορία οἰκουμενή, edited by B. Vulcanius, Leyden, 1596; by Jacob Pontanus, with a Latin version, Ingolstadt, 1604; translated into French by F. Morel, Paris, 1603, 1608.
Theophylactus Simocatta was of Egyptian descent, but was born in Locria. He is known to have held public office under Heraclius about 610-629 A.D. His history, in continuation of Menander’s, deals with the life of the emperor Maurice, who reigned from 582 to 602, and is the oldest and best authority on the period. It is related that when the author read a passage from his work after the death of the emperor, the audience was moved to tears.
Xiphilinus, Joannes, Ἐπιτωμή, edited by Leunclavius, Frankfort, 1592; (see also Dion-Cassius, whose works were abridged by Xiphilinus).
Xiphilinus of Trapezus, the historian, was a nephew of the patriarch of the same name, and lived in the second half of the 11th century. He made, at the command of Michael VII Ducas (1071-1078), an epitome of Dion-Cassius, which unfortunately includes only books 61-80, because the earlier ones were lacking in the copy of Dion used by Xiphilinus. His copy was incomplete in other places also. The work is of value as preserving the main facts of the original, the greater part of which is lost, for from book 61-80 of the History of Rome of Dion-Cassius we have only the abridgment made by Xiphilinus, and some other epitomes which were probably made by the same person who epitomised the portion from the 55th to the 60th book.