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Compendium historiarum

A SYNOPSIS OF HISTORIES BEGINNING FROM THE CREATION OF THE WORLD AND UNTIL THE REIGN OF ISAAC KOMNENOS, COLLECTED BY KYR GEORGE KEDRENOS FROM VARIOUS BOOKS. Many God-loving and history-loving men before us have composed an epitome of history; for both George the monk and syncellus, beginning from the foundation of the world, ended with Maximian and Maximinus the tyrants, and Theophanes the confessor, 1.4 making the former's end his own beginning, arrived at the end of Nikephoros the general logothete. And after him others also attempted it, such as the Sicilian and the hypertimos Psellos and others with them. But they have fallen away from accuracy, making only a list of the emperors and teaching who became ruler after whom, and nothing more. For Theodore Daphnopates, Niketas the Paphlagonian, and the other Byzantines, Nikephoros the Phrygian deacon, Leo of Caria, Theodore of Side, and his namesake of Sebasteia, and Demetrios of Kyzikos, and John the monk, each having set forth his own subject matter, 1.5 one, for instance, a praise of an emperor, another a censure of a patriarch, a third an encomium of a friend, have fallen far from the intention of the aforementioned men and have differed from one another. But the protovestiarios John, surnamed the Thrakesian, to provide a more concise understanding of the events that happened at various times, having selected the histories of the writers mentioned above and having made the writing structured, began from the end of Nikephoros the general logothete, and he cast out what was said with passion or for favor, and delivered the bare history. But we, having gone through their books, 1.6 have collected what is suitable, adding also whatever we have been taught unwritten from men of old. But indeed also from the Book of Jubilees, having collected not a few things, and from ecclesiastical histories and from other books, and having put them together summarily under one heading, we have left for posterity soft and milled food, so that those who have gone through the books of the said historians may have reminders (for reading knows how to produce remembrance, and remembrance to nourish and enlarge the memory, just as, on the contrary, neglect and indolence bring on forgetfulness, which is always followed by oblivion, obscuring and confusing the memory of things done), while those who have not yet encountered the histories may have this epitome as a guide.

In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. Having spoken in general terms of the most comprehensive of the elements, after this he explains in detail the beginning of creation, saying "And God said, let there be light." It must be known, then, that all that was before the constitution of this world, was in light; for neither did the choirs of angels pass their time in darkness, nor all the heavenly hosts, but in light and all spiritual gladness, fulfilling their proper service. For the darkness came from the spreading out of the heaven and the things covered by it. Over these, then, God said let there be light, and there was light; for it was separated 1.7 from the darkness, and was called day by the creator. This is the first of the month called Nisan by the Hebrews, the first month, and the twenty-fifth of the month of March among the Romans, and among the Egyptians the 7th of Phamenoth of the month called the 29th among them. On this day also Gabriel gave the salutation at the divine conception of the

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Compendium historiarum

ΣΥΝΟΨΙΣ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΩΝ ΑΡΧΟΜΕΝΗ ΑΠΟ ΚΤΙΣΕΩΣ ΚΟΣΜΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΜΕΧΡΙ ΤΗΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΑΣ ΙΣΑΑΚΙΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΚΟΜΝΗΝΟΥ, ΣΥΛΛΕΓΕΙΣΑ ΠΑΡΑ ΚΥΡΟΥ

ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΚΕ∆ΡΗΝΟΥ ΕΚ ∆ΙΑΦΟΡΩΝ ΒΙΒΛΙΩΝ. Πολλοὶ τῶν πρὸ ἡμῶν φιλοθέων ἀνδρῶν καὶ φιλιστόρων τὴν ἐπιτομὴν τῆς ἱστορίας ἐπραγματεύσαντο· ὅ τε γὰρ μοναχὸς Γεώργιος καὶ σύγκελλος ἀπὸ καταβολῆς ἀρξάμενος κόσμου εἰς Μαξιμιανὸν καὶ Μαξιμῖνον τοὺς τυράννους κατέληξε, καὶ ὁ ὁμολογη 1.4 τὴς Θεοφάνης τὸ ἐκείνου τέλος ἀρχὴν ποιησάμενος οἰκείαν ἄχρι τοῦ τέλους Νικηφόρου τοῦ ἀπὸ γενικοῦ κατήντησε. μετὰ δὲ τοῦ τον καὶ ἄλλοι ἐπεχείρησαν, οἷον ὁ Σικελιώτης καὶ ὁ ὑπέρτιμος Ψελλὸς καὶ ἕτεροι σὺν τούτοις. ἀλλὰ τῆς ἀκριβείας ἀποπεπτώ κασιν, ἀπαρίθμησιν μόνην ποιησάμενοι τῶν βασιλέων καὶ διδά ξαντες τίς μετὰ τίνα γέγονεν ἐγκρατής, καὶ πλέον οὐδέν. ὁ γὰρ ∆αφνοπάτης Θεόδωρος, Νικήτας ὁ Παφλαγών, καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ Βυζάντιοι, Νικηφόρος τε διάκονος ὁ Φρύξ, Λέων ὁ Καρίας, Θεόδωρος ὁ Σίδης, καὶ ὁ τούτου ὁμώνυμος Σεβαστείας, καὶ ὁ Κυζίκου ∆ημήτριος, καὶ ὁ μοναχὸς Ἰωάννης, οἰκείαν ἕκαστος 1.5 ὑπόθεσιν προστησάμενοι, ὁ μὲν ἔπαινον φέρε εἰπεῖν βασιλέως, ὁ δὲ ψόγον πατριάρχου, ἅτερος δὲ φίλου ἐγκώμιον, πόρρω τῆς τῶν εἰρημένων ἀνδρῶν διανοίας ἀποπεπτώκασι καὶ πρὸς ἀλλήλους δι ηνέχθησαν. ὁ δὲ πρωτοβεστιάριος Ἰωάννης ὁ Θρᾳκήσιος τὸ ἐπώνυμον, συντομωτέραν ἐνδιδόναι κατάληψιν τῶν ἐν διαφόροις συμ βεβηκότων καιροῖς, τὰς τῶν ἄνωθεν λεχθέντων συγγραφέων ἱστο ρίας ἀναλεξάμενος καὶ ἐγκατάσκευον ποιησάμενος τὴν γραφὴν ἀπὸ τοῦ τέλους ἤρξατο τοῦ ἀπὸ γενικῶν Νικηφόρου, καὶ τὰ ἐμ παθῶς ἢ καὶ πρὸς χάριν λεχθέντα ἀποδιοπόμπησε, γυμνὴν τὴν ἱστορίαν παραδέδωκεν. ἡμεῖς δὲ τὰς τούτων ἐπελθόντες βίβλους 1.6 τὰ εἰκότα συνελέξαμεν, προσθέντες καὶ ὅσα ἀγράφως ἐκ παλαιῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐδιδάχθημεν. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς Λεπτῆς Γενέσεως οὐκ ὀλίγα συλλέξαντες καὶ ἀπὸ ἐκκλησιαστικῶν ἱστοριῶν καὶ ἀφ' ἑτέρων βιβλίων, καὶ ὑφ' ἓν ἐπιδρομάδην συνθέμενοι, τοῖς μετα γενεστέροις καταλελοίπαμεν τροφὴν ἁπαλὴν καὶ ἀληλεσμένην, ἵν' οἱ μὲν τὰς τῶν ῥηθέντων ἱστορικῶν βίβλους ἐπελθόντες ἔχοιεν ὑπομνήματα (οἶδε γὰρ ἡ ἀνάγνωσις ἀνάμνησιν ἐμποιεῖν, ἡ δ' ἀνάμνησις τρέφειν καὶ μεγαλύνειν τὴν μνήμην, ὥσπερ τοὐναντίον ἡ ἀμέλεια καὶ ῥαστώνη ἐπιφέρειν ἀμνηστίαν, ᾗ τινὶ πάντως ἕπε ται λήθη, ἀμαυροῦσα καὶ συγχέουσα τὴν μνήμην τῶν πεπραγμέ νων), οἱ δὲ μήπω ἐντετυχηκότες ταῖς ἱστορίαις ὁδηγὸν ἔχοιεν τήνδε τὴν ἐπιτομήν.

Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν. παχυ μερῶς εἰπὼν τὰ συνεκτικώτατα τῶν στοιχείων, μετὰ ταῦτα λεπτο μερῶς ἐξηγεῖται τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς κτίσεως, λέγων "καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεός, γενηθήτω φῶς." ἰστέον οὖν ὅτι πᾶν ὃ ἦν πρὸ τῆς τοῦ κόσμου τούτου συστάσεως, ἐν φωτὶ ἦν· οὔτε γὰρ αἱ τῶν ἀγγέλων χορεῖαι ἐν σκότει διῆγον οὔτε πᾶσαι αἱ ἐπουράνιοι στρατιαί, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ φωτὶ καὶ πάσῃ εὐφροσύνῃ πνευματικῇ τὴν πρέπουσαν αὐταῖς λει τουργίαν ἐκπληροῦσαι. τὸ γὰρ σκότος ἐκ τῆς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐφα πλώσεως καὶ τὰ ὑπὸ τούτου σκεπόμενα γέγονεν. ἐπὶ τούτων τοί νυν εἶπεν ὁ θεὸς γενηθήτω φῶς, καὶ ἐγένετο φῶς· ἐχωρίσθη γὰρ 1.7 ἀπὸ τῶν σκότους, καὶ ἡμέρα ὠνομάσθη παρὰ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ. ἣ πρώτη ἐστὶ τοῦ παρ' Ἑβραίοις λεγομένου Νισὰν τοῦ πρώτου μηνός, εἰκοστὴ δὲ πεμπτὴ τοῦ παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις Μαρτίου μηνός, παρὰ δὲ Αἰγυπτίοις ζʹ Φαμενὼ τοῦ κθʹ καλουμένου παρ' αὐτοῖς μηνός. ἐν ταύτῃ καὶ Γαβριὴλ τὸν ἀσπασμὸν ἐπὶ τῇ θείᾳ συλλή ψει τοῦ