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Plutarch's Lives in the Byzantine chronographic tradition: the chronicle of John Zonaras*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2017

Theofili Kampianaki
Theofili Kampianaki*
Affiliation:
University of [email protected]
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Abstract

This article focuses on the presence of material from Plutarch's Lives in Byzantine chronicles, particularly that of John Zonaras, the only chronicler to draw heavily on Plutarch's biographies. Zonaras’ strong appreciation of Plutarch is evident when he repeatedly digresses from the main narrative to incorporate Plutarchean material related to secondary topics. His method of selection from Plutarch's Roman Lives is governed by particular principles: Zonaras’ individual literary tastes, as well as those of his contemporary audience, and the adaptation of Plutarch's material to the Byzantine social and cultural context. These considerations reveal Zonaras to be not merely a copyist of earlier writings, but instead a compiler with his own authorial agenda.

Keywords

Byzantine literaturechronicleEpitome of HistoriesLivesPlutarchreceptiontwelfth-centuryZonaras
Type
Articles
Information
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , April 2017 , pp. 15 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham, 2017 

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Footnotes

*

I would like express my sincere thanks to Prof. Marc Lauxtermann, my academic supervisor, and Prof. Elizabeth Jeffreys for their thorough comments and suggestions on my paper. I would like to extend my gratitude to the Alexander Onassis Foundation and the A.G. Leventis Foundation, whose generous support has allowed me to carry out my doctoral studies at Oxford.

References

1 Zonaras, John, Annales, 3 vols., ed. Pinder, M., Th. Bϋttner-Wobst (Bonn 1841–97). The manuscripts which transmit the title ἐπιτομῆ ἱστοριῶν can be seen in the critical apparatus in Zonaras, I, 3. The text has been partly translated into English: The History of Zonaras: from Alexander Severus to the Death of Theodosius the Great, trans. Th. Banchich, E. Lane (London 2009)Google Scholar.

2 For the manuscript tradition of the chronicle, see Leone, P., ‘La tradizione manoscritta dell’ Epitome Historiarum di Giovanni Zonaras’, in Syndesmos. Studi in onore di Rosario Anastasi, II (Catania 1991) 221–62Google Scholar.

3 An examination of linguistic and literary aspects of the chronicle can be found in Grigoriadis, I., Linguistic and Literary Studies in the Epitome Historion of John Zonaras (Thessalonike 1998)Google Scholar; Grigoriadis, ‘A study of the prooimion of Zonaras’ Chronicle in relation to other 12th-century historical prooimia’, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 91 (1998) 327–44. For some observations on ideological features of the text, see Magdalino, P., ‘Aspects of twelfth-century Byzantine Kaiserkritik’, Speculum 58 (1983) 326–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kazhdan, A., Franklin, S., Studies on Byzantine Literature of the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries (Cambridge 1984) 59–63 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Macrides, R., Magdalino, P., ‘The Fourth Kingdom and the rhetoric of Hellenism’, in Magdalino, P. (ed.), The Perception of the Past in Twelfth-Century Europe (London 1992) 117–56Google Scholar; Matheou, N., ‘City and sovereignty in East Roman thought, c.1000–1200: Ioannes Zonaras’ historical vision of the Roman Empire’, in Matheou, N., Kampianaki, Th., Bondioli, L. (eds.), The City and the Cities: From Constantinople to the Frontier (Leiden 2016), 41–63 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Some of the studies which deal with the chronicle's sources are Th. Büttner-Wobst, ‘Die Abhängigkeit des Geschichtschreibers Zonaras von der erhaltenen Quellen’, in Commentationes Fleckeisenianae (Leipzig 1890) 123–70; idem, ‘Studien zur Textgeschichte des Zonaras’, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 1 (1892) 202–44; Patzig, E., ‘Über einige Quellen des Zonaras I’, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 5 (1896) 24–53 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Dimaio, M., ‘The Antiochene Connection: Zonaras, Ammianus Marcellinus, and John of Antioch on the reigns of the emperors Constantius II and Julian’, Byzantion 50 (1980) 158–85Google Scholar; Dimaio, , ‘Infaustis Ductoribus Praeviis: The Antiochene Connection, Part II’, Byzantion 51 (1981) 502–10Google Scholar; Dimaio, , ‘Smoke in the wind: Zonaras’ use of Philostorgius, Zosimus, John of Antioch, and John of Rhodes in his narrative on the Neo-Flavian emperors’, Byzantion 58 (1988) 230–55Google Scholar.

4 Dio, Cassius, Cassii Dionis Cocceiani historiarum Romanarum quae supersunt, 3 vols., ed. Boissevain, U. (Berlin 1901)Google Scholar. For Zonaras’ use of Cassius Dio, see the classic study of Millar, F., A Study of Cassius Dio (Oxford 1964) 2–3, 195–203Google Scholar. More recent studies which look at Dio's work and make heavy use of Zonaras include Swan, P., The Augustan Succession: A Historical Commentary on Cassius Dio's Roman History, Books 55–56 (Oxford 2004)Google Scholar; Simons, B., Cassius Dio und die Römische Republik (Berlin, 2009)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Fromentin, V., ‘Zonaras abréviateur de Cassius Dion: à la recherche de la préface perdue de l'Histoire romaine’, Erga-Logoi 1 (2013) 23–39 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 For an overview of Plutarch's reception in Byzantium, see Garzya, A., ‘Plutarco a Bisanzio’, in Gallo, I. (ed.), L'eredità culturale di Plutarco dall'antichità al Rinascimento (Naples 1998) 15–27 Google Scholar; Pade, M., ‘The reception of Plutarch from Antiquity to the Italian Renaissance’, in Beck, M. (ed.), A Companion to Plutarch (Chichester 2014) 531–43Google Scholar, particularly at 535–6; Humble, N., ‘Plutarch in Byzantium’, in Titchener, F., Zadorojnyi, A. (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Plutarch (Cambridge) [forthcoming]Google Scholar. I should like to thank Prof. Noreen Humble for allowing me to read her study prior to the publication of the volume. Sophia Xenophontos has written about the presence of Plutarchean material particularly in the works of Nikephoros Basilakes and John Tzetzes: see Xenophontos, S., ‘Resorting to rare sources of Antiquity: Nikephoros Basilakes and the popularity of Plutarch's Parallel Lives in twelfth-century Byzantium’, Parekbolai 4 (2014) 1–12 Google Scholar; Xenophontos, , ‘“A living portrait of Cato”: self-fashioning and the classical past in John Tzetzes’ Chiliads ’, Estudios bizantinos 2 (2014) 187–204 Google Scholar.

6 Kaldellis, A., ‘The Byzantine role in the making of the corpus of Ancient Greek historiography: a preliminary investigation’, The Journal of Hellenic Studies 132 (2012) 71–85, particularly at 74–7CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

7 Simpson, A., Niketas Choniates: A Historiographical Study (Oxford 2013) 290–1CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Simpson, ‘From the workshop of Niketas Choniates’, in P. Armstrong (ed.), Authority in Byzantium (Farnham 2013) 259–68, at 262–3. See, for instance, Kaldellis, A., ‘The original source for Tzimiskes’ Balkan campaign (971) and the emperor's classicizing propaganda’, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 37 (2013) 35–52 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Xenophontos, ‘Portrait of Cato’.

8 Jenkins, R. J., ‘Constantine VII's portrait of Michael III’, Académie Royale de Belgique: Bulletin de la classe des lettres et des sciences morales et politiques (5e sérié) 34 (1948) 71–7Google Scholar [repr. in Jenkins, R. J., Studies on Byzantine History of the 9th and 10th Centuries (London 1970)]Google Scholar; Jenkins, , ‘The classical background of the Scriptores post Theophanem’, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 8 (1954) 13–30 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 Marianne Pade believes that there are traces of Plutarch's Lives in the Chronicon Paschale, but she does not give textual evidence that attests to this: Pade, ‘The reception of Plutarch’, 535.

10 Synkellos, George, Ecloga chronographica, ed. Mosshammer, A. (Leipzig 1984) 361.20–3Google Scholar; cf. Plutarch, Caesar, in Vitae parallelae, ed. Cl. Lindskog, K. Ziegler, 2nd edn, ΙΙ.2 (Leipzig 1968) 15.

11 Kedrenos, George, Compendium historiarum, in Georgius Cedrenus, Ioannis Scylitzae ope, ed. Bekker, I, I. (Bonn 1838-9) 344.1–8Google Scholar.

12 The last few years have seen two editions of fragments attributed to John of Antioch: Fragmenta ex historia chronica, ed. U. Roberto (Berlin 2005), and Fragmenta quae supersunt omnia, ed. Mariev, S. (Berlin 2008)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For a discussion of the different ways in which the two editors use and present their material, see Van Nuffelen, P., ‘John of Antioch, inflated and deflated. Or: How (not) to collect fragments of Early Byzantine historians’, Byzantion 82 (2013) 437–50Google Scholar.

13 The indexes of sources in the editions illustrate the parallel passages between the Lives and John's fragments: 638–9 in Roberto's edition, and 579–80 in that of Mariev. For the complex relationship between John and Eutropius, see cxxxi-iv in Roberto's edition, and 33*–4* in Mariev's one. See also A. Cameron, review of Umberto Roberto, Ioannis Antiocheni Fragmenta, Bryn Mawr Classical Review (July 2006: 37).

14 Zonaras, I, 7.5–8 (proem). See also Grigoriadis, ‘Prooimion’, 341.

15 A characteristic example of this may be seen in the section in which Zonaras talks about the birth of Jesus. There, the chronicler quotes a long passage from Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities and a passage derived from a text which the Byzantines would erroneously ascribe to Josephus, the so-called Against Plato or Discourse on Hades: Zonaras, I, 479.1–480.14. It is worth pointing out here that Zonaras is likely to have made use of Josephus’ material through an epitome of the Jewish Antiquities, see Th. Büttner-Wobst, ‘Die Abhängigkeit des Geschichtschreibers Zonaras’.

16 Zonaras, I, 561.17–8.

17 Zonaras, I, 223.12–224.15; cf. Plutarch, , Artaxerxes , ed. Lindskog, Cl., Ziegler, K., in Vitae parallelae, 2nd edn, III.1 (Leipzig 1971) 16.3–7Google Scholar. For some remarks as to how Byzantine chroniclers integrated information from the biblical Book of Daniel into their compositions, see Podskalsky, G., Byzantinische Reichseschatologie: die Periodisierung der Weltgeschichte in der vier Grossreichen (Daniel 2 und 7) und dem tausendjährigen Friedensreichen (Munich 1972) 57–61 Google Scholar.

18 Lockwood, J., Six-legged Soldiers: Using Insects as Weapons of War (Oxford 2009) 36 Google Scholar.

19 Jeffreys, E., ‘The attitudes of Byzantine chroniclers towards ancient history’, Byantion 49 (1979) 199–238 Google Scholar, at 234.

20 Zonaras, I, 260–303 (for Xenophon), and 303–13 (for Herodotus).

21 For an English translation of the late antique Alexander Romance, see Stoneman, R., The Greek Alexander Romance (Harmondsworth 1991)Google Scholar, which includes a detailed introduction in 1–23. There are eighteen Byzantine manuscripts, which date from the 11th to the 16th centuries and contain five different recensions of the Greek Alexander Romance: see Trahoulias, N., The Greek Alexander Romance: Venice Hellenic Institute Codex 5 (Athens 1997) 29–31, 42–6Google Scholar, for an overview of the Byzantine recensions of the text.

22 Zonaras, I, 332.16–333.13.

23 Zonaras, I, 329.17–332.7.

24 See below 10–11.

25 Zonaras, John, Λόγος πρὸς τοὺς τὴν φυσικὴν τῆς γονῆς ἐκροὴν μίασμα ἡγουμένους, in Σύνταγμα τῶν θείων καὶ ἱερῶν κανόνων, ed. Rhalles, G. A., Potles, M. IV [Athens 1854 (repr. Athens,1966)] 598–611Google Scholar. For an investigation of the text, see Fögen, M. Th., ‘Unto the Pure All Things Are Pure: the Byzantine canonist Zonaras on nocturnal pollution’, in Ziolkowski, J. (ed.), Obscenity: Social Control and Artistic Creation in European Middle Ages (Leiden 1998) 260–78 (the translation of the title at 261)Google Scholar.

26 See Plutarch, Demetrius, in Vitae parallelae, ed. Cl. Lindskog, K. Ziegler, 2nd edn, III.1 (Leipzig 1971) 27.

27 That Zonaras did not have all the books of Dio's work at his disposal is made clear at the end of Book 10, where he apologizes to his readers for leaving out of his narrative the events of the late Republican period. As he says, this is because he was unable to find the books which recounted these events, although he repeatedly asked his friends to search for them: Zonaras, II, 297.

28 For an extensive presentation of the subject, see Markopoulos, A., ‘Roman antiquarianism: aspects of the Roman past in the Middle Byzantine period (9th–11th centuries)’, in Jeffreys, E., Haarer, F., Gilliland, J. (eds.), Proceedings of the 21st International Congress of Byzantine Studies, London, 21–26 August, I (Aldershot 2006) 277–97Google Scholar. See also Magdalino, ‘Kaiserkritik’, 343; Macrides, Magdalino, ‘Fourth Kingdom’, 121–2.

29 Psellos, Michael, Synopsis legum, in Poemata, ed. Westerink, L. (Stuttgart, Leipzig 1992) 123–77Google Scholar; Attaleiates, Michael, Πόνημα νομικὸν ἤτοι σύνοψις πραγματική, in Jus Graecoromanum ed. J. and Zepos, P., VII (Athens 1931), 411–97Google Scholar. For an extensive analysis of the two texts, see Wolska-Conus, W., ‘L’école de droit et l'enseignement du droit à Byzance au XIe siècle’, Travaux et Mémoires 7 (1979) 1–107 Google Scholar, at 79–97 (for Psellos’ text), and 97–101 (for Attaleiates’ text).

30 For Psellos’ Historia Syntomos, see Markopoulos, ‘Roman antiquarianisn’. For Attaleiates’ History, see Krallis, D., Michael Attaleiates and the Politics of Imperial Decline in Eleventh-Century Byzantium (Tempe 2012)Google Scholar. For Bryennios, see Neville, L., Heroes and Romans in Twelfth-century Byzantium: The Material for History of Nikephoros Bryennios (Cambridge 2012) 5–6, 37–8, 89–111CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

31 Xiphilinos’ Epitome is reprinted in Boissevain's edition of Cassius Dio. For an analysis of Xiphilinos’ treatment of Cassius Dio, see Millar, Dio, 2–3, 195–203; Mallan, C., ‘The style, method, and programme of Xiphilinus’ Epitome of Cassius Dio's Roman History’, Greek Roman and Byzantine Studies 53 (2013) 610–44Google Scholar. For Kekaumenos’ Strategikon, see Raccomandazioni e consigli di un galantuomo, ed. M. D. Spadaro (Alexandria 1998) 44–242; Roueché, Ch., ‘The literary background of Kekaumenos’, in Holmes, C., Waring, E. (eds.), Literacy, Education and Manuscript Transmission in Byzantium and Beyond (Leiden 2002) 111–38, at 124–6Google Scholar. Tzetzes consults Dio's work in his commentary of Lykophron's Alexandria. For Tzetzes’ and Eustathios’ use of Dio, see the introduction in Dio's Roman History, trans. E. Cary, I (London 1914–27), xxiii.

32 Macrides, Magdalino, ‘The Fourth Kingdom’, 127–8.

33 Zonaras, II, 5.19–18.4 (for Romulus), and 18.5–23.5 (for Numa).

34 Zonaras, II, 42.17–49.21.

35 Zonaras, II, 75.21–91.7.

36 Zonaras, II, 274.17–275.7.

37 See Zonaras, II, 16.16–18.5; cf. Plutarch, Romulus, in Vitae parallelae, ed. H. Gärtner, K. Ziegler, 5th edn, I.1 (Leipzig 2000) 27–9.

38 Zonaras, II, 325.7–327.15; cf. Plutarch, Pompey, in Vitae parallelae, ed. Cl. Lindskog, K. Ziegler, 2nd edn, III.2 (Leipzig 1973) 74–80.

39 Zonaras, II, 359.1–366; cf. Dio, History, 47.35–48; Plutarch, Brutus, in Vitae parallelae, ed. Cl. Lindskog, K. Ziegler, 2nd edn, II.1 (Leipzig 1964) 43–5.

40 Zonaras, II, 395.5–399.2 Cf. Dio, History, 50.11–35; Plutarch, Antony, in Vitae parallelae, ed. Cl. Lindskog, K. Ziegler, 2nd edn, III.1 (Leipzig 1971), 66–8.

41 See, for example, Pompey, 39 and 46; Caesar, 17 and 55.

42 Romulus, 1–2, 21–2; Plutarch, Numa, in Vitae parallelae, ed. Cl. Lindskog, K. Ziegler, 2nd edn, III.2 (Leipzig 1973), 7, 9, 10–2.

43 Plutarch, Camillus, in Vitae parallelae, ed. H. Gärtner, K. Ziegler, 5th edn, I.1 (Leipzig, 2000), 19, 33.

44 Romulus, 19; Plutarch, Publicola, in Vitae parallelae, ed. K. Ziegler, 4th edn, I.1 (Leipzig, 1969) 4, 15; Camillus, 20, 32.

45 Zonaras, II, 21.21–22.7; cf. Numa, 18.

46 For Numa's portrayal by Plutarch, see Stadter, Ph., Plutarch and his Roman Readers (Oxford 2014) 246–57CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

47 For the translation, see Plutarch Lives, Volume I: Theseus and Romulus. Lycurgus and Numa. Solon and Publicola, trans. B. Perrin (London and Cambridge Mass., 1914) 317.

48 Zonaras, II, 19.13.

49 Numa, 8.1–3.

50 Numa, 8.7–8.

51 Numa, 8.8.

52 Numa, 16.3

53 Zonaras, II, 20.21–2.

54 Zonaras, II, 21.7–8.

55 See Stadter, Roman Readers; Colman, J., ‘The philosopher-king and the city in Plutarch's Life of Numa ’, Perspectives on Political Science 44/1 (2015) 1–9 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

56 As has been noted, one of the principal reasons of Plutarch's popularity in Byzantium was the fact that his overall moral attitude was in broad agreement with Christian ethics: see Garzya, ‘Plutarco’, 24–5; Humble, ‘Plutarch’.

57 Zonaras was not the only Byzantine writer to have proceeded to such instances of creative adaptation of a Plutarchean Life. For example, see Xenophontos, ‘Portrait of Cato’, 194, 203–4, in which it is shown that Tzetzes tried to rework Plutarch's narrative of Cato the Elder in order to reconcile the Roman character of the text with traits of Hellenism which started to emerge during the twelfth century.

58 Zonaras, II, 37.3–14.