Sailing from Byzantium

For Gran and Grandma Petey
And for my parents
With love and gratitude

Byzantium

Humanists

Theodore Metochites (1270-1332).
Statesman, scholar, patron of the arts. Founded Last Byzantine Renaissance; rebuilt Church of the Chora.

Barlaam of Calabria (c. 1290-1348).
First opponent of Hesychasm; taught Greek to Petrarch.

Demetrius Cydones (c. 1324-c. 1398).
Byzantine statesman; translated Thomas Aquinas into Greek.

Manuel Chrysoloras (c. 1350-1415).
Diplomat and educator; first successful teacher of ancient Greek in the West.

George Gemistos Pletho (c. 1360-1452).
Philosopher and scholar; stimulated interest in Plato among Italian humanists.

John Bessarion (c. 1399-1472).
Expatriate scholar, translator, patron of Byzantine and Italian humanists in Italy; helped draft the decree of union between Orthodox and Catholic churches (1439), then became a Catholic cardinal.

John Argyropoulos (1415-87).
Teacher and philosopher; completed the shift in interest toward Plato that Pletho had initiated among the Italians.

Monks

Gregory Palamas (c. 1296-1359).
Mystical theologian and saint; main proponent of Hesychast movement in Orthodox monasticism.

Cyril (c. 826-69) and Methodius (c. 815-85).
Orthodox missionary brothers and apostles to the Slavs; inventors and promoters of Old Church Slavonic, the Byzantine-inspired written language of Slavic Orthodoxy.

Emperors

Justinian (c. 482-565; ruled from 527).
Carried out Reconquest of Italy; built Hagia Sophia.

Heraclius (c. 575-641; ruled from 610).
Saved Byzantium from Persians, then lost wealthiest provinces to the Muslim Arabs at the onset of Byzantium's Dark Age.

Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (905-59; ruled from
945).
Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty and author of
On the Administration of the Empire,
an important historical source for his period.

Basil II (958-1025; ruled from 976).
Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty; brought Byzantium to the height of its revived power in First Byzantine Renaissance.

Alexius I Comnenus (c. 1057-1118; ruled from 1081).
Founder of Comnenan dynasty, which, after the collapse of the late eleventh century, temporarily revived Byzantine fortunes in the era of the Crusades.

John VI Cantacuzenos (c. 1295-1383; ruled 1347-54).
Statesman, regent, emperor, theologian, historian, and finally monk; patron of humanists but also a committed Hesychast; formulated unity policy toward Russia.

Manuel II Paleologos (1350-1425; ruled from 1391).
Grandson of John VI Cantacuzenos; friend and patron to many Byzantine humanists during Last Byzantine Renaissance.

Patriarchs of Constantinople

Photius (c. 810-c. 895; patriarch 858-67 and 877-86).
Humanist scholar who brought the First Byzantine Renaissance to fruition; initiated the mission of Cyril and Methodius to the Slavs.

Nicholas Mysticus (852-925; patriarch 901-7 and 912-25).
Regent for the young Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus during the wars against Byzantium of Symeon of Bulgaria.

Philotheos Kokkinos (c. 1300-c. 1378; patriarch 1353-54 and 1364–76).
Hesychast monk who helped carry out unity policy toward Russia.

The West

Theoderic (c. 454—526).
King of the Goths (from 471); educated in Constantinople and installed by Byzantines to rule in Italy.

Boethius (c. 480-c. 524).
Late Roman philosopher and scholar; attempted to translate Aristotle into Latin.

Cassiodorus (c. 487-c. 580).
Late Roman scholar and administrator, then monk.

Liudprand of Cremona (c. 920-c. 972).
Lombard noble and diplomat who visited Constantinople twice in the service of Western monarchs.

Enrico Dandolo (c. 1107-1205).
Venetian doge (from 1192) who orchestrated the sack and occupation of Constantinople by Western soldiers in the Fourth Crusade (1204-61).

Petrarch (1304-74).
Italian poet who founded Renaissance humanism in Italy and tried to learn Greek.

Coluccio Salutati (1331-1406).
Humanist chancellor of Florence who arranged for Manuel Chrysoloras to teach Greek there.

Leonardo Bruni (1370-1444).
Rhetorician and historian; a student of Chrysoloras and the main proponent of civic humanism.

Poggio Bracciolini (1380-1449).
Renowned Latinist who joined the Florentine circle of Chrysoloras as a young man.

Niccolö Niccoli (1364—1437).
Elusive classicist who studied with Chrysoloras in Florence; wrote little but exerted a strong influence on artists and other humanists.

Guarino da Verona (1374-1460).
Pioneer Italian educator who was Chrysoloras’ closest follower.

Tommaso Parentucelli (1397-1455).
Italian humanist who became Pope Nicholas V (from 1446); founded the Vatican Library and arranged for Bessarion to oversee the translation of Greek manuscripts there.

Lorenzo Valla (1407-57).
Gifted Italian classicist and philologist; a protégé of the expatriate Byzantine humanist Cardinal Bessarion.

Marsilio Ficino (1433-99).
Friend and associate of Cosimo and Lorenzo de Medici; founded the Platonic Academy in Florence after learning Greek.

The Islamic World

Muhammad (c. 570-632).
Prophet and founder of Islam.

Muawiyah (c. 602-80).
Fifth caliph (from 661) and founder of Umayyad dynasty, based in the former Byzantine province of Syria.

Abd al-Malik (646-705).
Umayyad caliph (from 685); restored Umayyad power; built the Dome of the Rock.

Al-Mansur (c. 710-75).
Abbasid caliph (from 754) and founder of Baghdad; initiated Greco-Arabic translation movement.

Al-Mamun (786-833).
Abbasid caliph (from 813); carried on Greco-Arabic translation movement; associated in later sources with “House of Wisdom.”

Hunayn ibn Ishaq (808-73).
Nestorian Christian translator of Greek medical and scientific texts into Arabic; traveled to former Byzantine territory to get texts.

The Slavic World

Boris I (?-907).
Khan of Bulgaria (852-89); converted to Christianity in 865; adopted Slavonic liturgy of Cyril and Methodius.

Symeon the Great (c. 865-927).
Boris’ son and Bulgaria's first tsar (from 893); ardently Orthodox; carried out two major wars against Byzantium in an effort to capture Constantinople.

Stefan Nemanja (?-c. 1200).
Ruler of medieval Serbia who brought it into the Byzantine Commonwealth; founded Serbia's ruling dynasty and numerous Orthodox monasteries; became a monk and an Orthodox saint.

Sava (1175-1235).
Youngest son of Stefan Nemanja; became a monk at Mt. Athos; founded independent Serbian Orthodox Church; Orthodox saint.

Olga (?-c. 969).
Russian princess and ruler (from 945) of Kiev; journeyed to Constantinople and converted to Orthodox Christianity.

Svyatoslav (c. 945-72).
Russian prince of Kiev and son of Olga; a pagan warrior who was killed by the Petchenegs while crossing the Dnieper.

Vladimir the Great (c. 956-1015).
Russian prince of Kiev and son of Svyatoslav; credited with converting his people to Orthodox Christianity; an Orthodox saint.

Yaroslav the Wise (978-1054).
Russian prince of Kiev and son of Vladimir; rebuilt Kiev as an Orthodox capital and brought it to the height of its power.

Cyprian (c. 1330-1406).
Bulgarian monk who, working with patriarch Philotheos, was the main exponent of Byzantine Hesychasm in Russia.

Sergius of Radonezh (1314-92).
Russian Orthodox monk and saint; founder of Russian monasticism and promoter of Russian Hesychasm.

Euthymius of Turnovo (c. 1317-c. 1402).
Bulgarian Hesy-chast monk and patriarch of Turnovo; founder of “second South Slavic” movement, the Hesychast revitalization of the Old Church Slavonic legacy.

Maxim Grek (c. 1470-1556).
Born Michael Trivolis and educated in humanist circles in Florence before converting to Christianity; as the monk Maximos he spent a decade at Mt. Athos before going to Russia, where he was known as Maxim Grek, “Maxim the Greek.”