Priscus
Priscus of Panium (Greek: Πρίσκος) was a Roman diplomat and Greek historian from the 5th century AD.[1][2][3]
Biography
[change | change source]Priscus was born between 410 and 420 AD in Panium (or Panion), Thrace.[1][2] He joined in 448/449 AD the Roman embassy, led by Maximinus and speaking on behalf of Emperor Theodosius II, on a diplomatic mission to the court of Attila the Hun.[1][2][4] While he was there, Priscus met and spoke with a Greek trader dressed in Hunnic clothes who was captured in around 441–442 AD when the Huns pillaged the city of Viminacium in modern Serbia.[5][6] The trader then told Priscus that he was a slave of a Hunnic nobleman named Onegesius, but got his freedom and chose to live among the Huns.[6][7] Priscus finally had a debate with the Greek defector about life and justice in both the Roman Empire and in barbarian kingdoms.[1]
Priscus traveled to Rome, Alexandria, and Egypt.[1][2] In around 456 AD, he was with the staff of Euphemios as the magister officiorum of Emperor Marcian.[1] Priscus died after 472 AD.[1]
Writings
[change | change source]Priscus wrote in the Greek language a history of the Byzantine Empire in eight books.[1][2] The books probably covered the time from the rise of Attila the Hun to the rise of Emperor Zeno, or from 433 up until 474 AD.[2] Priscus was very influential in the empire and his books were used by different writers: Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (Excerpta de Legationibus), Evagrius Scholasticus, Cassiodorus, Jordanes, and author of the Suda.[1] The style of Priscus's writing is direct and his work is considered a trustworthy account of Attila the Hun, his court, and the admission of the Roman ambassadors.[2] Priscus relied on a style of historiography that was part of an ancient Greek tradition dating back to the 5th century BC.[8]
Collections
[change | change source]The books of Priscus are published in four collections:
- Given, John (2014). The Fragmentary History of Priscus. Merchantville, NJ: Evolution Publishing. ISBN 978-1-935228-14-1.
- Blockley, Roger C. (2009). The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire. Vol. II. Cambridge: Francis Cairns. ISBN 978-0-905205-51-9.
- Gordon, Colin Douglas (1966). The Age of Attila: Fifth-century Byzantium and the Barbarians. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 9780472061112.
- Dindorfius, Ludovicus (1870). Historici Graeci Minores (Volume 1). Leipzig: B. G. Teubneri.
References
[change | change source]Citations
[change | change source]- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Kazhdan 1991, "Priskos", p. 1721.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Chisholm 1911, p. 361.
- ↑ Toynbee & Myers 1948, p. 14; Christophilopoulou 1986, p. 209.
- ↑ Christophilopoulou 1986, p. 209.
- ↑ Halsall 1996; Kelly 2004, p. 176; Toynbee & Myers 1948, p. 14.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Jones 1964, p. 866.
- ↑ Halsall 1996.
- ↑ Given 2014, p. xvii.
Sources
[change | change source]- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 361.
- Christophilopoulou, Aikaterinē (1986). Byzantine History (Volume 1). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Adolf M. Hakkert. ISBN 90-256-0836-1.
- Given, John (2014). The Fragmentary History of Priscus. Merchantville, NJ: Evolution Publishing. ISBN 978-1-935228-14-1.
- Halsall, Paul (March 1996). "Priscus at the Court of Attila". Retrieved 4 December 2011 – via Fordham University, Internet Medieval Source Book.
- Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin (1964). The Later Roman Empire, 284-602 (Volume Two). Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8018-3354-X.
- Kazhdan, Alexander Petrovich, ed. (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. New York, New York and Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.
- Kelly, Christopher (2004). Ruling the Later Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01564-9.
- Toynbee, Arnold Joseph; Myers, Edward DeLos (1948). A Study of History (Volume 8). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Further reading
[change | change source]- Gordon, Colin Douglas (1964). "Fifth Century Chronology of in the Fragments of Priscus". New Review. IV (2–3).
- Robinson, J. H. (1905). "Priscus describes the court of Attila king of the Huns (448)". Readings in European History. Boston: Ginn. pp. 46–49. Retrieved 2 December 2016 – via Fordham University, Internet Medieval Source Book.
- Thompson, E. A. (July–October 1945). "Priscus of Panium, Fragment I b". The Classical Quarterly. 39 (3/4). Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press: 92–94. doi:10.1017/s0009838800022643. JSTOR 637017. S2CID 170917778.
