Anonymi Chronicon

Byzantine chronicles constitute together with histories the supreme discipline of Byzantine literature, i. e. historiography. They are undoubtedly an important vehicle of Byzantine ideology and the reassessment of their literariness is increasingly attracting attention by scholars working in the area of Byzantine historical writing. The present volume offers the editio princeps of a 10th-century anonymous short chronicle (Kurzchronik) which covers the period from Adam up to 976. The text draws mainly from the interpolated version of George the Monk's chronicle – which belongs to the circle of the Logothetes' chronicle –, and is preserved in two 15th-century manuscripts, Vat. Pal. gr. 369 and Vind. phil. gr. 333 (the latter, the only one to transmit the beginning of the chronicle, is newly discovered). The critical edition, complete with Prolegomena and Indexes, is accompanied by a German translation. Since most texts belonging to this subgenre of the Byzantine chronicle are still unpublished, this edition lays the groundwork for determining its position within the history of Byzantine literature, as well as its ideological and didactic function.

Raimondo Tocci, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini.