Michael Choniates

Template:Short description Template:Stack Template:Use dmy dates Saint Michael Choniates (or Acominatus; Template:Langx; c. 1140 – 1220) was a Byzantine Greek writer and cleric, born at Chonae (the ancient Colossae). At an early age he studied at Constantinople and was the pupil of Eustathius of Thessalonica. In 1182 he was appointed archbishop of Athens, a position which he retained until 1204.<ref>Kenneth M. Setton, "A Note on Michael Choniates, Archbishop of Athens (1182-1204)", Speculum, 21 (1946), pp. 234-236</ref> In 1204, he defended the Acropolis of Athens from attack by Leo Sgouros, holding out until the arrival of the Crusaders in 1205, to whom he surrendered the city.<ref>N.G. Wilson, Scholars of Byzantium 1983:204-06.</ref> After the establishment of Latin control, he retired to the island of Ceos. Around 1217 he moved again to the monastery of Vodonitsa near Thermopylae, where he died on 4 July.<ref>A. Dmitrievskii, Описание литургических рукописей, хранящихся в библиотеках православного Востока. Vol. 3. Petrograd 1917, 131.</ref>

Though he is known to classical scholars as the last possessor of complete versions of Callimachus' Hecale and Aitia,<ref>A.S. Hollis, "A New Fragment on Niobe and the Text of Propertius 2.20.8". The Classical Quarterly, New Series, 47.2 (1997:578-582).</ref> he was a versatile writer, and composed homilies, speeches and poems, which, with his correspondence, throw considerable light upon the condition of Attica and Athens at the time. His memorial to Alexios III Angelos on the abuses of Byzantine administration, the poetical lament over the degeneracy of Athens and the monodies on his brother Nicetas and Eustathius, archbishop of Thessalonica, deserve special mention.

It is believed that his daughter Constantina tutored, in Greek and science, John of Basingstoke, Archdeacon of Leicester known for his fluency in and advocacy of the Greek language.<ref>Template:Cite DNB</ref> Michael's pupil George Bardanes, who had accompanied him during his exile on Ceos, became a distinguished bishop in subsequent years.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

References

• Edition of his works by Spyridon Lambros (1879-1880)
• Migne, Patrologia Graeca, cxL.
• Adolf Ellissen, Michael Akominatos (1846), containing several pieces with German translation
• Ferdinand Gregorovius, Geschichte der Stadt Athen im Mittelalter, i, (1889)
• George Finlay, History of Greece, iv. pp. 133–134 (1877).
• Thallon, C. A Medieval Humanist: Michael Akominatos (New Haven, 1923) (reprint New York, 1973).
• Stadtmüller, G. "Michael Choniates, Metropolit von Athen," Orientalia Christiana, 33,2 (1934), 125–325.
• Setton, K. M. "Athens in the Later Twelfth Century," Speculum, XIX (1944), 179–207.
• Anthony Kaldellis, "Michael Choniates: a classicist-bishop and his cathedral (1182–1205 AD)," in Idem, The Christian Parthenon: Classicism and Pilgrimage in Byzantine Athens (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2009), 145–162.
• Nario Gallina, "La reazione antiromana nell'epistolario di Michele Coniata Metropolita d'Atene" in Gherardo Ortalli, Giorgio Ravegnani, Peter Schreiner, eds. Quarta Crociata (Venice, 2006. Template:ISBN) vol. 1 pp. 423–446
• {{#if: |

   |{{#ifeq: Acominatus, Michael |
                |{{#ifeq: |
                             |
                             |
                           }}
                |
               }}
  }}{{#ifeq:  |
   |{{#ifeq:  |
                                    |This article
                                    |One or more of the preceding sentences
                                   }} incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 
  }}{{#invoke:template wrapper|{{#if:|list|wrap}}|_template=cite EB1911
   |_exclude=footnote, inline, noicon, no-icon, noprescript, no-prescript, _debug

   | noicon=1
  }}{{#ifeq:  ||}}

• Athanasios Angelou, «Rhetoric and History: The case of Nicetas Choniates», στο History as Literature in Byzantium, ed. Ruth Macrides, Farnham, Ashgate 2010, σ. 289–305.