Editing Constantine VII (section)

==Literary activity==
[[File:Geoponika 12 1 MS Laur Plut 59 32 f 171v.png|thumb|A gardening calendar from the ''[[Geoponika]]'', MS.Laur.Plut.59.32 f.171v]]

Constantine&nbsp;VII was recognized as a writer and scholar, surrounding himself with educated people of the Imperial Court.{{sfn|Logos|2019a|pp=10, 10B}} He wrote, or had commissioned, the works ''[[Geoponika]]'' ("On Agriculture", in Greek Τὰ γεωπονικά), a compilation of [[agronomic]] works from earlier Greek and [[Punic]] texts that are otherwise lost;  {{Lang|la|[[De Ceremoniis]]}} ("On Ceremonies", in Greek, Περὶ τῆς βασιλείου τάξεως), describing the kinds of court ceremonies (also described later in a more negative light by [[Liutprand of Cremona]]); {{Lang|la|[[De Administrando Imperio]]}} ("On the Administration of the Empire", bearing in Greek the heading Πρὸς τὸν ἴδιον ὑιὸν Ρωμανόν),{{sfn|Moravcsik|1967|p=}} giving advice on running the Empire internally and on fighting  external enemies; a history of the Empire covering events following the death of the chronographer [[Theophanes the Confessor]] in 817; and ''[[Constantinian Excerpts|Excerpta Historica]]'' ("Excerpts from the Histories"), a collection of excerpts from ancient historians (many of whose works are now lost) in four volumes (1. De legationibus. 2. De virtutibus et vitiis. 3. De insidiis. 4. De sententiis). In ''The Manuscript Tradition of Polybius'', John Michael Moore (CUP, 1965) provides a useful summary of the commission by Porphyrogenitus of the Constantine Excerpts:
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He felt that the historical studies were being seriously neglected, mainly because of the bulk of the histories.  He therefore decided that a selection under fifty-three titles should be made from all the important historians extant in Constantinople; thus he hoped to assemble in a more manageable compass the most valuable parts of each author. ... Of the fifty-three titles into which the excerpts were divided, only six have survived: ''de Virtutibus et Vitiis; de Sententiis; de Insidiis; de Strategematis; de Legationibus Gentium ad Romanos; de Legationibus Romanorum ad Gentes''. The titles of only about half the remaining forty-seven sections are known.<ref>Moore, 127.</ref>
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Also amongst his historical works is a history eulogizing the reign and achievements of his grandfather, [[Basil&nbsp;I]] (''Vita Basilii'', Βίος Βασιλείου). These books are insightful and of interest to the historian, sociologist, and anthropologist as a source of information about nations neighbouring the Empire. They also offer a fine insight into the Emperor himself.

In his book, ''A Short History of Byzantium'', [[John Julius Norwich]] refers to Constantine&nbsp;VII as "The Scholar Emperor".<ref>Norwich, John Julius. (1997) ''A Short History of Byzantium''. London: Viking, p. 180. {{ISBN|0-679-45088-2}}</ref> Norwich describes Constantine:
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He was, we are told, a passionate collector—not only of books and manuscripts but works of art of every kind; more remarkable still for a man of his class, he seems to have been an excellent painter. He was the most generous of patrons—to writers and scholars, artists and craftsmen. Finally, he was an excellent Emperor: a competent, conscientious and hard-working administrator and an inspired picker of men, whose appointments to military, naval, ecclesiastical, civil and academic posts were both imaginative and successful. He did much to develop higher education and took a special interest in the administration of justice.<ref>Norwich, 181.</ref>
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