Eustathios of Thessaloniki: The Capture of Thessaloniki: 8 (Byzantina Australiensia, 8)

269 Pages·2017·26.677 MB·English

by  John Melville Jones, Editor / Translator (editor)

Eustathios of Thessaloniki
Byzantina Australiensia
Editorial Board
Ken Parry (Macquarie University)
Amelia Brown (University of Queensland)
Meaghan McEvoy (Macquarie University)
Eva Anagnostou-Laoutides (Monash University)
Danijel Dzino (Macquarie University)
Wendy Mayer (Australian Lutheran College | University of Divinity)
Roger Scott (University of Melbourne)
Volume 8
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/byza
Eustathios of Thessaloniki
The Capture of Thessaloniki
A Translation with Introduction and Commentary by
John Melville Jones
LEIDEN | BOSTON
This paperback was originally published as Volume 8 in the series Byzantina Australiensia,
Australian Association for Byzantine Studies, Department of Modern Greek, University of Sydney
nsw 2006, Canberra.
Cover illustration: Fol 98v of Cod. Laur. Plut. IX.28, containing the Christian Topography of
Cosmas Indicopleustes, is reproduced on the cover with the kind permission of the Biblioteca
Laurenziana, Florence.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017939787
issn 0725-3079
isbn 978-99-59-36349-7 (paperback, 2017)
isbn 978-90-04-34464-8 (e-book, 2017)
isbn 0 9593636 4 9 (paperback, 1987)
Copyright 2017 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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Εἰ δὲ καὶ περὶ τῶν ἀντιπόδων ἐπεξεργαστικώτερον θελήσειέ τις ζητῆσαι,
ῥᾳδίως τοὺς γραώδεις μύθους αὐτῶν ἀνακαλύψει.
Cosmas Indicopleustes, I,20.
⸪
Contents
Introduction vii
Acknowledgements Xlll
Bibliography xv
Plan of Thessaloniki xxiii
Text and Translation 1
Commentary 161
Appendix 1: Eustathios on the Writing of History 230
Appendix 2: The Five Alexioi Komnenoi 235
Index 237
Introduction
The account by Eustathios archbishop of Tbessaloniki of the capture of
that city by the Normans of Sicily in 1185 is well known, and it is
often cited by modern scholars. It is therefore surprising that no
English version has been made before this time, since it is a work of
some iaportance, and has always been considered as a priaary source
for the history of the later lomnenoi. The previous history of the
text, with the various editions and translations of it which have been
made, is as follows.
One manuscript survives, containing this and other ainor works of
Eustathios. It is held in the Public Library of Basel, Switzerland
(Ks. Basle A III 20). It was suggested by Kaas that this manuscript
was written in part by Eustathios, but the suggestion has failed to
find favour with other scholars, with good reason: not only are there
some differences between the handwriting of this aanuscript and that
of the commentaries on Romer, which are the only texts which are
generally accepted to be in the hand of Eustathios himself, but it
shows certain errors of spelling which are likely to be the work of a
copyist rather than of such a learned writer as Eustathios, and some
omissions which also are of the kind which can be explained as
mistakes made in the process of copying (see the introduction to
lyriakidis' text, and Wilson, 'The Autographs of Eustathios'). It is
generally agreed, however, that even if the aanuscript is not an
autograph one, it is nevertheless of Eustathios's own time, and it is
certainly a well written one with very few aistakes, so the textual
problems which it presents are negligible.
The first printed edition was that of T.L.F. Tafel, who published
it together with other minor works of Eustathios and two histories of
Trebizond by Panaretos and Eugenikos in 1832 (Eu•tatbii aetropolitae
Tbessalonicensis opusculae. Accedunt Trapezuntinae bistoriae
scriptores Panaretu• et Eugenicu•. E codicibu• •••· Basilensi,
Parisinis, Veneta nunc pri11u11e didit Theopbil. Lucas Trider. Tafel,
pbil. dr. liter. antiq. in Acad. Tubing. prof. p.o. Trancofurti ad
Koenum. Sumptibu• Sigi•11undi Schurber. ltDCCCJCX:un. This was a text
without commentary or translation. It presented the work in an
arrangement of paragraphs which, although the division sometimes seems
to have been done in a rather arbitrary manner, bas served as one of
the standard ways of referring to passages in the text since that
time. The translation which is printed here follows the paragraphs of
Tafel'• text, and references in the index are given in the same way.
In addition, the republished text of lyriakidis which appears on the
left hand pages shows the pages of the manuscript and the pages of the
&vuu c~itivh (see bt!~w), 10 readers should b•,n u~ Gifficulty in
purs~ing any reference to an individual passage which they may find.
viii INTRODUCTION
This text was reprinted ten year, later by Bekker, together with
the Cbroaograpbi• of Leon the Grammarian, in the Bonn Corpus
Scriptoru• Bistoriae Jyzantiaae, together with a Latin translation by
Edward Brockhoff (Leoai• Gr••••tici Cbroaograpbia recogaitioae
Iuaauelis Bekkeri. Accedit Eustatbii de capt• rbessaloaica liber.
loaaae 2842). The same text and Latin translation were reproduced in
1856 in volume 136 of Migne's Patrologia Graeca, together with a
number of Eustathio1'• other ainor works, to which were added the
funeral oration pronounced over Eustathios by his friend Euthymios and
a florilegium of Biblical quotations garnered by an anonymous author
generally known by the name of Antonio• Melissa, which was given to
him by his first editor, because of the diligence with which he
pursued this harmless activity (Sapieatissi•i et doctissi•i Eustatbii
rbessaloniceasis Netropolitae opera quotcunque arguaenti sunt
ecclesiastici. Accedunt Antoaii Nonacbi cogaoaento Nelissae loci
co. . uaes ex sacris et protanis auctoribus collecti. Accuraate et deauo
recognoscente J.-P. Nigae, libliotbecae Cleri Uaiversae, sive cursuum
coapletorua in singulos scientiae ecclesiasticae raaos editore.
rurnholti 2856). By this time Tafel had also produced a translation
into German, which was published together with a Geraan translation of
Eustathios's funeral oration over Manuel I as part of a study of
relations between the Koanenoi and the Norman• (Koanenen und
Noraanaen. Beitrlge zur Ertorscbuag ihrer Geschicbte ia verdeutschten
und erlluterten Urkunded des zw6ltten und dreizehaten Jahrbunderts.
Aus dem Griechischea von G.L.T. ratel, Stuttgart 1852, 2nd edition
1870; bibliographers will note that when writing in German Tafel gave
his first name in the German form of Gottlieb, whereas when writing in
Latin he used the Latin form Theophilus).
In 1892 the first Italian translation appeared, accompanied by
another reproduction of Tafel'• text (I Siciliaai in Salonicco nell'
anno NCLXXXV ovvero l• espugnazione di ressalonica narrata dall'
arcivescovo Eustazio tradotta da Giuseppe Spata, Palermo 1982).
The twentieth century has so far seen two new translations and an
improved edition of this work. A German translation with brief notes
and introduction by Hunger has appeared as volume 3 of the aeries
Byzantiaische Gescbicbtsscbreiber, in two editions (Die Noraannea in
rbessalonike. Die Eroberuag von rbessaloaike durcb die Noraanaen (2285
n. Cbr.J ia der Augenzeugenscbilderuag des Erzbiscbots Eustatbios,
Qbersetzt, eingeleitet und erkllrt, Graz-Vien-K6ln 1955, 2nd edition
1967). The Greek text also benefited fro• a careful revision and
annotation by Stilpon Kyriakidis which was published, with an Italian
translation by V. Rotolo, by the Istituto Siciliano di Studi Bizantini
e Neoellenici as no. 5 in its se~ies of scholarly texts (Eustazio di
ressalonica, la Espugnazions di ressalonica, testo critico
introduzione annotazioni di Stilpon Kyriakidis, proeaio di Bruno
Lavagnini, versioae itali•n• di Vincenzo Rotolo, Palermo 1961). At the
end of 1987, this edition was still in print. An edition of the minor
works of Eustathios is being prepared for the Series Berolinensis of
the Corpus Fontiu• Ristoriae Byzantinae.
It is only natural that this work by Eustathios, should, in spite
of its relative brevity, have received so much attention. It is an
iaportant document for several reasons. In the first place it is an
eyewitness account of an important historical event, and was composed,
as internal evidence makes clear, only a short time after the fall of
Thessaloniki. This gives it a sense of immediacy and a vividness which
are sometimes lacking in Byzantine historical writing. Ve do not
INTRODUCTION ix
usually think of Eustathios as a writer of history, but this
composition would entitle him to be classed as an outstanding example
of what Sevcenko ('Two Varieties of Historical Writing') has called
the 'vivid' as opposed to the 'technical' historian. Be was also
probably, apart perhaps from David Komnenos and the 'chief officer'
who is mentioned in S 85, the person in the city who had the best
general knowledge of what was happening at Thessaloniki, at
Constantinople and elsewhere, and it is obvious that Niketas
Choniates, writing later, relied upon him completely for his account
of the siege. But this is not all. Eustathios also gives us a lively
account of the last stages in the rise to power of Andronikos I, which
gives added life to the picture painted by Niketas in his much more
extensive history of the period. Although the shorter work is a
polemic, directed against Andronikos after his death, and against
David Komnenos whomA ndronikos bad appointed to defend Tbessaloniki,
there is no reason to suppose that what is said of them is not true.
Finally, this text provides us in a relatively small space with a good
specimen of Byzantine prose of a moderately elevated and rather
unusual kind.
This last aspect of the work has received relatively little
attention. Although historians have made good use of it as a document
in the records of Byzantium and Europe, particularly as an important
source for the history of the Komnenoi, the language which Eustathios
employs in it has been less studied (in spite of the investigations of
Hedberg and Koukoules), and the style and form of the whole work have
not been the subject of any inquiry. An analysis of its vocabulary and
Byntax, in greater depth than any which bas so far been attempted,
(Hedberg, Eustatbios als Attizist, is only a beginning), would be
rewarding, but an exercise of this kind is not appropriate to a
publication which is principally designed to serve historians. Some
general points, however, may be made, which may be helpful to the
reader who is not familiar with the conventions which apply, to a
greater or lesser extent, to writing of this kind.
Like most of the other authors of his time whose work has
survived, Eustathios writes in a manner which is far removed from that
of everyday speech. The avoidance of the 'vulgarity' of the 'common
language' is deliberate, and as a result any expression which is
tainted in this way is accompanied by an acknowledgement that it is a
piece of common diction; this is the convention, even when the
expression in question is clearly a quotation. Clearly writers who
used this artificial language were afraid that they might be accused
of. 'vulgarity', and this was true even of Eustathios, who was probably
the best classical scholar of his age. The vocabulary of this work is
therefore basically that of the great writers of the classical period,
with the addition of certain touches which are due to the Septuagint
and the Fathers of the Church. Occasionally words of classical origin
appear in a fore in which they are not known in our surviving texts
(for instance, verbs are occasionally found in the more imposing
middlt voice, where in classica! Greek the briefer active forms were
nor~al), or with a meaning which the context shows to be slightly
different from the meaning which it had in classical Greek. The
construction ot sentences is formal and complex, and it is often
advisable for a translator to brear. them up into smaller units for the
benefit of the modern reader.