The Authorship of the Lost Source of John Skylitzes’ Synopsis Historion in the Chapter About the Reign of Michael IV

Abstract

It was thought that Demetrios of Kyzikos was the author of the lost source of John Skylitzes’ Synopsis Historion in the chapters about the reigns of Romanos III and Michael IV. However, the analysis of the attitude of Skylitzes to the patriarch Alexios the Studite reveals that the author of the Synopsis Historion followed two contradictory sources in the aforementioned chapters. In the chapter about the reign of Romanos III it was indeed Demetrios of Kyzikos, which is supported by prosopographical evidence. However in the subsequent chapter on Michael IV, Skylitzes used a different source. This source cannot be identified with certainty due to the lack of evidence, but some traces suggest that it was John the Lydian, the last author whom Skylitzes mentions in the prooimion to his work.