The Emperor Maurice and His Historian: Theophylact Simocatta on Persian and Balkan Warfare

ISBN-13: 9780198229452 / Angielski / Twarda / 1988 / 408 str.

Michael Whitby

Opis

The History of Theophylact Simocatta, the last historian of classical antiquity, is recognized to be the primary source for information about the reign of the emperor Maurice (582-602). Yet the idiosyncracies of Theophylact's style have often deterred serious analysis of this important period. Through close examination of Theophylact's narrative and collation with other evidence, this study sorts through the obscurities, biases, and errors to reveal more fully than ever before the interplay of personalities and events under Maurice. In the process, Whitby highlights the importance of the History as a work worthy of study in its own right, an example of the development of Greek historiography under the influence of Christianity, and a product of the last flowering of classical Greek literature in antiquity.

Recenzje

'This book is a model of theological biography. It is written with great clarity and sensitivity for its subject. It also makes a very significant contribution to our knowledge of nineteenth century British theology and to the intellectual and spiritual genesis of arguably its greatest practitioner. David Young presents a fascinating and formidably well researched picture of Unitarian thought and doctrine ... Maurice was a theologian of rare profundity and insight. He has been well served by his latest biographer.' Ian Bradley, University of Aberdeen, Scottish Journal of Theology, 1993