Constantine Loukites was a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

poet of Chaldian origin and court official of the

Empire of Trebizond The Empire of Trebizond, or Trapezuntine Empire, was a monarchy and one of three successor rump states of the Byzantine Empire, along with the Despotate of the Morea and the Principality of Theodoro, that flourished during the 13th through to t ...

in the early 14th century. He served as ''

protonotarios The word prothonotary is recorded in English since 1447, as "principal clerk of a court," from L.L. ''prothonotarius'' ( c. 400), from Greek ''protonotarios'' "first scribe," originally the chief of the college of recorders of the court of the B ...

'' and ''

protovestiarios ''Protovestiarios'' ( el, πρωτοβεστιάριος, "first ''vestiarios''") was a high Byzantine Empire, Byzantine Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy, court position, originally reserved for Eunuch (court official), eunuchs. In the late B ...

'' for Emperor Alexios II, which made him effectively Alexios' prime minister.

Life

The date of Loukites' birth is not known, although a marginal note states he came from Macedonia. He received his education in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

; his teachers included

Theodore Hyrtakenos Theodore Hyrtakenos, Latinized as Theodorus Hyrtacenus ( el, ), was a court official of the Byzantine Empire. He flourished in the time of the Andronikos II Palaiologos (r. 1282–1328), where he was the superintendent of the public teachers of rhe ...

. By 1301 he had arrived in Trebizond, for in November of that year he escorted emperor Alexios II in the campaign against the "Amitiotai", Turkomans from

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır (; ; ; ) is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, ...

(Amida), who had penetrated deep into Trebizond's territory to sack Kerasous (modern

Giresun Giresun (), formerly Cerasus (Ancient Greek: Κερασοῦς, Greek: Κερασούντα), is the provincial capital of Giresun Province in the Black Sea Region of northeastern Turkey, about west of the city of Trabzon. Etymology Giresun wa ...

), the second most important city of the Empire. One important relationship Loukites developed while living in Trebizond was with the astronomer

Gregory Choniades Gregory Chioniades ( el, Γρηγόριος Χιονιάδης, Grēgorios Chioniadēs; c. 1240 – c. 1320) was a Byzantine Greek astronomer. He traveled to Persia, where he learned Persian mathematical and astronomical science, which he introduc ...

: of Choniades' 16 surviving letters, four were to Loukites. Two surviving manuscripts, one a copy of the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odysse ...

'' (Ambros. I 58 sup.) the other a copy of

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientifi ...

(Vatican. Ottob. gr. 211), that had been part of Choniades' library, also bear Loukites' bookplates. Loukites maintained a high position in the Imperial court into the reign of Emperor

Basil Basil (, ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' , also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" refers to the variety also kno ...

; the latest evidence that he was still alive is a letter

Nikephoros Gregoras Nicephorus Gregoras (; Greek: , ''Nikephoros Gregoras''; c. 1295 – 1360) was a Greek astronomer, historian, and theologian. Life Gregoras was born at Heraclea Pontica, where he was raised and educated by his uncle, John, who was the Bisho ...

wrote to him, dated between 1335 and 1340. His funerary inscription is reportedly in the

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...

of Trebizond, on the eastern side of the church in the arch behind the sanctum.

Writings

Two of his works have survived: * An

encomium ''Encomium'' is a Latin word deriving from the Ancient Greek ''enkomion'' (), meaning "the praise of a person or thing." Another Latin equivalent is ''laudatio'', a speech in praise of someone or something. Originally was the song sung by the c ...

to Saint Eugenios the patron saint of Trebizond, whose cult had been promoted during the rule of the Grand Komnenoi. * A funeral oration for Alexios II Komnenos, which Loukites delivered nine days after Alexios' death on 3 May 1330. In that speech, Loukites mentions all but two of the ancestors of Alexios II, asking them to accept the late emperor among their ranks; the order and selection has led some writers to believe he was describing a series of portraits painted on the walls of the hall where Loukites delivered the oration.Oikonomides, "The Chancery", pp. 322-324; Rosenqvist, J.O., "Three Trapezuntine Notes", ''Byzantinoslavica'', 54 (1993), pp. 294-299 Athanasios Papadopoulos-Kerameus published an edition of this work in his ''Analekta Hierosolymitikes Stachyologias'' (St. Petersburg, 1891).

References

External links

* Vathi Theodora
"Constantine Loukites"
''Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Loukites, Constantine 14th-century Byzantine people People of the Empire of Trebizond Byzantine letter writers 13th-century births 14th-century deaths Greek Macedonians Byzantine poets