Constantine Manasses ( el, Κωνσταντῖνος Μανασσῆς; c. 1130 - c. 1187) 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 ...

chronicler A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...

who flourished in the 12th century during the reign of Manuel I Komnenos (1143-1180). He was the author of a chronicle or historical synopsis of events from the creation of the world to the end of the reign of

Nikephoros Botaneiates Nikephoros III Botaneiates, Latinized as Nicephorus III Botaniates ( el, Νικηφόρος Βοτανειάτης, 1002–1081), was Byzantine emperor from 7 January 1078 to 1 April 1081. He was born in 1002, and became a general du ...

(1081), sponsored by Irene Komnene, the emperor's sister-in-law. It consists of about 7000 lines in

political verse Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

. It obtained great popularity and appeared in a free prose translation; it was also translated into Bulgarian in the 14th century.Chronicle edition: Bekker, Bonn 1837; the Bulgarian translation, ''Cronica lui Constantin Manasses'', by Ioan Bogdan and I. Bianu, Bucharest, 1922. In 1969 Bulgaria issued two sets of stamps depicting important scenes of the chronicle, to celebrate it. Manasses also wrote the poetical romance ''Loves of Aristander and Callithea'', also in political verse. It is only known from the fragments preserved in the rose-garden of Macarius Chrysocephalus (14th century). Manasses also wrote a short biography of Oppian, and some descriptive pieces (all except one unpublished) on artistic and other subjects.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manasses, Constantine 12th-century births 1180s deaths Byzantine chroniclers 12th-century Byzantine historians 12th-century Greek painters Writers from Constantinople