Saint Michael Choniates (or Acominatus; el, ; c. 1140 – 1220) 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 ...

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

writer and

cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

, born at

Chonae Colossae (; grc-gre, Κολοσσαί) was an ancient city of Phrygia in Asia Minor, and one of the most celebrated cities of southern Anatolia (modern Turkey). The Epistle to the Colossians, an early Christian text which identifies its autho ...

(the ancient

Colossae Colossae (; grc-gre, Κολοσσαί) was an ancient city of Phrygia in Asia Minor, and one of the most celebrated cities of southern Anatolia (modern Turkey). The Epistle to the Colossians, an early Christian text which identifies its autho ...

). At an early age he studied at

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 (" ...

and was the pupil of

Eustathius of Thessalonica Eustathius of Thessalonica (or Eustathios of Thessalonike; el, Εὐστάθιος Θεσσαλονίκης; c. 1115 – 1195/6) was a Byzantine Greek scholar and Archbishop of Thessalonica. He is most noted for his contemporary account of the s ...

. Around 1175 he was appointed

archbishop of Athens The Archbishopric of Athens ( el, Ιερά Αρχιεπισκοπή Αθηνών) is a Greek Orthodox archiepiscopal see based in the city of Athens, Greece. It is the senior see of Greece, and the seat of the autocephalous Church of Greece. Its ...

, a position which he retained until 1204. In 1204, he defended the

Acropolis of Athens The Acropolis of Athens is an ancient citadel located on a rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historical significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. Th ...

from attack by Leo Sgouros, holding out until the arrival of the

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

in 1205, to whom he surrendered the city. After the establishment of

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

control, he retired to the island of

Ceos Kea ( el, Κέα), also known as Tzia ( el, Τζια) and in antiquity Keos ( el, Κέως, la, Ceos), is a Greek island in the Cyclades archipelago in the Aegean Sea. Kea is part of the Kea-Kythnos regional unit. Geography It is the island of ...

. Around 1217 he moved again to the

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

of Vodonitsa near

Thermopylae Thermopylae (; Ancient Greek and Katharevousa: (''Thermopylai'') , Demotic Greek (Greek): , (''Thermopyles'') ; "hot gates") is a place in Greece where a narrow coastal passage existed in antiquity. It derives its name from its hot sulphur ...

, where he died. Though he is known to

classical scholar Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

s as the last possessor of complete versions of

Callimachus Callimachus (; ) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works in a wide varie ...

' ''

Hecale In Greek mythology, Hecale ( grc-gre, Ἑκάλη ''Hekálē'') was an old woman who offered succor to Theseus on his way to capture the Marathonian Bull. Mythology On the way to Marathon to capture the Bull, Theseus sought shelter from a s ...

'' and ''

Aitia Causality is the relationship between causes and effects. While causality is also a topic studied from the perspectives of philosophy and physics, it is operationalized so that causes of an event must be in the past light cone of the event and ...

'', he was a versatile writer, and composed homilies, speeches and poems, which, with his correspondence, throw considerable light upon the condition of

Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean ...

and Athens at the time. His memorial to

Alexios III Angelos Alexios III Angelos ( gkm, Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός Ἄγγελος, Alexios Komnēnos Angelos; 1211), Latinized as Alexius III Angelus, was Byzantine Emperor from March 1195 to 17/18 July 1203. He reigned under the name Alexios Komnen ...

on the abuses of Byzantine administration, the poetical lament over the degeneracy of Athens and the monodies on his brother Nicetas and Eustathius,

archbishop of Thessalonica The Metropolis of Thessaloniki ( el, Ιερά Μητρόπολις Θεσσαλονίκης) is a Greek Orthodox metropolitan see based in the city of Thessaloniki in Central Macedonia, Greece. It is part of the so-called "New Lands", belongin ...

, deserve special mention. It is believed that his daughter Constantina tutored, in Greek and science,

John of Basingstoke John of Basingstoke (died 1252), also called John Basing, was an Archdeacon of Leicester in the 13th century. Basingstoke was an advocate of Greek literacy and seems to have been instrumental in introducing the apocryphal ''Testament of the Twelve ...

Archdeacon of Leicester The Archdeacon of Leicester is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Church of England Diocese of Leicester. History The first archdeacon of Leicester is recorded before 1092 – around the time when archdeacons were first appointed in England ...

known for his fluency in and advocacy of the

Greek language Greek ( el, label= Modern Greek, Ελληνικά, Elliniká, ; grc, Ἑλληνική, Hellēnikḗ) is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece, Cyprus, southern Italy ( Calabria and Salento), souther ...

. Michael's pupil

George Bardanes George Bardanes ( el, Γεώργιος Βαρδάνης, died. ca. 1240) was a Byzantine churchman and theologian from Athens. A pupil of Michael Choniates, he later became bishop of Corfu and played a major role in the rivalry between the Epirote ...

, who had accompanied him during his exile on Ceos, became a distinguished bishop in subsequent years.

Notes

References

*Edition of his works by

Spyridon Lambros Spyridon Lambros or Lampros ( el, Σπυρίδων Λάμπρος; 1851–1919) was a Greek history professor and briefly Prime Minister of Greece during the National Schism. Biography He was born in Corfu in 1851 and was educated in London, Paris ...

(1879-1880) *

Migne Jacques Paul Migne (; 25 October 1800 – 24 October 1875) was a French priest who published inexpensive and widely distributed editions of theological works, encyclopedias, and the texts of the Church Fathers, with the goal of providing a ...

, ''

Patrologia Graeca The ''Patrologia Graeca'' (or ''Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Graeca'') is an edited collection of writings by the Christian Church Fathers and various secular writers, in the Greek language. It consists of 161 volumes produced in 1857– ...

'', cxL. * Adolf Ellissen, ''Michael Akominatos'' (1846), containing several pieces with German translation *

Ferdinand Gregorovius Ferdinand Gregorovius (19 January 1821, Neidenburg, East Prussia, Kingdom of Prussia – 1 May 1891, Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria) was a German historian who specialized in the medieval history of Rome. Biography Gregorovius was the son of Neide ...

, ''Geschichte der Stadt Athen im Mittelalter'', i, (1889) *

George Finlay George Finlay (21 December 1799 – 26 January 1875) was a Scottish historian. Biography Finlay was born in Faversham, Kent, where his Scottish father, Captain John Finlay FRS, an officer in the Royal Engineers, was inspector of government powd ...

, ''History of Greece'', iv. pp. 133–134 (1877). * Thallon, C. ''A Medieval Humanist: Michael Akominatos'' (New Haven, 1923) (reprint New York, 1973). * Stadtmüller, G. "Michael Choniates, Metropolit von Athen," ''Orientalia Christiana'', 33,2 (1934), 125–325. * Setton, K. M. "Athens in the Later Twelfth Century," Speculum, XIX (1944), 179–207. * Anthony Kaldellis, "Michael Choniates: a classicist-bishop and his cathedral (1182–1205 AD)," in Idem, ''The Christian Parthenon: Classicism and Pilgrimage in Byzantine Athens'' (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2009), 145–162. *Nario Gallina, "La reazione antiromana nell'epistolario di Michele Coniata Metropolita d'Atene" in Gherardo Ortalli, Giorgio Ravegnani, Peter Schreiner, eds. ''Quarta Crociata'' (Venice, 2006. ) vol. 1 pp. 423–446 * * Athanasios Angelou, «Rhetoric and History: The case of Nicetas Choniates», στο History as Literature in Byzantium, ed. Ruth Macrides, Farnham, Ashgate 2010, σ. 289–305. {{DEFAULTSORT:Choniates, Michael 1140s births 1220 deaths 12th-century Byzantine bishops 13th-century Byzantine bishops 12th-century Byzantine writers 13th-century Byzantine writers Bishops of Athens Book and manuscript collectors Byzantine Anatolians Byzantine Athenians Byzantine writers Christians of the Fourth Crusade Kea (island) People from Colossae