George Kodinos or Codinus ( el, Γεώργιος Κωδινός), also

Pseudo The prefix pseudo- (from Greek ψευδής, ''pseudes'', "false") is used to mark something that superficially appears to be (or behaves like) one thing, but is something else. Subject to context, ''pseudo'' may connote coincidence, imitation, ...

-Kodinos, ''

kouropalates ''Kouropalatēs'', Latinized as ''curopalates'' or ''curopalata'' ( el, κουροπαλάτης, from lat, cura palatii " he one incharge of the palace"). and Anglicized as curopalate, was a Byzantine court title, one of the highest from the ti ...

'' in the

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 ...

court, is the reputed 14th-century author of three extant works in late

Byzantine literature Byzantine literature is the Greek literature of the Middle Ages, whether written in the territory of the Byzantine Empire or outside its borders.Encyclopædia Britannica - "Greek literature: Byzantine literature" It forms the second period in th ...

. Their attribution to him is merely a matter of convenience, two of them being anonymous in the manuscripts. Οf Kodinos himself nothing is known; it is supposed that he lived towards the end of the 14th century. The works referred to are the following: #'' Patria'' (Πάτρια Κωνσταντινουπόλεως), treating of the history, topography, and monuments of

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 ( ...

. It is divided into five sections: (a) the foundation of the city; (b) its situation, limits and topography; (c) its statues, works of art, and other notable sights; (d) its buildings; (e) and the construction of 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 ...

. It was written in the reign of

Basil II Basil II Porphyrogenitus ( gr, Βασίλειος Πορφυρογέννητος ;) and, most often, the Purple-born ( gr, ὁ πορφυρογέννητος, translit=ho porphyrogennetos).. 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar S ...

(976-1025), revised and rearranged under

Alexios I Komnenos Alexios I Komnenos ( grc-gre, Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός, 1057 – 15 August 1118; Latinized Alexius I Comnenus) was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the first emperor of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during ...

(1081–1118), and perhaps copied by Codinus, whose name it bears in some (later) manuscripts. The chief sources are: the ''Patria'' of Hesychius Illustrius of Miletus, the anonymous ''

Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai ''Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai'' ( el, Παραστάσεις σύντομοι χρονικαί, "brief historical notes") is an eighth- to ninth-century Byzantine text that concentrates on brief commentary connected to the topography of Constan ...

'', and an anonymous account () of St Sophia (ed. Theodor Preger in ''Scriptores originum Constantinopolitanarum'', fasc. i, 1901, followed by the ''Patria'' of Codinus).

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea ( grc-gre, Προκόπιος ὁ Καισαρεύς ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; la, Procopius Caesariensis; – after 565) was a prominent late antique Greek scholar from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman gen ...

, ''De Aedificiis'' and the poem of Paulus Silentiarius on the dedication of St. Sophia should be read in connexion with this subject. #''De Officiis'' (), a treatise, written in an unattractive style between 1347 and 1368, of the court and higher ecclesiastical dignities and of the ceremonies proper to different occasions, as they had evolved by the middle

Palaiologan period The Byzantine Empire was ruled by the Palaiologos dynasty in the period between 1261 and 1453, from the restoration of Byzantine rule to Constantinople by the usurper Michael VIII Palaiologos following its recapture from the Latin Empire, founde ...

. It should be compared with the earlier '' De Ceremoniis'' of

Constantine Porphyrogenitus Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Ka ...

and other '' Taktika'' of the 9th and 10th centurie

#A chronological outline of events from the beginning of the world to the Fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans (called Agarenes in the manuscript title). Complete editions are (by

Immanuel Bekker August Immanuel Bekker (21 May 17857 June 1871) was a German philologist and critic. Biography Born in Berlin, Bekker completed his classical education at the University of Halle under Friedrich August Wolf, who considered him as his most promis ...

) in the ''Bonn Corpus scriptorum Hist. Byz.'' (1839–1843, where, however, some sections of the ''Patria'' are omitted), and in JP Migne, ''

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– ...

civil.''; see also

Karl Krumbacher Karl Krumbacher (23 September 1856 – 12 December 1909) was a German scholar who was an expert on Byzantine Greek language, literature, history and culture. He was one of the principal founders of Byzantine Studies as an independent academic ...

, ''Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur'' (1897).

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kodinos, George Greek religious writers 14th-century Byzantine historians Kouropalatai 14th-century Greek writers