Talk:Justin II
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[edit] organ music
This states that he ordered organ music be played, had the organ been invented?Ciriii 02:37, 14 September 2006 (UTC)
It hadn't, at least in its modern form. Perhaps the author was refering to a portative, positive or (very) primitive barrel organ. In fact, even the portative and positive variants are unlikely to have been used during the reign of Justin II, which leads one to be very skeptical of all three of the character traits mentioned. arcueil_1
The hydraulis is also a possibility. I did some digging and this information appears to come from John of Ephesus, "Another was an organ, which they kept almost constantly playing day and night near his chamber; and as long as he heard the sound of the tunes which it played he remained quiet, but occasionally even then a sudden horror would come upon him, and he would break out into cries, and be guilty of strange actions." - (John of Ephesus, Ecclesiastical History, Part 3 -- Book 3, see [1]). However I don't know of a location of the original of this text online, where you could check what the original word was that's been translated into 'organ'. John's account of Justin's madness seems completely made up but is quite entertaining Bazzargh 13:19, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
I completely missed that John of Ephesus is also the source on the other two traits:
- "Moreover they selected strong young men to act as his chamberlains and guard him; for when they were obliged, in the way I have described, to run after him and seize him, as he was a powerful man, he would turn upon them, and seize them with his teeth, and tear them: and two of them he bit so severely about the head, as seriously to injure them, and they were ill, and the report got about the city that the king had eaten two of his chamberlains." (ibid.)
- "The most successful of these was a little wagon, with a throne upon it for him to sit upon, and having placed him on it, his chamberlains drew him about, and ran with him backwards and forwards for a long time, while he, in delight and admiration at their speed, desisted from many of his absurdities." (ibid.)
While the quality of the translation is doubtful (see its preface) this is actually a contemporary account Bazzargh 11:49, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
