Priscus

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For other uses, see Priscus (disambiguation).

Priscus (left) with the Roman embassy at the court of Attila the Hun, holding his ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ (History, which the painter has incorrectly spelled ΙΣΤΩΡΙΑ). (Detail from Mór Than's Feast of Attila.)

Priscus or Priscus of Panium (Greek: Πρίσκος) was a 5th-century Roman diplomat and Greek historian and rhetorician (or sophist).^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

Biography

Priscus was born in Panion (located in Thrace) between 410 and 420 AD.^[1]^[2] In 448/449 AD, he accompanied Maximinus, the head of the Byzantine embassy representing Emperor Theodosius the Younger (r. 408–450), on a diplomatic mission to the court of Attila the Hun.^[1]^[2]^[4] While there, he met and conversed with a Greek merchant, dressed in "Scythian" (or Hunnic) fashion, who was captured eight years earlier (circa 441–442) when the city of Viminacium (located on the Danube east of modern-day Belgrade) was sacked by the Huns.^[5]^[6] The tradesman explained to Priscus that after the sack of Viminacium, he was a slave of Onegesius, a Hunnic nobleman, but obtained his freedom and chose to settle among the Huns.^[6]^[7] Priscus ultimately engaged in a debate with the Greek defector regarding the qualities of life and justice in both the Byzantine Empire and in barbarian kingdoms.^[1]

After an interlude in Rome, Priscus traveled to Alexandria and the Thebaid in Egypt.^[1]^[2] He last appeared in the East, circa 456, attached to the staff of Euphemios as Emperor Marcian's (r. 450–457) magister officiorum.^[1] He died after 472 AD.^[1]

History of Byzantium

Priscus was the author of an eight-volume historical work, written in Greek, entitled the History of Byzantium (Greek: Βυζαντινή Ιστορία), which was probably not the original title name.^[1]^[2] The History probably covered the period from the accession of Attila the Hun to the accession of Emperor Zeno (r. 474–475), or from 433 up until 474 AD.^[2] Priscus's work currently survives in fragments and was very influential in the Byzantine Empire.^[1] The History was used in the Excerpta de Legationibus of Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (r. 913–959), as well as by authors such as Evagrius Scholasticus, Cassiodorus, Jordanes, and the author of the Souda.^[1] Priscus's writing style is straightforward and his work is regarded as a reliable contemporary account of Attila the Hun, his court, and the reception of the Roman ambassadors.^[2]

Remaining works

The remaining works of Priscus are currently published in three collections:

Blockley, Roger C. (2009). The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire II. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Francis Cairns. ISBN 0-905205-51-0.
Dindorfius, Ludovicus (1870). Historici Graeci Minores (Volume 1). Leipzig, Germany: B. G. Teubneri.
Gordon, Colin Douglas (1966). The Age of Attila: Fifth-century Byzantium and the Barbarians. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press.

References

Citations

↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Kazhdan 1991, "Priskos", p. 1721.
↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Chisholm 1911, "Priscus—Prison", p. 361.
↑ Toynbee & Myers 1948, p. 14: "The renegade Greek business man from Viminacium whom the Greek historian and Roman diplomatist Priscus encountered in Attila's ordu on the Alföld in A.D. 449 has already come to our notice."
↑ 4.0 4.1 Christophilopoulou 1986, p. 209: "For information about Attila, his court and the organization of life generally in his realm we have the authentic and reliable evidence of contemporary Greek historian Priscus, who accompanied Maximinus, the head of the Byzantine embassy, in 448."
↑ Halsall 1996; Kelly 2004, p. 176; Toynbee & Myers 1948, p. 14.
↑ 6.0 6.1 Jones 1964, p. 866: "Priscus of Panium met one of these in Attila's camp. He was, he said, a Greek who had settled at Viminacium on the Danube and prospered in trade and married a rich wife. He was wealthy enough to be allotted as a special prize to Onegesius, one of the Hunnic nobles, when the town was captured."
↑ Halsall 1996.

Sources

Chisholm, Hugh (1911). The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information, Volume 22. The Encyclopædia Britannica Co.
Christophilopoulou, Aikaterinē (1986). Byzantine History (Volume 1). Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Adolf M. Hakkert. ISBN 90-256-0836-1.
Halsall, Paul (March 1996). "Medieval Sourcebook: Priscus at the Court of Attila". New York City, New York: Fordham University. Retrieved 4 December 2011.
Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin (1964). The Later Roman Empire, 284-602 (Volume Two). Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8018-3354-X.
Kazhdan, Alexander Petrovich, ed. (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. New York, New York and Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.
Kelly, Christopher (2004). Ruling the Later Roman Empire. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01564-9.
Toynbee, Arnold Joseph; Myers, Edward DeLos (1948). A Study of History (Volume 8). Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

External links

Georgetown University: "Priscus at the Court of Attila" (Translation by J. B. Bury)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Priscus.

v t e Byzantine historians

5th century	Malchus Priscus

6th century	Agathias Evagrius Scholasticus Hesychius of Miletus John of Ephesus John of Epiphania Jordanes John Malalas Marcellinus Comes Menander Protector Peter the Patrician Procopius Theophanes of Byzantium Zacharias Rhetor Zosimus

7th century	Trajan the Patrician Theophylact Simocatta John of Antioch

8th century	Hippolytus of Thebes

9th century	Theophanes the Confessor George Syncellus Nikephoros I of Constantinople George Hamartolos

10th century	Joseph Genesius John Kaminiates Leo the Deacon Constantine VII Theophanes Continuatus

11th century	Michael Attaleiates George Kedrenos Michael Psellos John Skylitzes John Xiphilinus Yahya of Antioch

12th century	Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger Niketas Choniates Eustathius of Thessalonica Anna Komnene John Kinnamos Constantine Manasses John Zonaras

13th century	George Akropolites Theodore Metochites

14th century	Nicephorus Gregoras Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos George Pachymeres Michael Panaretos

15th century	Michael Critobulus John Anagnostes Laonikos Chalkokondyles Doukas George Sphrantzes

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