Everything about George Syncellus totally explained
George Syncellus (died after
810) was a
Byzantine chronicler and ecclesiastic. He had lived many years in
Palestine as a monk, and came to
Constantinople to fill the important post of
syncellus to
Tarasius,
patriarch of Constantinople. The
syncellus served as the patriarch's private secretary, was generally a bishop, and was the most important ecclesiastical person in the capital after the patriarch himself, and often the patriarch's successor. However George didn't succeed Tarasius, and he retired to a monastery where he wrote his
Extract of Chronography (
Ekloge chronographias), which covered events of the world from
Adam and Eve to the beginning of
Diocletian's reign.
His
chronicle, as its title implies, is more of a chronological table with notes than a history. George continued the chronological structure of
Sextus Julius Africanus, arranging his events strictly in order of time, and naming them in the year which they happened. The text is continually interrupted by long tables of dates, so markedly that
Krumbacher described it as being "rather a great historical list [Geschichtstabelle] with added explanations, than a
universal history." George reveals himself as a staunch upholder of
orthodoxy, and quotes Greek
Fathers such as
Gregory Nazianzen and
John Chrysostom. But in spite of its religious bias and dry and uninteresting character, the fragments of ancient writers and apocryphal books preserved in it make it especially valuable. For instance, considerable portions of the original text of the
Chronicle of
Eusebius have been restored by the aid of George's work. His chief authorities were
Annianus of Alexandria and
Panodorus of Alexandria (monks who wrote near the beginning of the
5th century), through whom George acquired much of his knowledge of the history of
Manetho; George also relied heavily on Eusebius,
Dexippus and
Julius Africanus.
Syncellus's chronicle was continued after his death by his friend
Theophanes.
Anastasius, the Papal Librarian, composed a
Historia tripartita in
Latin, from the chronicles of Syncellus, Theophanes, and Patriarch
Nicephorus. This work, written between 873 and 875, spread Syncellus's preferenced dates for historical events through the West. Meanwhile, in the East George's fame was gradually overshadowed by that of Theophanes.
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