REVISITING THE SOURCES OF LEO THE DEACON The Case of the Excerpta Constantiniana

• Published in: Zbornik radova Vizantološkog instituta Vol. 2023; no. 60; pp. 61 - 73
• Main Author: Markopoulos, Athanasios
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vizantološki institut SANU 2023; Institute for Byzantine Studies - Serbian Academy of Sciences And Arts; Institute for Byzantine Studies of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
• Subjects: constantine vii porphyrogennetos; Cultural history; excerptaconstantiniana; history; lemerle; leo the deacon; Military history; Social history; Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos; Lemerle; Excerpta Constantiniana; Leo the Deacon; History
• ISSN: 0584-9888; 2406-0917
• DOI: 10.2298/ZRVI2360061M

This paper takes a fresh look at the sources of Leo the Deacon and comments on what has been written about them by other Byzantinists. It will also study Leo the Deacon’s style of writing, which is certainly innovative, since the History he authored stands apart from the historiographical works that preceded it, as it seeks to meld the new historiography that had emerged from the circle of Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos with the classical tradition. And Leo blazes new trails by praising specific individuals, the vast majority of them military men, around whose actions and achievements – on the field of battle, in the main – his narrative near exclusively revolves. The paper then goes on to indicate that one of the most important texts that has been identified as a source of Leo’s History is the Pophyrogennetos’ vast collection conventionally labelled the Excerpta Constantiniana; the Excerpta are then re-evaluated, particularly in terms of their links to Leo, which turn out to be close, as a number of examples illustrate.