APPENDIX ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE EDITOK 1. AUTHORITIES Greek Sources PnoTius was born at Constantinople about a. d. 820. He was related by blood to the Patriarch Tarasius, and by marriage to the Empress Theodora (wife of Thcophilus). He had enjoj-ed an excellent training in grammar and philology, and devoted his early j-ears to teaching, a congenial emploj'ment which he did not abandon after he had been promoted to the Patriarchate (a.d. 858). "His house was still a salon of culture, the resort of the curious who desired instruction. Books were read aloud and the master of the house criticized their style and their matter."! He was an indefatigable collector of books, and his learning probably surpassed that of any of the medifeval Greeks (not excepting Psellus). For his historical importance and public career see above, p. 369-70. Of his profane works the most famous — which Gibbon singles out — was his Mi/riohiblon or Bihliotheca, written (before a.d. 858) for his brother Tarasius, who had been absent in the East and desired information about the books which had been read and discussed in the circle of Photius while he was away. It contains most valuable extracts from historians whose works are no longer extant, and the criticisms of Photius are marked by acuteness and independence. The Lexicon, compiled doubtless by a secretary or pupil, is a later work.^ There are about 260 extant letters (in Migne, P. G. vol. 102 ; and edition by Valettas, 1864). A recent critic has said that the importance of Photius as a theologian has been often exaggerated. Of his theological writings only those pertaining to the controver.sy of the day need be mentioned here. In the treatise On the jMystagogia of the Holj^ Ghost he has put together all the evidence from scripture and the Fathers in favour of the Greek doctrine, but assigns more weight to theo- logical argument than to authority. This is characteristic of the man. It is also to be observed (as Ehrhard remarks) that he does not attack the Roman church directly ; but he appeals to previous Popes as supporters of the true view, in op- position to Jerome, Augustine, &c. Two of the homilies of Photius have historical importance as sources for the Russian invasion of a.d. 860. They were edited by P. Uspenski in 1864, and with improved text by A. Nauck in Lexicon Vindobonense, p. 201-232 (1867) ; reprinted in Jliiller's Frag. Hist. Gr. 5, p. 162 sqq. Tlie works of Photius (except the Lexicon) are collected in Migne's Patr. Gr. vols. 101-104. The chief work on Photius is that of J. Hergenhither, in 3 volumes : Photius, Patriarch von Konstantinopel, sein Leben, seine Schriften, und das griechische Schisma (1867-9), a learned, thorough, and impartial work. The Tactica, of the Emperor Leo VI. contains a great deal that is merely a re-edition of the Strategicon ascribed to the Emperor IMaurice. The general 1 Krumbacher, Gesch. der Byz. Litt. p. 516. 2 Ed. S. A. Naber, 1864-5. 3£hrh?rd, in Krumbacher's Byz. Litt. p. 74. (515)
