MAJOR CHARACTERS

BYZANTIUM
Humanists
Theodore Metochites (1270 1332).
Statesman, scholar, patron of the arts; founded Last Byzantine Renaissance; rebuilt
Church of the Chora.
Barlaam of Calabria (c. 1290 1348).
First opponent of Hesychasm; taught Greek to Petrarch.
Demetrius Cydones (c. 1324 c. 1398).
Byzantine statesman; translated Thomas Aquinas into Greek.
Manuel Chrysoloras (c. 1350 1415).
Diplomat and educator; rst successful teacher of ancient Greek in the West.
George Gemistos Pletho (c. 1360 1452).
Philosopher and scholar; stimulated interest in Plato among Italian humanists.
John Bessarion (c. 1399 1472).
Expatriate scholar, translator, patron of Byzantine and Italian humanists in Italy; helped
draft the decree of union between Orthodox and Catholic churches (1439), then became
a Catholic cardinal.
John Argyropoulos (1415 1487).
Teacher and philosopher; completed the shift in interest toward Plato that Pletho had
initiated among the Italians.
Monks
Gregory Palamas (c. 1296 1359).
Mystical theologian and saint; main proponent of Hesychast movement in Orthodox
monasticism.
Cyril (c. 826 869) and Methodius (c. 815 885).
Orthodox missionary brothers and apostles to the Slays; inventors and promoters of
Old Church Slavonic, the Byzantine-inspired written language of Slavic Orthodoxy.
Emperors
Justinian (c. 482 565; ruled from 527).
Carried out Reconquest of Italy; built Hagia Sophia.
Heraclius (c. 575 641; ruled from 610).
Saved Byzantium from Persians, then lost wealthiest provinces to the Muslim Arabs at
the onset of Byzantiums Dark Age.
Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (905 959; ruled from 945).
Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty and author of On the Administration of the Empire,
an important historical source for his period.
2 Major Characters
Basil II (958 1025; ruled from 976).
Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty; brought Byzantium to the height of its revived
power in First Byzantine Renaissance.
Alexius I Comnenus (c. 1057 1118; ruled from 1081).
Founder of Comnenan dynasty, which, after the collapse of the late eleventh century,
temporarily revived Byzantine fortunes in the era of the Crusades.
John VI Cantacuzenos (c. 1295 1383; ruled 1347 54).
Statesman, regent, emperor, theologian, historian, and nally monk; patron of humanists
but also a committed Hesychast; formulated unity policy toward Russia.
Manuel II Paleologos (1350 1425; ruled from 1391).
Grandson of John VI Cantacuzenos; friend and patron to many Byzantine humanists
during Last Byzantine Renaissance.
Patriarchs of Constantinople
Photius (c. 810 c. 895; patriarch 858 867 and 877 886).
Humanist scholar who brought the First Byzantine Renaissance to fruition; initiated
the mission of Cyril and Methodius to the Slays.
Nicholas Mysticus (852 925; patriarch 901 907 and 912 925).
Regent for the young Constantine VII Porphyrgenitus during the wars against Byzan-
tium of Symeon of Bulgaria.
Philotheos Kokkinos (c. 1300 c. 1378; patriarch 1353 1354 and 1364 1376).
Hesychast monk who helped carry out unity policy toward Russia.
THE WEST
Theoderic (c. 454 526). King of the Goths (from 471).
educated in Constantinople and installed by Byzantines to rule in Italy.
Boethius (c. 480 c. 524).
Late Roman philosopher and scholar; attempted to translate Aristotle into Latin.
Cassiodorus (c. 487 c. 580).
Late Roman scholar and administrator, then monk.
Liudprand of Cremona (c. 920 c. 972).
Lombard noble and diplomat who visited Constantinople twice in the service of Western
monarchs.
Enrico Dandolo (c. 1107 1205).
Venetian doge (from1192) who orchestrated the sack and occupation of Constantinople
by Western soldiers in the Fourth Crusade (1204 1261).
Petrarch (1304 1374).
Italian poet who founded Renaissance humanism in Italy and tried to learn Greek.
Coluccio Salutati (1331 1406).
Humanist chancellor of Florence who arranged for Manuel Chrysoloras to teach Greek
there.
Major Characters 3
Leonardo Bruni (1370 1444).
Rhetorician and historian; a student of Chrysoloras and the main proponent of civic
humanism.
Poggio Bracciolini (1380 1449).
Renowned Latinist who joined the Florentine circle of Chrysoloras as a young man.
Niccol ` o Niccoli (1364 1437).
Elusive classicist who studied with Chrysoloras in Florence; wrote little but exerted a
strong inuence on artists and other humanists.
Guarino da Verona (1374 1460).
Pioneer Italian educator who was Chrysoloras closest follower.
Tommaso Parentucelli (1397 1455).
Italian humanist who became Pope Nicholas V (from 1446). founded the Vatican
Library and arranged for Bessarion to oversee the translation of Greek manuscripts
there.
Lorenzo Valla (1407 1457).
Gifted Italian classicist and philologist; a prot eg e of the expatriate Byzantine humanist
Cardinal Bessarion.
Marsilio Ficino (1433 1499).
Friend and associate of Cosimo and Lorenzo de Medici; founded the Platonic Academy
in Florence after learning Greek.
THE ISLAMIC WORLD
Muhammad (c. 570 632).
Prophet and founder of Islam.
Muawiyah (c. 602 680).
Fifth caliph (from661) and founder of Umayyad dynasty, based in the former Byzantine
province of Syria.
Abd al-Malik (646 705).
Umayyad caliph (from 685); restored Umayyad power; built the Dome of the Rock.
Al-Mansur (c. 710 775).
Abbasid caliph (from 754) and founder of Baghdad; initiated Greco-Arabic translation
movement.
Al-Mamun (786 833).
Abbasid caliph (from 813); carried on Greco-Arabic translation movement; associated
in later sources with

House of Wisdom.
Hunayn ibn Ishaq (808 873).
Nestorian Christian translator of Greek medical and scientic texts into Arabic; traveled
to former Byzantine territory to get texts.
4 Major Characters
THE SLAVIC WORLD
Boris I (?-907).
Khan of Bulgaria (852 889); converted to Christianity in 865; adopted Slavonic liturgy
of Cyril and Methodius.
Symeon the Great (c. 865 927).
Boris son and Bulgarias rst tsar (from 893); ardently Orthodox; carried out two
major wars against Byzantium in an effort to capture Constantinople.
Stefan Nemanja (? c. 1200).
Ruler of medieval Serbia who brought it into the Byzantine Commonwealth; founded
Serbias ruling dynasty and numerous Orthodox monasteries; became a monk and an
Orthodox saint.
Sava (1175 1235).
Youngest son of Stefan Nemanja; became a monk at Mt. Athos; founded independent
Serbian Orthodox Church; Orthodox saint.
Olga (? c. 969).
Russian princess and ruler (from 945) of Kiev; journeyed to Constantinople and con-
verted to Orthodox Christianity.
Svyatoslav (c. 945 972).
Russian prince of Kiev and son of Olga; a pagan warrior who was killed by the
Petchenegs while crossing the Dnieper.
Vladimir the Great (c. 956 1015).
Russian prince of Kiev and son of Svyatoslav; credited with converting his people to
Orthodox Christianity; an Orthodox saint.
Yaroslav the Wise (978 1054).
Russian prince of Kiev and son of Vladimir; rebuilt Kiev as an Orthodox capital and
brought it to the height of its power.
Cyprian (c. 1330 1406).
Bulgarian monk who, working with patriarch Philotheos, was the main exponent of
Byzantine Hesychasm in Russia.
Sergius of Radonezh (1314 1392).
Russian Orthodox monk and saint; founder of Russian monasticism and promoter of
Russian Hesychasm.
Euthymius of Turnovo (c. 1317 c. 1402).
Bulgarian Hesychast monk and patriarch of Turnovo; founder of

second South Slavic

movement, the Hesychast revitalization of the Old Church Slavonic legacy.
Maxim Grek (c. 1470 1556).
Born Michael Trivolis and educated in humanist circles in Florence before converting
to Christianity; as the monk Maximos he spent a decade at Mt. Athos before going to
Russia, where he was known as Maxim Grek,

Maxim the Greek.