John Skylitses
John Skylitses
Years of birth and death unknown. Lived between the 11th and early 12th centuries. Byzantine civil servant and chronicler.
Skylitses’ Survey of History covers the period between 811 and 1057. It is based on widely varying sources reflecting the interests of different groups within the Byzantine nobility; this accounts for the frequent contradictions and breaks in the sequence of the narrative. Skylitses’ history has become the most important document for Byzantine history of the late tenth and early 11th centuries, since the sources he used for this period are now lost. His Chronicle (not yet published) is included in full in the universal chronicle of George Cedrenus (12th century). The attribution to Skylitses of the Sequel to the Chronicle of John Skylitses, which covers the period between 1057 and 1079–80, is questionable.