Georgios Akropolites

Born 1217, in Nicea; died after 1282, in Constantinople. Byzantine writer and statesman.

Georgios Akropolites became head of the administration (in the post of grand logothete) of the Nicean Empire in 1246, and after 1261 he occupied prominent positions at the court in Constantinople. At the Second Council of Lyon (1274), Akropolites was the plenipotentiary representative of the Byzantine emperor; he brought the latter’s oath of allegiance to the pope and signed the agreement of union between the Orthodox and Catholic churches, which, however, was never implemented. Georgios Akropolites is the author of the Chronicles, which sets forth the events of the domestic and foreign history of the Nicean Empire from 1203 to 1261, as well as a number of poetical, rhetorical, and theological works.