Anonymi Professoris Epistulae

The Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae includes texts written by Byzantine historiographers and chroniclers as well as other documents of historical relevance from the 4th to the 15th centuries. The main objective of each volume is the presentation of a critical text based on all extant manuscripts; a detailed introduction informing about the author and the work as well as the manuscripts and their relation to each other is included in addition to several apparatus and indices. Das Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae umfasst Texte der byzantinischen Historiografen und Chronisten sowie andere historisch relevante Dokumente vom 4. bis 15. Jahrhundert. Das Hauptgewicht jeder Ausgabe liegt in der Erstellung eines kritischen Textes auf der Basis der gesamten handschriftlichen Überlieferung; neben mehreren Apparaten und Indices enthält jeder Band eine ausführliche Einleitung, die über Autor und Werk sowie über die Handschriften und deren Beziehung zueinander informiert.

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The only manuscript preserving this collection of letters, in the British Library, is damaged at the beginning, thus depriving us of the author’s name. However, the letters of the Anonymous Professor, a scholar and headmaster of a private school in Constantinople in the mid tenth century, comprise an important source for our knowledge of education and intellectual life in Byzantium in this period. The present edition, which aims to fulfil the need expressed by many scholars for a new, fully annotated critical edition of the letters, attempts to reconstruct the main events in the life of the Professor, along with his educational and, more generally, intellectual pursuits. Full summaries of the letters are provided. Information about the Professor’s correspondents, many of whom belong to the milieu of the imperial court and the church, is presented and examined. The critical edition of the letters together with accompanying notes comprises the core of the book while detailed indices are supplied at the end.