Niketas Choniates, Manuscript Recreated

My artwork here is a recreation of the medieval manuscript that depicts the Byzantine historian Niketas Choniates (1155-1217).

Niketas Choniates was originally from the city of Chonae in Phrygia, Asia Minor with his original last name being "Akominatos", though when moving to Constantinople, he was called "Choniates" named after his birthplace. His older brother Michael Choniates who traveled to Constantinople with him to be educated was also another historian of this period. Niketas Choniates' chief work the "History" that consists of 21 books is probably the best source for the history of the 12th century Byzantine Empire. It documents events from 1118 to 1207 featuring the reigns of John II (1118-1143), Manuel I (1143-1180), Alexios II (1180-1183), Andronikos I (1183-1185), Isaac II (1185-1195), Alexios III (1195-1203), Alexios IV and Isaac II (1203-1204), Alexios V (1204), the catastrophic 4th Crusade and sack of Constantinople in 1204, and ends with the new Byzantine Empire of Nicaea where he settled and died in. Choniates wrote in a very descriptive way being an eyewitness to some of these said events and heard of those before his birth first hand.

Choniates also records in a very detailed way the atrocities of the 4th Crusade when they sacked Constantinople being an eyewitness of it. He also made a treatise on the destruction caused by the Latins on Constantinople called "On the Statues destroyed by the Latins" as well as one theological work.

© PCeldran, 2021