HESYCHIUS OF MILETUS, Greek chronicler and biog rapher, surnamed Illustrius, son of an advocate, flourished at Constantinople in the 5th century A.D. during the reign of Justin ian. According to Photius,'who considered him a truthful historian (cod. 69), he was the author of three important works. (I) A Compendium of Universal History in six books, from Belus, the reputed founder of the Assyrian empire, to Anastasius I. (d. 518) . A considerable fragment has been preserved from the sixth book, a history of Byzantium from its earliest beginnings till the time of Constantine the Great. (2) A Biographical Dictionary ('Ovo saroXoyos or Iliva) of Learned Men, the chief sources of which were Herennius Philo and the Movo ocr) ioropia of Aeluis Dionysius. Suidas incorporated much of it in his lexicon but his words leave us uncertain whether he himself epitomized Hesy chius, or used an already existing epitome. The second view is more generally held, and the epitome referred to, which substi tuted alphabetical order for arrangement by classes, and included articles on Christian writers, is assigned from internal indications to the years 829-837. Both it and the original work are lost, with the exception of the excerpts in Photius and Suidas. A smaller compilation, chiefly from Diogenes Laertius and Suidas, with a similar title, is the work of an unknown author of the II th or 12th century. (3) A History of the Reign of Justin I. (518-5 2 7) and the early years of Justinian, completely lost.
Editions: J. C. Orelli (182o) and J. Flach (1882) ; fragments in C. W. Muller, Frag. Hist. Graec. iv. 143 and in T. Preger's Scriptores originis Constantinopolitanae, i. (19oi) ; Pseudo-Hesychius, by J. Flach (188o) ; see generally C. Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur (1897).