The poetry of the Byzantines has nothing i of real importance to show except in the astical field. Its chief representative is the composer of hymns, Romanus, who is supposed to have lived in the 6th century. After John of Damascus (author of Sacra Parallela) and Cosmas of Jerusalem (7th century) nothing important and individual was produced. In secular poetry the didactic and eulogistic play an important part, as for example, in George Pisides (7th century). The sententious and epigrammatic poetry is represented by the poetess Casia (9th century), by John Geometres (10th century), Christopher of Mitylene and John Mauropus (11th century). The single drama of the whole period, Christus Patiens (11th or 12th century) scarcely de serves this designation, for it is merely a multi tude of reminiscences from ancient Greek tragedy. Theodorus Prodromus (also called Ptochoprodromus, °Beggar Prodromus))) showed a most remarkable activity and pro ductivity, if the works that have come down to us under his name are the productions of one individual instead of several bearing the same name. He is the author of a long romance, in verse, as well as satirical poems, eulogies and epigrams. In some of his works
he makes use of the Bulgarian language and belongs consequently also to the earliest period of Bulgarian literature. The first collection of Byzantine historians, (Historix Byzantine: scrip tores,) appeared in Paris (1648-1711, 39 vols., reprinted in Venice 1722ff. in 28 vols.). A new 'Corpus scriptorum histories Byzantinw.,) was published in Bonn (1828-97, 5 vols.) under the auspices of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, but is very unscholarly.
On the whole Byzantine literature is almost without originality, but is valuable for the his torical material which it contains. Besides the authors already named we might mention Theo dorus Prodromus, who wrote a long romance, in which the heroine is Rhodanthe and the hero Dosikles, Nicephorus Callistus of the 14th cen tury, a writer on ecclesiastical history, John Doxopater of the 11th century, who wrote on rhetoric, and Michael Bellus, the younger, of the same century, who wrote historical and other works. See GREEK LITERATURE, and con sult works there referred to.
JosEPH E. HARRY, Author of The Greek Tragic Poets,) etc.