CONSTANTINE

See also:

• CONSTANTINE MANASSES
• MANASSES, PRAYER OF

MANASSES  , Byzantine chronicler, flourished in the 12th century during the reign of Manuel I . (Comnenus) (1143–1180) . He was the author of a Chronicle or historical synopsis of events from the creation of the world to the end of the reign of Nicephorus Botaniates (1o8r), written by direction of Irene, the emperor's sister-in-law . It consists of about 7000 lines in the so-called " political " metre) . There is little to be said of it, except that it is rather more poetical than the iambic chronicle of Ephraim (about 150 years later) . It obtained great popularity and appeared in a free prose translation; it was also translated into Slavonic . The poetical romance of the Loves of Aristander and Callithea, also in "political" verse, is only known from the fragments preserved in the `Po&wvia (rose-garden) of Macarius Chrysocephalus (14th century) . Manasses also wrote a short biography of Oppian, and some descriptive pieces (all except one unpublished) on artistic and other subjects .