GEORGIUS

PACHYMERES (1242-c. 1310)  , Byzantine historian and miscellaneous writer, was born at Nicaea, in Bithynia, where his father had taken refuge after the capture of Constantinople by the Latins in 1204 . On their expulsion by Michael Palaeologus in 1261 Pachymeres settled in Constantinople, studied law, entered the church, and subsequently became chief advocate of the church (7rpo,r Ic&Koc) and chief justice of the imperial court (S&KatocOXa ) . His literary activity was considerable, his most important work being a Byzantine history in 13 books, in continuation of that of Georgius Acropolita from 1261 (or rather 1255) to 1308, containing the history of the reigns of Michael and Andronicus Palaeologi . He was also the author of rhetorical exercises on hackneyed sophistical themes; of a Quadrivium (Arithmetic, Music, Geometry, Astronomy), valuable for the history of music and astronomy in the middle ages; a general sketch of Aristotelian philosophy; a paraphrase of the speeches and letters of Dionysius Areopagita; poems, including an autobiography; and a description of the Augusteum, the column erected by Justinian in the church of St Sophia to commemorate his victories over the Persians . The History has been edited by I . Bekker (1833) in the Corpus scriptorum hist. byzantinae, also in J . P . Migne, Patrologia graeca. cxliii., cxliv.; for editions of the minor works see C . Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur (1897) .