Eustathius of Thessalonica
Eustathius of Thessalonica stood at the walls of his city in 1185 and watched the Normans sack it. He did not flee. He stayed, witnessed, and then wrote down everything he saw. That account survives today, and it is only one thread in a life so rich in scholarship that his contemporary Niketas Choniates called him the most learned man of his age. How does a Byzantine archbishop become both an eyewitness chronicler of catastrophe and one of the most important commentators on Homer who ever lived? What drove a churchman to champion secular values, to condemn slavery, and to spend his career preserving ancient Greek knowledge that might otherwise have been lost forever? Those are the questions this documentary will answer.
Eustathius trained under a scholar named Nicholas Kataphloron, and his early career unfolded in Constantinople. He was appointed superintendent of petitions, a position with the Greek title epi ton deeseon, and then professor of rhetoric, a role that carried the title maisthor rhetoron. He was also ordained a deacon in that city. Before reaching Thessalonica, he served as bishop of Myra, the ancient Lycian see once associated with Saint Nicholas. Around 1178, he received the archbishopric of Thessalonica and held that post until his death around 1195 or 1196. Two funeral orations, written by Euthymius and Michael Choniates, survive in manuscripts housed at the Bodleian Library in the University of Oxford. They are our primary biographical sources for his life and character.
Politically, Eustathius aligned himself with emperor Manuel I Komnenos, and that loyalty shaped some of his most unexpected writing. He was an original thinker who sometimes praised secular values such as military prowess, a striking position for an archbishop. He also spoke out against slavery and praised Manuel I Komnenos for abolishing it in 1167. His addresses and letters earned him the esteem of the Komnenoi emperors more broadly, a sign that his views carried weight at the imperial court. The esteem was not simply flattery on his part; Eustathius brought genuine intellectual force to his arguments, and the emperors recognized it.
Eustathius wrote commentaries on Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, works he titled Parekbolai eis ten Homerou Iliada kai Odysseian. They address grammar, etymology, mythology, history, and geography, and they draw on Alexandrian grammarians and critics whose own works are now lost. Among the ancient scholars he seems to have known firsthand were Aristarchos of Samothrace, Zenodotos, and Aristophanes of Byzantium. The first printed edition, prepared by Majoranus, appeared in Rome between 1542 and 1550 in four volumes. A later edition by A. Politi in Florence in 1730 covered only the first five books of the Iliad and included a Latin translation. J. G. Stallbaum edited the Iliad commentary for the Patrologia Graeca between 1827 and 1829, and all earlier editions were eventually superseded by the edition of M. van der Valk, which began appearing in 1971. Eustathius also read widely in the Deipnosophistae of Athenaeus, and that influence surfaces throughout the commentaries. Although some of the etymological and grammatical claims from his Alexandrian sources contain errors, and Eustathius himself is given to long digressions, the commentaries remain a vital resource precisely because they preserve material that no longer exists anywhere else.
Homer was not Eustathius's only subject. He wrote a commentary on Dionysius Periegetes, a geographical poem, and dedicated that work to John Doukas, the son of Andronikos Kamateros. Like the Homer commentaries, it is discursive and digressive, but it preserves extracts from earlier writers that would otherwise be unknown. It was first printed in an edition by R. Stephens in Paris in 1547. He also began a commentary on Pindar; no manuscript of the full text has come to light, but the introduction survived and was first published by Gottlieb Tafel in his Frankfurt edition of 1832. Several of Eustathius's orations were edited by P. Wirth in a volume titled Eustathii Thessalonicensis Opera Minora, and in 2013, Andrew F. Stone published a translation of six of the earliest speeches with commentary as volume 19 of the Byzantina Australiensia series.
On the Capture of Thessalonica is the work that gives Eustathius a different kind of fame. William II of Sicily sent Norman forces against Thessalonica in 1185, and Eustathius recorded what he saw. The early sections of the memoir reach back further than the siege itself, covering political events in Constantinople from the death of Manuel I through the short reign of Alexios II and into the usurpation of Andronikos I. His comments on the figures involved are sharp and pointed. The Greek text was later edited by Kyriakidis with an Italian translation by V. Rotolo. A complete English translation with commentary and associated essays by J. Melville-Jones appeared as volume 8 of the Byzantina Australiensia series. A French translation by Paolo Odorico and a German translation by H. Hunger have also been published. The breadth of translation into modern languages reflects how seriously scholars regard the memoir as a historical document.
Eustathius was officially canonized on the 10th of June 1988, and the Eastern Orthodox Church observes his feast day on the 20th of September. The canonization came more than eight centuries after his death, a long interval that underscores how durable his reputation proved to be. His standing was already secure in his own century; Niketas Choniates described him as the most learned man of his age, and that judgment, as later scholars have noted, is difficult to dispute. The Homer commentaries alone justify the assessment: they are a great tribute, in the words of those who have studied them, to the state of the libraries of Constantinople and of classical scholarship there in the twelfth century. Several of his unpublished theological writings and commemorative speeches continue to be regarded as important historical sources, leaving open the possibility that future scholarship will bring more of his work fully into print.
Common questions
Who was Eustathius of Thessalonica?
Eustathius of Thessalonica was a Byzantine Greek scholar and Archbishop of Thessalonica who lived from around 1115 until approximately 1195 or 1196. He is best known for his eyewitness account of the Norman sack of Thessalonica in 1185 and for his extensive commentaries on Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. He is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
What did Eustathius of Thessalonica write about the Norman sack of Thessalonica?
Eustathius wrote On the Capture of Thessalonica, an eyewitness account of the Norman siege ordered by William II of Sicily in 1185. The memoir also covers political events in Constantinople from the death of Manuel I through the usurpation of Andronikos I. It has been translated into English, Italian, French, and German by modern scholars.
Why are the Homer commentaries by Eustathius of Thessalonica historically important?
Eustathius drew on works by Alexandrian grammarians and critics, including Aristarchos of Samothrace and Zenodotos, some of which are now entirely lost. His commentaries on the Iliad and Odyssey therefore preserve ancient scholarship that survives nowhere else. The definitive modern edition, by M. van der Valk, began publication in 1971.
When was Eustathius of Thessalonica canonized?
Eustathius was officially canonized on the 10th of June 1988. His feast day in the Eastern Orthodox Church is the 20th of September.
What political views did Eustathius of Thessalonica hold?
Eustathius was a supporter of emperor Manuel I Komnenos and praised Manuel I for abolishing slavery in 1167. He was an original thinker who sometimes championed secular values such as military prowess, an unusual stance for an archbishop of his era.
Where are the primary sources for the life of Eustathius of Thessalonica held?
Manuscripts of the funeral orations written by Euthymius and Michael Choniates, which are the main biographical accounts of Eustathius, survive in the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford. Niketas Choniates also praised Eustathius in his own writings as the most learned man of his age.
All sources
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