John Tzetzes
Sign in to saveAlso known as Ioannis Tzetzes, Ioannis Tzetzae
Byzantine poet and writer (c.1110–1180)
Key facts
- Born
- c. 1100
- Died
- 1180, Constantinople
- Citizenship
- Byzantine Empire
- Occupations
- poet , scholar
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- Byzantine Empire
- Place of birth
- Istanbul
- Place of death
- Istanbul
- Occupation
- linguist
- Languages spoken
- medieval Greek
- Field of work
- linguistics
Show 7 more facts
- birth name
- Ἰωάννης Τζέτζης
- date of birth
- 1110-00-00
- date of death
- 1180-00-00
- writing language
- medieval Greek
- described by source
- Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition
- P13311
- Viggiù
- name in native language
- Ἰωάννης Τζέτζης
via Wikidata · CC0
Works in European collections
8 objects attributed to John Tzetzes, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
John Tzetzes (Greek: Ἰωάννης Τζέτζης, romanized: Iōánnēs Tzétzēs; c. 1110, Constantinople – 1180, Constantinople) was a Byzantine poet and grammarian who lived at Constantinople in the 12th century. He is known for making significant contributions in preserving much valuable information from ancient Greek literature and scholarship. Of his numerous works, the most important one is the Book of Histories, also known as Chiliades ('Thousands'). The work is a long poem containing knowledge that is unavailable elsewhere and serves as commentary on Tzetzes's own letters. Two of his other important works are the Allegoriai on the Iliad and the Odyssey, which are long didactic poems containing interpretations of Homeric theology.
Biography
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “John Tzetzes” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.