| Title | : | Genesios, On the Reigns of the Emperors |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 095936269X |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780959362695 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 184 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 915 |
The translation is accompanied by a detailed commentary including references to current scholarly work in this area. Like the recently published translation of Theophanes, it will add to the increasing network of sources for Middle Byzantine history available in annotated English translation.
Anthony Kaldellis, of the University of Michigan, has held a Bliss Fellowship at the Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies, where much of the work leading to the publication of this book was carried out.
Genesios, On the Reigns of the Emperors Reviews
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It's difficult to rank a work like Gensios because as a history, it is frankly awful at times. At the same time, however, the translation is really well done and the information within is incredibly important for our understanding of the period. The translator, Anthony Kaldellis, spells this out succinctly in the introduction but Genesios has putrid prose, consistently contradicts himself, messes up events chronologically, and recounts the same event multiple times. Towards the end of the work, it becomes almost unreadable in sections. It was very common in Byzantine high society to copy ancient Attic prose in an attempt to mimic Homer, Thucydices, and the like, but Genesios is by far the worst history writer I have read. Kaldellis could have cleaned up the prose but I actually appreciate how he choose not. We don't want to think this is some pristine historical document because it is not. Of course, the information on the turbulent early to mid 800's was interesting and seeing the inner workings of the imperial court was new to me. I was hoping for a bit more, the text is a little over 100 pages, but that's more of an issue with me. Overall, a bad written history that only has value because of the limited number of detailed sources on the period. As a history, this is a 1 star, but for it's value and the skill of the translation, I begrudgingly appreciate it more than the base quality.
