The Suda, The Greek Encyclopedia Written in the Year 1100

Credit: Jean Le Tavernier /Public Domain

The Suda, the monolithic tome written by a Byzantine student astir the twelvemonth 1100, was 1 of the world’s archetypal encyclopedias and lexicons.

Created arsenic some a syllabary of the Greek language and an overview of events successful the known satellite up until that time, it is simply a benchmark successful assistance of the medieval period.

The Suda, oregon Souda (Σοῦδα,) was formerly attributed to an writer called Soudas oregon Souidas.

It is an encyclopedic lexicon, written successful Greek, with a staggering 30,000 entries, galore drafting from past sources that person since been mislaid and often derived from medieval Christian compilers. The derivation of the connection “Suda” is from the Byzantine Greek connection souda, meaning “fortress” oregon “stronghold” with the alternate name, Suidas, stemming from an mistake made by Eustathius, who mistook the rubric for the author’s name.

The Suda, the Byzantine encyclopedia from the twelvemonth 1100. Credit: daten.digitale-sammlungen.de

The Suda is determination betwixt a grammatical dictionary and an encyclopedia successful the modern sense. It explains the source, derivation, and meaning of words according to the philology of its period, utilizing specified earlier authorities arsenic Harpocration and Helladios.

It stands contiguous arsenic a affluent root of past and Byzantine past and life, though not each nonfiction is of adjacent quality, judging by our modern standards, and it is an “uncritical” compilation of humanities events.

Much of the enactment is astir apt interpolated, meaning worldly often finds its mode into different subjects. The Suda passages that notation to Michael Psellos, who lived from c. 1017 to 1078, are believed to beryllium interpolations that were added successful aboriginal copies.

The Suda is simply a invaluable repository of Ancient Literary Works

Priceless biographical sketches of political, ecclesiastical, and literate figures of the Byzantine Empire up to the tenth period are included successful the groundbreaking work, portion galore of these are condensations from the works of Hesychius of Miletus, arsenic the writer himself asserts.

However, considering the ravages of clip and however easy accusation tin beryllium mislaid forever, these citations of much past works let The Suda to service arsenic a priceless chronicle successful and of itself.

Other sources utilized successful the enactment were the encyclopedia of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, who lived from 912 to 959 for the figures successful past history, excerpts written by John of Antioch during the seventh period for its attraction of Roman past and the chronicle of Hamartolus, written successful the ninth period by Georgios Monachos for the Byzantine age.

The biographies of Diogenes Laërtius and the works of Athenaeus and Philostratus besides served arsenic important sources for The Suda. Other main sources see a lexicon by the writer known arsenic “Eudemus,” which was possibly derived from the enactment “On Rhetorical Language” by Eudemus of Argos.

The lexicon copiously draws from scholia to the classics of the top Greek writers, including Homer, Aristophanes, Thucydides, Sophocles, and others. Later, the works of  Polybius, Josephus, the Chronicon Paschale, George Syncellus, George Hamartolus, were utilized arsenic sources.

The Suda quotes oregon paraphrases these sources astatine length. Since galore of the archetypal works person so been lost, The Suda serves an invaluable repository of literate history; this preservation of literate past is much captious than the lexicographical compilation itself, immoderate scholars believe.

The Suda arsenic a lexicon is arranged alphabetically with immoderate flimsy deviations from communal vowel bid and spot successful the Greek alphabet according to a strategy which was formerly communal successful galore languages called antistoichia (ἀντιστοιχία); namely the letters travel phonetically successful bid of sound, successful the pronunciation of the tenth period — which is akin to that of Modern Greek.

The bid is: α, β, γ, δ, αι, ε, ζ, ει, η, ι, θ, κ, λ, μ, ν, ξ, ο, ω, π, ρ, σ, τ, οι, υ, φ, χ, ψ[8]
In addition, treble letters are treated arsenic azygous for the purposes of collation. The strategy is not hard to larn and remember, but immoderate editors — for example, Immanuel Bekker – rearranged the Suda alphabetically.

Will We Ever Know Who Wrote the Suda?

Sadly, small is known astir the author, who was named “Suidas” successful its prefatory note. He astir apt lived successful the 2nd fractional of the 10th century, due to the fact that the decease of emperor John I Tzimiskes and his succession by Basil II and Constantine VIII are mentioned successful the introduction nether “Adam,” which is appended with a little chronology of the world.

At immoderate rate, the enactment indispensable person appeared by earlier the 12th century, since it is often quoted from and alluded to by Eustathius who lived from astir 1115 AD to astir 1195 oregon 1196.

The enactment deals with biblical arsenic good arsenic pagan subjects, from which it is inferred that the writer was a Christian.

The lone different remotely comparable enactment of astir that clip would beryllium the Speculum Maius, written successful Latin  in the 13th period by Vincent of Beauvais.

Alexander Pope References the Suda successful Poetry

The large classically educated English writer Alexander Pope adjacent mentioned The Suda successful his writings:

“For Attic operation successful Plato fto them seek,
I poach successful Suidas for unlicens’d Greek.”

― Alexander Pope, “The Dunciad,” 4.227-8

Pope’s “Suidas” is not a man, of course, but the encyclopedia, of which helium would person known arsenic 1 who had been educated successful ancient Greek successful the English nationalist schoolhouse system.

Preserved successful respective medieval manuscripts, The Suda has been edited and published respective times since the extremity of the 14th period successful accepted hard-copy scholarly editions, astir precocious that of Ada Adler , successful 5 volumes, printed from 1928-1938 and reprinted successful 1971.

A modern translation that is disposable to everyone successful the world, a effect of a labour of emotion connected the portion of scholars each astir the world, called the Suda On Line, was completed connected July 21, 2014.

Suda Online Forms Invaluable Resource to Scholars

The Suda Online (SOL) project, begun successful 1998 arsenic portion of the Stoa Consortium, makes disposable this “stronghold” of accusation by sharing a freely accessible, keyword-searchable database, with English translations, notes, bibliography, and links to different physics resources.

With contributions arsenic translators and/or editors from much than 2 100 radical worldwide, the SOL reached the landmark of each entries being translated and edited to a usable modular connected July 21, 2014.

The nexus to the Suda Online may beryllium recovered here, portion a fuller past of the task may beryllium recovered here.

The SOL has been the absorption of galore articles and league presentations for those funny successful Byzantine past and the medieval period. In 2000, the managing Editors jointly published an nonfiction “The Suda On-Line” successful the diary Syllecta Classica.

Scholarly Papers astir SOL person been presented astatine planetary conferences successful Hawaii and Aberdeen, Scotland and Newport, Rhode Island. In 2002 a sheet astir SOL entitled “On to 10,000: The Inexorable March of the Suda On Line,” was held astatine the yearly gathering of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South successful Austin, TX.

In 2007, Catharine Roth won a Titus Fellowship astatine the University of Cincinnati’s Blegen Library to survey aboriginal assistance connected the Suda.

According to the Suda Online group, the household of progressive and emerita/us SOL contributors comprises good implicit 200 individuals, hailing from 5 continents and much than 20 countries. They correspond specialists from each implicit the world spectrum.

The Suda, and particularly its online version, offers modern scholars the accidental to delve into the satellite arsenic the Byzantines knew it.

Its creator could ne'er person known that astir 1 1000 years aft helium compiled it, his labs of emotion would inactive beryllium utilized arsenic a captious root of accusation — and that immoderate of what helium wrote would beryllium the lone surviving grounds of priceless works of the distant past.