John the Lydian


John the Lydian or John Lydus was a 6th-century Byzantine administrator and writer on antiquarian subjects.

Life and career

He was born in 490 AD at Philadelphia in Lydia, whence his cognomen "Lydus". At an early age he set out to seek his fortune in Constantinople, and held high court and state offices in the praetorian prefecture of the East under Anastasius and Justinian. In 552, he lost Justinian's favour and was dismissed. The date of his death is not known, but he was probably alive during the early years of Justin II.

Literary work

During his retirement he occupied himself in the compilation of works on the antiquities of Rome, three of which have been preserved:
  1. De Ostentis, on the origin and progress of the art of divination
  2. De Magistratibus reipublicae Romanae, especially valuable for the administrative details of the time of Justinian; the work is now dated to 550 by Michael Maas.
  3. De Mensibus, a history of the different pagan festivals of the year.
The chief value of these books consists in the fact that the author made use of the works of old Roman writers on similar subjects. Lydus was also commissioned by Justinian to compose a panegyric on the emperor, and a history of his campaign against Sassanid Persia; but these, as well as some poetical compositions, are lost.

Editions and translations

There is an edition of De Ostentis by Curt Wachsmuth, with full account of the authorities in the prolegomena.
There is an edition of De Magistratibus and De Mensibus by Richard Wünsch. See also the essay by CB Hase prefixed to I. Bekker's edition of Lydus in the Bonn Corpus scriptorum hist. Byzantinae.
For De Magistratibus, Wünsch's edition has been superseded by Anastasius C. Bandy's 1983 edition and translation.
See also: