Madrid Skylitzes


The Madrid Skylitzes is a richly illustrated illuminated manuscript of the Synopsis of Histories, by John Skylitzes, which covers the reigns of the Byzantine emperors from the death of Nicephorus I in 811 to the deposition of Michael VI in 1057. The manuscript was produced in Sicily in the 12th century, and is now at the Biblioteca Nacional de España in Madrid, with the shelfmark MS Graecus Vitr. 26-2. Other names for it include the Codex Græcus Matritensis Ioannis Skyllitzes, or label=none.
Apart from the very fragmentary 6th-century Alexandrian World Chronicle, it is the only surviving illustrated manuscript of a Greek chronicle, and includes 574 miniatures.
massacre the Byzantines in the mountain passes
It is unclear whether these illustrations are copies of earlier Byzantine images or were newly created specifically for this copy.