George Kodinos

Who is George Kodinos?

George Kodinos or Codinus, also Pseudo-Kodinos, kouropalates in the Byzantine court, is the reputed 14th-century author of three extant works in late Byzantine literature.

Their attribution to him is merely a matter of convenience, two of them being anonymous in the manuscripts. Οf Kodinos himself nothing is known; it is supposed that he lived towards the end of the 15th century. The works referred to are the following:

Patria, treating of the history, topography, and monuments of Constantinople. It is divided into five sections: the foundation of the city; its situation, limits and topography; its statues, works of art, and other notable sights; its buildings; and the construction of the Hagia Sophia. It was written in the reign of Basil II, revised and rearranged under Alexios I Komnenos, and perhaps copied by Codinus, whose name it bears in some manuscripts. The chief sources are: the Patria of Hesychius Illustrius of Miletus, the anonymous Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai, and an anonymous account of St Sophia. Procopius, De Aedificiis and the poem of Paulus Silentiarius on the dedication of St. Sophia should be read in connexion with this subject.