The Suda or Souda (Greek: Σοῦδα, also Σουΐδας, Suidas) is a massive 10th century Byzantine Greek historical encyclopedia of the ancient Mediterranean world. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Medieval Greek (Μεσαιωνική Ελληνική is a linguistic term that describes the fourth period in the history of the Greek language. It is an encyclopedic lexicon with 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost. An encyclopedia (or '''encyclopædia''') is a comprehensive written Compendium that contains Information on either all branches of Knowledge In Linguistics, the lexicon (from Greek Λεξικόν of a language is its Vocabulary, including its words and expressions The derivation is probably^[1] from the Byzantine Greek word souda, meaning "fortress" or "stronghold," with the alternate name, Suidas, stemming from an error made by Eustathius, who mistook the title for the proper name of the author. Souda or Suda ( Greek: Σούδα is a town and municipality of the Greek island of Crete, in the prefecture of Chania.

The Suda is somewhere between a grammatical dictionary and an encyclopedia in the modern sense. It explains the source, derivation, and meaning of words according to the philology of its period, using such earlier authorities as Harpocration and Helladios. See Comparative linguistics for the narrower field of "comparative philology" Valerius Harpocration was a Greek Grammarian of Alexandria, probably working in the 2nd century CE There is nothing especially important about this aspect of the work. It is the articles on literary history that are valuable. These entries supply details and quotations from authors whose works are otherwise lost. They use older scholia to the classics (Homer, Thucydides, Sophocles, etc. ), and for later writers, Polybius, Josephus, the Chronicon Paschale, George Syncellus, George Hamartolus, and so on. Polybius (ca 203 &ndash 120 BC, Greek) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his book called The Histories Josephus (AD 37 – c 100 also known as Yosef Ben Matityahu (Joseph son of Matthias and after he became a Roman citizen, as Titus Flavius Josephus Chronicon Paschale ("the Paschal Chronicle, also Chronicum Alexandrinum or Constantinopolitanum, or Fasti Siculi) is the conventional name George Syncellus (died after 810 was a Byzantine chronicler and ecclesiastic George Hamartolus ( Greek) was a Monk at Constantinople under Michael III (842-867 and the author of a chronicle of some importance

This lexicon represents a convenient work of reference for persons who played a part in political, ecclesiastical, and literary history in the East down to the tenth century. The chief source for this is the encyclopedia of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (912-59), and for Roman history the excerpts of John of Antioch (seventh century). Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos or Porphyrogenitus, "the Purple-born" ( Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Ζ΄ Πορφυρογέννητος John of Antioch was Patriarch of Antioch (429-441 and led a group of moderate Eastern bishops during the Nestorian controversy Krumbacher (Byzantinische Literatur, 566) counts two main sources of the work: Constantine VII for ancient history, and Hamartolus (Georgios Monachos) for the Byzantine age. Karl Krumbacher ( September 23, 1856 - December 12, 1909) German scholar an expert on Byzantine culture

Background

Little is known of the compilation of this work, except that it must have been before Eustathius (12th century), who frequently quotes it. Eustathius of Thessalonica (Εὐστάθιος (1110c - 1198 was a native of Constantinople who became archbishop of Thessalonica. Under the heading "Adam" the author of the lexicon (which a prefatory note states to be "by Suidas") gives a brief chronology of the world, ending with the death of the emperor John Zimisces (975), and under Constantinople his successors Basil II and Constantine VIII (accession 1025) are mentioned. See also Adam and Eve Adam ( Hebrew: אָדָם was according to a literal interpretation of Genesis, the first man created by Definition A chronology may be either relative &mdashthat is locating related events relative to each other&mdashor ''absolute'' &mdashlocating John I Tzimiskes or Tzimisces, (Ιωάννης Α΄ Τζιμισκής Iōannēs I Tzimiskēs; Հովհաննես Ա Չմշկիկ Hovhannes Ayp Chmshgig Constantinople (Κωνσταντινούπολις Konstantinoúpolis, or gr ἡ Πόλις hē Polis, Latin: la CONSTANTINOPOLIS Basil II, surnamed the Bulgar-slayer (Βασίλειος Β΄ Βουλγαροκτόνος Basileios II Boulgaroktonos, 958 &ndash December 15 1025 Constantine VIII ( Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Η΄ Kōnstantinos VIII) (960&ndash November 15, 1028) was Byzantine emperor It would thus appear that the Suda was compiled in the latter part of the 10th century. Passages referring to Michael Psellus (end of the 11th century) are considered later interpolations. This article is about the 11th-century Byzantine historian and philosopher

It includes numerous quotations from ancient writers; the scholiasts on Aristophanes, Homer, Sophocles and Thucydides are also much used. A scholium, plural scholia (σχόλιον "comment" "lecture" is a grammatical, critical or explanatory comment either original or extracted Aristophanes (Ἀριστοφάνης ˌærɪˈstɒfəniːz in English ca Homer ( Ancient Greek:, Homēros) is a legendary ancient Greek epic Poet, traditionally said to be the author of the epic poems the Sophocles (ˈsɒfəkliːz Ancient Greek, sopʰoklɛ̂ːs circa Thucydides ( C 460 BC &ndash C 395 BC) ( Greek Θουκυδίδης Thoukydídēs) was a Greek The biographical notices, the author tells us, are condensed from the Onomatologion or Pinax of Hesychius of Miletus; other sources were the excerpts of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, the chronicle of Georgius Monachus, the biographies of Diogenes Laërtius and the works of Athenaeus and Philostratus. Hesychius of Miletus, Greek chronicler and biographer surnamed Illustrius, son of an advocate flourished at Constantinople in the 6th century Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos or Porphyrogenitus, "the Purple-born" ( Greek: Κωνσταντίνος Ζ΄ Πορφυρογέννητος George Hamartolus ( Greek) was a Monk at Constantinople under Michael III (842-867 and the author of a chronicle of some importance Diogenes Laërtius ( Greek:, Diogénes Laértios) the biographer of the Greek Philosophers, is supposed by some to have received his surname Athenaeus ( Ancient Greek - Athếnaios Naukratios Latin Athenaeus Naucratita of Naucratis in Egypt Greek rhetorician and grammarian flourished Philostratus, was the name of four Greek Sophists of the Roman imperial period: (c

The work deals with biblical as well as pagan subjects, from which it is inferred that the writer was a Christian. Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "country dweller rustic" is a word used to refer to various religions and religious beliefs from across the world Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings A prefatory note gives a list of dictionaries from which the lexical portion was compiled, together with the names of their authors. Although the work is uncritical and probably much interpolated, and the value of the articles is very unequal, it contains much information on ancient history and life.

Organization

The lexicon is arranged alphabetically with some slight deviations. According to a system (formerly common in many languages) called antistoichia; namely the letters follow phonetically, in order of sound (of course in the pronunciation of the tenth century, which is similar to that of Modern Greek). So for instance alpha-iota comes after epsilon; epsilon-iota, eta-iota come together after zeta, omega after omicron, and so on. The system is not difficult to learn and remember, but in some modern editions (Immanuel Bekker) the work is rearranged alphabetically. August Immanuel Bekker ( May 21, 1785 &ndash June 7, 1871) was a German Philologist and Critic.

External links

• Suda On Line. An on-line edition of the Adler edition with ongoing translations and commentary by registered editors. "The purpose of the Suda On Line is to open up this stronghold of information by means of a freely accessible, keyword-searchable, XML-encoded database with translations, annotations, bibliography, and automatically generated links to a number of other important electronic resources. "

References

Sources

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911 is a 29-volume reference work that marked the beginning of the Encyclopædia Britannica The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone
• This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language Encyclopedia published by The Encyclopedia