Agathias

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Agathias

Byzantine historian and poet

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Born:: c. 536, Myrina, Aeolis, Asia Minor

Died:: c. 582

Subjects Of Study:: ancient Greece

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Agathias (born c. 536, Myrina, Aeolis, Asia Minor—died c. 582) was a Byzantine historian and poet of part of Justinian I’s reign.

After studying law at Alexandria, he completed his training at Constantinople and practiced in the courts as an advocate. He wrote a number of short love poems in epic metre, called Daphniaca, and compiled an anthology of epigrams by earlier and contemporary poets, including his own. About 100 epigrams by Agathias have been preserved in the Greek Anthology. After the death of Justinian I (565), he began a history of his own times. This unfinished work in five books continues the work of Procopius, the Byzantine historian and statesman, and stands as the chief authority for the period 552–558.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.