https://en.orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Michael_Choniates_of_AthensMichael Choniates of Athens - Revision history2026-07-09T18:46:32ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.30.0https://en.orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Michael_Choniates_of_Athens&diff=112830&oldid=prevWsk: new article2012-11-17T02:08:05Z<p>new article</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>'''Michael Choniates of Athens''', also '''Michael III of Athens''', was the Metropolitan of Athens and a noted writer of the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. <br />
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==Life==<br />
Little is known of his early life. Michael was born about the year 1140 in Chonae (ancient Colossae) in Asia Minor. [[Nicetas Choniates]] was his younger brother. At a young age he studied under [[Eustathius of Thessalonica]] in [[Constantinople]]. About the year 1182, he was appointed [[metropolitan]] of Athens, an office he served until about 1220. During these decades, Metr. Michael worked for the education of his [[clergy]] and their spiritual development as well as to reverse the material and moral deterioration of the tax-laden city. <br />
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Early in the first decade of the thirteenth century, Metr. Michael led the defense of Athens against the attacks by the tyrannical [[w:Leon Sgouros|Leon Sgouros]] until the defenders of Athens were provided relief by [[w:Boniface_of_Montferrat|Boniface of Montferrat]] of the Fourth Crusade in 1205 and to whom he surrendered the city.<ref>N.G. Wilson, ''Scholars of Byzantium'' 1983:204-06.</ref>. <br />
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With the formation of the Latin centric empire after the [[Fourth Crusade|sack of Constantinople]], Metr. Michael refused to submit to the papacy and fled to the island of Ceos/Kea in the Cyclades, where he lived until 1217. Then, he retired to the [[monastery]] of Prodromos in Boudonitza near Thermopylae, where he died about the year 1220. <br />
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==Writings==<br />
Metr. Michael was a man of letters and his works became an invaluable source describing the state of the times. He was a versatile writer, and composed homilies, speeches, and poems, which, with his correspondence, throw considerable light upon the dismal condition of Attica and Athens. Of note is his memorial to emperor Alexios III Angelos concerning the abuses of Byzantine administration as well as his poetical lament over the degeneracy of Athens and on his brother Nicetas and [[Eustathius of Thessalonica|Eustathius]] of [[Thessalonica]].<br />
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He is also known to classical scholars as the last possessor of complete versions of [[w:Callimachus|Callimachus]], [[w:Hecale|Hecale]], and Aetia,<ref>A.S. Hollis, "A New Fragment on Niobe and the Text of Propertius 2.20.8". ''The Classical Quarterly'', New Series, '''47'''.2 (1997:578-582).</ref> <br />
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==References==<br />
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{{start box}}<br />
{{succession|<br />
before=George IV|<br />
title=[[List of Archbishops of Athens|Metropolitan of Athens]]|<br />
years=1182 - 1220|<br />
after=?}}<br />
{{end box}}<br />
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==Sources==<br />
*[[Wikipedia: Michael_Choniates]]<br />
*[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/114343/Michael-Choniates Britannica: Michael Choniates]<br />
*[http://www.athens24.com/byzanzine-period.html Michael Choniates]<br />
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[[Category: Bishops]]<br />
[[Category: Archbishops of Athens]]<br />
[[Category:12th-13th-century bishops]]</div>Wsk