Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1095

Rh TIIEOPIIANES. Syncellus, by whose desire he continued the Chro- vicon, which was broken oiF by the death of Syn- cellus. The work of Theophanes, which is still extant, begins at the accession of Diocletian, in A. D. 277, and embraces a period of 524 years, down to A. D. 811, that is, almost up to the very period when the career of Theophanes was ended by his imprisonment. It consists, like the Chro- nica of Eusebius and of Syncellus, of two parts, a history arranged according to years, and a chrono- logical table, of which the former is very superior to the latter. We possess the original Greek, and an ancient Latin translation, badly executed, by Anastasius Bibliothecarius. It has been pub- lished, with an improved Latin Version, and with the Notes of Goar and Combefis, in the Parisian and Venetian Collections of the Byzantine writers, Paris, 1655, fol., Venet. 1729, fol., and in Nie- buhr's Corpus Script. Hist. Bijz. Bonn. 2 vols. 8vo. (Fabric. Bilil. Graec. vol. vii. pp. 459, foil, ; Cave, Hist. Litt. s. a. 792, vol. i. p. G4l, ed. Basil.; Vos- sius, de Hist. Graec. p. 340, ed. Westermann ; Hankius, Bt/z. Rcr. Script, i. 11, pp. 200, foil.). 4. Cerameus. [Cerameus, Theophanes,] Some less important writers and ecclesiastics of this name are noticed by Fabricius, Bibl. Graec. vol. xi. pp. 218— 222. There is one epigram in the Greek Anthology, under the name of Theophanes, but its authorship is very uncertain. (See Jacobs, Bibl. Grace, vol. xiii. p. 958.) [P. S.] THEOPHANES GRAPTUS. [Gkaptus.] THEO'PHANES NONNUS. [Nonnus.] THEO'PHANES, CN. POMPEIUS, of My- tilene in Lesbos, a learned Greek, was one of the most intimate friends of Pompey, whom he accom- panied in many of his campaigns, and who fre- quently followed his advice on public as well as private matters. (Caes. B. C. iii. 18 ; Strab. xiii. p. 617.) He was not a freedman of Pompey, as some modern writers have supposed (Burmann, ad Veil. Fat. ii. 18) ; but the Roman general appears to have made his acquaintance during the Mithri- datic war, and soon became so much attached to him that he presented to the Greek the Roman franchise in the presence of his army, after a speech in which he eulogised his merits. (Cic. pro Arch. 10 ; Vah Max. viii. 14. § 3.) This occurred in all probability about b. c. 62, and Theophanes must now have taken the name of Pompeius after his patron. Such was his influence with Pompey, that, in the course of the same year, he obtained for his native city the privileges of a free state, although it had espoused the cause of Mithridates, and had given up the Roman general M'. Aquillius to the king of Pontus. (Plut. Pomp. 42.) Theo- phanes came to Rome with Pompey after the con- clusion of his wars in the East. There he adopted, before he had any son, L. Cornelius Balbus, of Gades, a favourite of his patron. (Cic. pro Ball. 25 ; Capitol. Balbin. 2.) He continued to live with Pompey on the most intimate terms, and we see from Cicero's letters, that his society was courted by many of the Roman nobles, on account of his well-known influence with Pom- pey. (Cic. ad Att. ii. 5, 12, 17, v. 11.) On the breaking out of the civil war he accompanied Pompey to Greece, who appointed him commander of the Fabri, and chiefly consulted him and Lucceius on all important matters in the war, much to the indignation of the Roman nobles. (Plut. Cic 38 j THEOPHILUS. 1088 Caes. B. C. iii. 18 ; Cic. ad Att. ix. 3, 1 1.) After the battle of Pharsalia Theophanes fled with Pompey from Greece, and it was owing to hia advice that Pompey went to Egypt. ( Plut. Pomp. 76, 78.) After the death of his friend find patron, Theophanes took refuge in Italy. He was par- doned by Caesar, and was still alive in B. c. 44, as we see from one of Cicero's letters {adAtt.x. 19). After his death the Lesbians paid divine honours to his memory. (Tac. Ann. vi. 18.) Theophanes wrote the history of Pompey 's campaigns, in which he represented the exploits of his hero in the most favourable light, and did not hesitate, as Plutarch more than hints, to invent a false tale for the pur- pose of injuring the reputation of an enemy of the Pompeian family. (Plut. Pomp. 37, et alibi ; Strab. xi. p. 503, xiii. p. 617 ; Cic. pro Arch. Lc; Val. Max. /. c. ; Capitol. I. c.) Theophanes left behind him a son, M, Pom- peius Theophanes, who was sent to Asia by Augustus, in the capacity of procurator, and was at the time that Strabo wrote one of the friends of Tiberius. The latter emperor, however, put his descendants to death towards the end of his reign, A. D. 33, because their ancestor had been one of Pompey's friends, and had received after his death divine honours from the Lesbians. (Strab. xiii. p. 617 ; Tac. Ann. vi. 18 ; comp. Drumann, Gcschickte Rams, vol. iv. pp. 551 — 553 ; Vossius, de Hist. Graec. pp. 190, 191, ed. Westermann.) THEOPHILISCUS, a Rhodian, who com- manded the fleet sent by his countrymen to the assistance of Attains, king of Pergamus, against Philip, king of Macedonia, B. c. 201. He bore an important part in the great sea-fight off Chios, which was brought on by his advice, and in which he mainly contributed to the victory, both by his skill and personal valour. But having been led by his ardour too far into the midst of the enemy's fleet, his own ship was assailed on all sides, and he extricated her with great difficulty, having lost almost all his crew, and himself received three wounds, of which he died shortly after. The highest honours were paid to his memory by the Rhodians. (Polvb. xvi. 2, 5, 9.) [E. H. B.] THEOTHILUS (06o>Aos), emperor of Con- stantinople A. D. 829 — 842, was the son and suc- cessor of Michael II. Balbus, with whom he was associated in the government as early as 821 (Eckhel, vol. viii. p. 240.) He was engaged in war with the Saracens during the greater part of his reign, but notwithstanding his valour and energy he was generally unsuccessful against these for- midable foes, and hence obtained the surname of the Unfortunate. At the end of his fifth cam- paign he had the mortification of seeing the city of Amorium in Phrygia, which was the birth-place of his father, and which he and his father had adorned with public buildings, levelled to the ground by the caliph Motassem. Like most of the other Byzan- tine emperors, Theophilus took part in the religious disputes of his age. He was a zealous iconoclast, and persecuted the worshippers of images with the utmost severity ; but notwithstanding his heresy, the ancient writers bestow the highest praise upon his impartial administration of justice. He died in 842, and was succeeded by his infant son Michael III., who was left under the guardianship of his mother, the empress Theodora. [Michael III.] (Zonar. xv. 25—29 ; Cedrenus, pp. 513— 533 ; Continuator Theoph. lib. iii. j Ducange, Fa-