Léon le diacre. Empereurs  du X  e siècle

This volume contains the first complete French translations of Leo the Deacon’s History and Praise of the Emperor Basil, as well as a new edition of the latter, initially edited by I. Sykoutrès  in 1933. The introductions deal mainly with the relations between Byzantine Rhetoric and History. The Praise was declaimed in 989 or 990 in presence of Emperor Basil II by this 40 year old member of the Imperial clergy. The History in 10 Books runs from the last year of Romanos II’s reign [959] to the thirteenth year of Basil II’s [989]. The authors take advantage of the similarity of the events described by Leo the Deacon [10th century] and John Skylitzes [12th century] to illustrate the translation of Leo’s History with many of the famous magnificent paintings of the manuscript Matritensis Bibl. nat., Vitr. 26. 2. [12th century]. Three paintings borrowed from the 15th century manuscript of the Radziwill Chronicle also enhance Svjatoslav’s deeds when reported in Leo’s History 9th Book.