Chronographia (Theophanes Continuatus)
A history of the Byzantine emperors from 813, compiled at the court of Constantine VII about a century after the restoration of icons. Its fourth book tells how Theodora and Methodios ended iconoclasm.
The work continues the chronicle of Theophanes and was put together under the emperor Constantine VII in the middle of the tenth century. For the 840s its authors wrote about a hundred years after the events, from older writings that are mostly lost, and with a clear purpose: the iconoclast emperors and their patriarch are blackened and the restorers of the images praised. Stories such as the patriarch John wounding himself, or Theodora’s oath that her husband repented on his deathbed, are told as the tradition of the victorious party and should be read as such.
Cited in
- 11 March AD 843, estimated date
- AD 864–866, estimated date