| From: Thomas Hockey et al. (eds.). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, Springer Reference. New York: Springer, 2007, p. 776 |
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Courtesy of 
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Metochites [Metoxites],
Theodore [Theodoros, Theoleptos]
Katherine Haramundanis
Born Nicaea, (Iznik,
Turkey), 1260/1261
Died Constantinople,
(Istanbul, Turkey), 1332
Son
of George Metochites, a cleric of the Eastern Orthodox Church during the imperium
of Emperor Michael VIII Paleologos, Theodore Metochites grew up in the cultural
center of Constantinople. However, because his father George favored union
with the Latin Church, the family was exiled. Theodore, nevertheless, received
a good education and completed his enkyklios paideia by the time he
was 20. Favored by Emperor Andronikos II, he became a close collaborator and
counselor. In this capacity he made several important diplomatic missions
to Cyprus, Serbia, and Thessaloniki, among others, and was appointed to several
successively more important public offices. In 1304, Metochites was appointed
to the highest position of the Byzantine administration, megas logothetes,
or Grand Deputy, with duties equivalent to chancellor or prime minister, which
he held until 1321.
Metochites's
career ended when the emperor was deposed, and he was exiled by the new Emperor
Andronikos III Paleologos. He died, as the monk Theoleptos, in 1332 at the
Chora monastery in Constantinople to which he had donated his extensive library,
and whose restoration work he had personally supported. Metochites's mosaic
portrait in the monastery where he offers the Church of Chora to the enthroned
Christ commemorates his extensive gifts to the institution.
Metochites
was an exceptionally prolific writer and scholar, leaving behind works of
rhetoric (royal eulogies and discourses), 20 poems, a literary testament in
verse, a collection of philosophical texts, and two works on astronomy. His
collection of texts, Hypomnematismoi kai semeoses gnomikai (Annotations
and gnomic notes or Personal comments and annotations), an astonishing collection
of essays and texts on history, literature, and thinking, includes material
on over 70 Greek authors. It contains the most extensive commentary on Aristotelian
philosophy of the late Byzantine period. Metochites's commentaries on the
Dialogues of Plato had an important influence on the Platonic renaissance
of the 15th century.
Metochites's
work associated with astronomy includes his paraphrases
of Aristotle's
works on natural philosophy and his comprehensive introduction to Ptolemaic
astronomy. His Stoicheiosis Astronomike (Elements of astronomy) revived
Ptolemaic studies in Byzantium and gives evidence of the significance of contacts
with Persian and Arabic science in astronomy as practiced in the period of
the early Paleologai. In this work, Metochites described earlier astronomical
studies and made a clear argument for the importance of astronomy over the
other branches of mathematics. He clearly distinguished between astronomy
and the then popular apotelesmatics (astrology), which he condemned. In his
Semeoses gnomikai (Annotations), Metochites provided an important critique
of Aristotle.
Selected References
Bydén, Börje (2002). “To Every Argument there is a Counter‐Argument:
Theodore Metochites' Defence of Scepticism (Semeiosis 61).” In Byzantine
Philosophy and Its Ancient Sources, edited by Katerina Ierodiakonou, pp.
183‐217. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Hult, Karen with Börje Bydén (2002). Theodore Metochites
on Ancient Authors and Philosophy. Studia Graeca et Latina Gothoburgensia
65. Göteborg: Acta Universistatis Gothoburgensis.
Paschos, E. A. and P. Sotiroudis (1998). The Schemata of
the Stars: Byzantine Astronomy from A.D. 1300. Singapore: World Scientific.
Talbot, Alice‐Mary
(1991). “Metochites, Theodore.” In Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium,
edited by Alexander P. Kazhdan. Vol. 2, pp. 1357–1358. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Underwood, P. A. (1966).
The Kariye Djami. Vols. 1–4. New York: Bollingen Foundation.