St. Photius' Myriobiblon- 50% Gone

The Byzantine scholar and writer Photius (ca. 820-891) was patriarch of Constantinople and leader of the Orthodox Byzantine Renaissance.

The Bibliotheca of Photius,¹ a massive description of some four hundred books representing fourteen centuries of Greek literature on nearly every subject, is the most important work of Byzantium’s most important scholar.² 

Nearly half of the items have disappeared.³

1. Photius, and John Henry Freese. The Library of Photius. By J.H. Freese. London: Society for promoting Christian knowledge, 1920.

2. Treadgold, Warren T. The Nature of the Bibliotheca of Photius. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies, Trustees for Harvard University, 1980.

3. Polastron, Lucien X., and Jon E. Graham. Books on fire: the destruction of libraries throughout history. Rochester, Vt: Inner Traditions, 2007, p.39.