Epilogue

Abstract The historians of Byzantium were drawn largely from the ranks of officialdom, just as they were in China. But whereas historical production was a state activity in China, it was left to individual initiative in Byzantium. The result was greater variety and more use of non-documentary sources to spice up the story of the past. Documentary sources, however, were extensively used, supplemented by earlier histories for the deeper past. The fates of the theses advanced about the historians discussed in this book are noted, the least successful being those about Procopius and the Logothete, the most controversial being that about Nikephoros Bryennios’ contribution to the Alexiad.