Leo was born in
Thessaly, a cousin of the
Patriarch of Constantinople,
John the Grammarian. He was probably at least in part of
Armenian descent.[5][6][7][8] In his youth he was educated at Constantinople, but found higher education options limited in the city and thus travelled to the monasteries of
Andros, where he could obtain rare manuscripts and was taught mathematics by an old monk.[9][10] He originally taught privately in obscurity in Constantinople. The story goes that when one of his students[11] was captured during the
Byzantine–Arab Wars, the
Caliphal-Mamun was so impressed by his knowledge of mathematics, providing proofs that his own scholars were unable to complete, and predictive abilities that he offered Leo great riches to come to
Baghdad.[12] Leo took the letter from the caliph to the
Byzantine emperorTheophilos, who, impressed by his international repute, conferred on him a school (ekpaideutērion) in either the Magnaura or the church of the
Forty Martyrs.[13]
In the version of the story recorded by
Theophanes Continuatus, the caliph, upon receiving Leo's letter of refusal, sent a letter requesting answers to some difficult questions of geometry and astrology, which Leo obliged. Al-Mamun then offered two thousands pounds of gold and a perpetual peace to Theophilos, if only he could borrow Leo's services briefly; the request was declined. The emperor then honoured Leo by having John the Grammarian consecrate him
metropolitan of
Thessalonica, which post he held from the spring of 840 to 843. There is a discrepancy in this account, however, in that the caliph died in 833. It has been suggested that either the connection between the caliph's final letter and Leo's appointment as metropolitan is in error, or the caliph in question was actually al-Mutasim. This latter option squares with the account of
Symeon the Logothete, who makes Leo teach at the Magnaura from late 838 to early 840 and was paid handsomely.[14]
Leo, an iconoclast sometimes accused of paganism, lost his metropolitancy with the end of the
Iconoclasm in 843.[15] Despite this, he delivered a sermon favourable of icons within months of Theophilos' death.[16] Around 855, Leo was appointed at the head of a newly established Magnaura School by
Bardas.[17] He was renowned for his philosophical, mathematical, medical, scientific, literary, philological, seismological, astronomic, and astrological learning, and was patronised by
Theoktistos and befriended by
Photios I of Constantinople.[18][19]Cyril was his student. Leo has been credited with a
system of beacons (an optical telegraph) stretching across
Asia Minor from
Cilicia to Constantinople, which gave advance warning of Arab raids, as well as diplomatic communication.[4][20] Leo also invented several
automata, such as trees with moving birds, roaring lions, and a levitating imperial throne.[2] The throne was in operation a century later, when
Liutprand of Cremona witnessed it during his visit to Constantinople.[21][22]
Recent years have seen the first translations into English of a number of primary sources about Leo and his times.
Featherstone, Jeffrey Michael and Signes-Codoñer, Juan (translators). Chronographiae quae Theophanis Continuati nomine fertur Libri I-IV (Chronicle of
Theophanes Continuatus Books I-IV, comprising the reigns of
Leo V the Armenian to
Michael III), Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2015.
Kaldellis, A. (trans.). On the reigns of the emperors (the history of
Joseph Genesios), Canberra: Australian Association for Byzantine Studies; Byzantina Australiensia 11, 1998.
Ševčenko, Ihor (trans.). Chronographiae quae Theophanis Continuati nomine fertur Liber quo Vita Basilii Imperatoris amplectitur (Chronicle of
Theophanes Continuatus comprising the Life of
Basil I), Berlin: De Gruyter, 2011.
Wahlgren, Staffan (translator, writer of introduction and commentary). The Chronicle of the Logothete, Liverpool University Press; Translated Texts for Byzantinists, vol. 7, 2019.
Wortley, John (trans.). A synopsis of Byzantine history, 811-1057 (the history of
John Scylitzes, active 1081), Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Notes
^Symeon the Logothete, Chronographia 132.4. Symeon the Logothete as well as the separate recension of the Chronographia written by Pseudo-Symeon the Logothete mentions that Leo survives the
869 AD Earthquake of Byzantium, which occurred during the Feast of St. Polyeuktos on January 9th, 869.
^
abMarcus Louis Rautman (2006), Daily Life in the Byzantine Empire (Greenwood Publishing Group,
ISBN0-313-32437-9), 294–95.
^Штокало И. З., История отечественной математики. Том 1. С древнейших времен до конца XVIII в., Киев, Наукова Думка, 1966, p. 447
^Философская Энциклопедия [ред. Ф. В. Константинова], Лев Математик, т. 3, Москва, 1964, pp. 156—157
^Trkulja J., Lees C.
Armenians in Constantinople, in: Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Κωνσταντινούπολη, 2008
^H. C. Evans, W. D. Wixom, The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843—1261. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1997, p. 351
^
abBrowning, Robert (1964). "Byzantine Scholarship". Past and Present. 28: 7–8.
doi:
10.1093/past/28.1.3.
^Lemerle, Paul (2017). Byzantine Humanism: The First Phase: Notes and Remarks on Education and Culture in Byzantium from Its Origins to the 10th Century. Translated by Helen, Lindsay. Leiden: Brill. p. 172.
^According to the Pseudo-Symeon, this student was Boïditzes, who
betrayedAmorium to the caliph.
^According to
Joseph Genesius and
Theophanes Continuatus between 829 and 833; Symeon the Logothete makes the caliph
al-Mutasim and puts the invitation after the Islamic conquest of Amorium in the fall of 838, cf. Treadgold, Warren T. (1979). "The Chronological Accuracy of the Chronicle of Symeon the Logothete for the Years 813–845". Dumbarton Oaks Papers. 33: 162.
doi:
10.2307/1291437.
JSTOR1291437.
^Symeon says the Magnaura, Continuatus the Forty Martyrs (Treadgold, "Chronological Accuracy ", 186).
^Warren T. Treadgold (1997), A history of the Byzantine state and society (Stanford University Press), 447.
^Warren T. Treadgold (1988), The Byzantine Revival, 780–842 (Stanford University Press), 372.
^Treadgold, "Chronological Accuracy ", 187, believes, on the basis of the Logothete's account, that this occurred in 843 and was a re-founding of Theophilos' school.
^Tougher, Shaun (1997). The Reign of Leo VI (886–912): Politics and People. Leiden: Brill. p. 113.
ISBN90-04-10811-4.
^Vlasto, A. P. (1970). The Entry of the Slavs into Christendom: An Introduction to the Medieval History of the Slavs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 33.
^Treadgold, Warren T. (1979). "The Revival of Byzantine Learning and the Revival of the Byzantine State". The American Historical Review. 84 (5). American Historical Association: 1245–1266 [p. 1259].
doi:
10.2307/1861467.
JSTOR1861467.
^Safran, Linda (1998). Heaven on Earth: Art and the Church in Byzantium. Pittsburgh: Penn State Press. p. 30.
ISBN0-271-01670-1. Records Liutprand's description.
^Among them are some centos preserved in the Palatine Anthology; see Prieto Domínguez, Óscar (2011), De Alieno Nostrum: el Centón profano en el mundo griego. Estudios Filológicos, 328. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca.
ISBN9788478002085, p. 120-179.