Menander Protector

Menander Protector ( Dr. Greek Μένανδρος προτίκτωρ ) - a Byzantine diplomat and historian of the VI century .

Born in Constantinople in the middle of the VI century . The son of Euphrates. Brother Herodotus.

Menander Protector had a law degree , but did not practice law: under Mauritius he served in the imperial guard (hence his nickname is “protector”).

In his works he used data from diplomatic correspondence, messages of Byzantine ambassadors, historical writings, personal observations, eyewitness accounts. Menander strives for the accuracy of the presentation of the information received. He left quite detailed information about the Ant-Avar relations, the Avar-Byzantine struggle for Sirmius and against the Slavs. Many fragments of his work are quoted by Konstantin Bagryanorodny .

The work of Menander in a certain sense continues the book of Agathius from Asia Minor “On the reign of Justinian, ” which set out the period from 552 to 558 . Further beyond Agathius, Menander Protector wrote, during the time of the Emperor of Mauritius, “History,” which outlined events from 558 to 582 . Fragments of this work provide enough material to assess the relevance of the source. Menander’s ethnopolitical views are characterized by tolerance towards foreign nations, which is rare for an Orthodox Byzantine. Thus, the Türks are not called “barbarians” in the “History”, and a foreign ruler may appear as the “brother” of the Byzantine Vasileus.

The story of Menander was continued in the writings of Theophylact Simocatta , who lived during the time of Emperor Heraclius and served as secretary.

He owns the first report on the writing of the Turks : describing the reception of the Turkic ambassador Maniach by the Byzantine emperor Justin I , Menander mentions the message of the kagan written in "Scythian letters."