St. Pachomius Library

Paulus Silentiarius

VI Century
Paul the Silentiary was (as his title implies) a lawyer and bureaucrat in Constantinople. He also wrote poetry, his best-known work being a minutely detailed description of Hagia Sophia Cathedral. He was an associate (and perhaps the father-in-law) of another famous poet-lawyer, Agathias of Myrina, editor of The Circle. Many of Paul's short poems appeared in The Circle, which evolved into the present Greek Anthology.
Norman Hugh Redington
Under construction --- far from complete! Read with caution.

ABOUT:

1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, p. 1609.
Wikipedia entry

WORKS:
- Epigrams:Mainly secular poetry, found in the Greek Anthology.
- Descriptio S. Sophiæ & Ambonis (Description of Hagia Sophia Cathedral, and of its Ambo). PG 86, II:2119 & 2257.
  - Descriptio S. Sophiæ & Ambonis. Bonn: Weber, 1837. Greek text with Latin translation. --- Google Book
  - Extract, Barrett Browning translation --- SPL
  - Extract, Lethaby & Swainson translation --- MSBP
  - Mary Whitby: The Occasion of Paul the Silentiary's Ekphrasis of S. Sophia, (1985). Class. Qrtly. (35/1): 215
- In Thermas Pythicas (In the Pythian Baths). PG 86 II:2263.

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