In the late eleventh or early twelfth century, extant histories were combined and edited to compile a massive unified history from Creation to 1057, entitled the Synopsis istorion. The opening of the text names its author as George Kedrenos. A poem describing the history, found in a later manuscript of the text, says that George was a proedros. This history was written after that of John Skylitzes in the late eleventh century, and before our oldest manuscript, which is stylistically dated to the first half of the twelfth.

For the years 811– 1057, the Kedrenos text copied the history by John Skylitzes precisely. For the period prior to 811 it extracts the histories of Pseudo- Symeon, Symeon the Logothete, and George the Monk. For the sixth and seventh centuries he used the Chronicle of Pseudo- Symeon, which was relying on Theophanes.

Although Kedrenos does not provide any independent information about the past, and often clings to the wording of texts he is compiling, his editorial choices can vary the meanings and implications of the stories he preserves. Scott and Maisano argue that his choices regarding the inclusion and framing of his material display his ideas about history.

Contents

Kedrenos's history has not been studied much, probably because he does not present original information about his recent history and he did not use ancient texts in a way helpful to classicists. Because there is so little scholarship on the text, it is worth summarizing at greater length.

Kedrenos's text opens with Creation as told in Genesis, but he does not so much tell biblical stories, as set the stories – of which the audience is assumed to already have knowledge – in a larger cultural and historical context. The sections dealing with early history interweave biblical and Near Eastern history with statements historicizing classical mythology. The following sketch of topics is not a complete synopsis, but helps explain this almost indescribable work.