Niketas Choniates
Niketas or Nicetas Choniates (grc-x-medieval; c. 1155 – 1217), whose actual surname was Akominatos (grc-x-byzant), was a Byzantine Greek historian and politician. He accompanied his brother Michael Akominatos to Constantinople from their birthplace Chonae (from which came his nickname, "Choniates" meaning "person from Chonae").
Niketas Choniates

Buchhändler · Scan aus Andreas Fingernagel (Hrsg.): Juden, Christen und Muslime. Interkultureller Dialog in alten Schriften. Kremayr Scheriau, Wien 2010, ISBN 978-3-218-00809-9 · Public domain
- Name
- Niketas Choniates
- Birth Name
- Niketas Akominatos
- Born
- c. 1155
- Birthplace
- Colossae, Byzantine Empire
- Died
- 1217
- Place of death
- Empire of Nicaea
- Nationality
- Byzantine Empire.
- Occupation
- politician, writer and historian.
- Fields
- history.
- Languages
- medieval Greek.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Niketas or Nicetas Choniates (grc-x-medieval; c. 1155 – 1217), whose actual surname was Akominatos (grc-x-byzant), was a Byzantine Greek historian and politician. He accompanied his brother Michael Akominatos to Constantinople from their birthplace Chonae (from which came his nickname, "Choniates" meaning "person from Chonae").
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Authority files
wikidata · Q297340 · wikipedia · Niketas Choniates
In this article
Biography
Biography
Nicetas wrote a history of the Eastern Roman Empire from 1118 to 1207.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Niketas Choniates • Honorific Suffix — Sebastos • Office1 — Logothetes ton sekreton • Term Start1 — 1196/7 • Term End1 — February 1204 • Office2 — Logothetes tou genikou • Term Start2 — c. 1195 • Term End2 — c. 1196 • Office3 — Epi ton kriseon • Monarch3 — Alexios III Angelos • Birth Name — Niketas Akominatos • Born — c. 1155 • Birthplace — Colossae, Byzantine Empire • Died — 1217 • Place of death — Empire of Nicaea • Monarch1 — Alexios III Angelos Isaac II Angelos & Alexios IV Angelos • Monarch2 — Alexios III Angelos • Predecessor1 — John Belissariotes • Term3 — c. 1194/5 • Relations — Michael Choniates (brother) John Belissariotes (brother-in-law)
Life
Life
Nicetas Akominatos was born to wealthy parents around 1150 in Phrygia in the city of Chonae (near the modern Honaz in Turkey). Bishop Nicetas of Chonae baptized and named the infant; later he was called "Choniates" after his birthplace. When he was nine, his father dispatched him with his brother Michael to Constantinople to receive an education. Niketas's older brother greatly influenced him during the early stages of his life. He initially secured a post in the civil service, and held important appointments under the Angelos emperors (among them that of logothetes ton sekreton or Chancellor) and was governor of the theme of Philippopolis at a critical period. After the sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204, he fled to Nicaea, where he settled at the court of the Nicaean emperor Theodore I Lascaris, and devoted himself to literature. He died in 1217. His theological work, Thesaurus Orthodoxae Fidei, although extant in a complete form in manuscripts, has been published only in part. It is one of the chief authorities for the heresies and heretical writers of the 12th century.
Choniates in fiction
Choniates in fiction
Umberto Eco's novel Baudolino is set partly at Constantinople during the Crusader conquest. The imaginary hero, Baudolino, saves Niketas during the sacking of Constantinople, and then proceeds to confide his life story to him. Niketas is a major character in Alan Gordon's murder mystery A Death in the Venetian Quarter (New York: St. Martin's Minotaru, 2002).
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1155
Niketas Choniates born at Chonae.
1217
Niketas Choniates died at Nicaea.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Chonae.
Birth place
Nicaea.
Death place
Editions and translations
• Imperii Graeci Historia, ed. Hieronymus Wolf, 1557, in Greek with parallel Latin translation. (PDF of 1593 reprint) • Nicetæ Choniatæ Historia, ed. J. P. Migne (Patrologia Graeca vol. 140) reproduces Wolf's text (in more modern type) and translation (in standardized spelling). (PDF) • Nicetae Choniatae Historia, ed. Immanuel Bekker, Bonn (CSHB), 1835, with Wolf's translation at the bottom of the page. (at the Internet Archive) • Nicetae Choniatae Historia, ed. Jan Louis van Dieten, Berlin (CFHB #11), 1975. • O City of Byzantium: Annals of Niketas Choniates, trans. Harry J. Magoulias, 1984. (PDF)
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- The Metaphrase of Niketas Choniates’ History. Part 1, The Metaphrase of Niketas Choniates’ ›History‹, 2025
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2025
- The Metaphrase of Niketas Choniates’ History. Part 2, The Metaphrase of Niketas Choniates’ ›History‹, 2025
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2025
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q297340: Niketas Choniates
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
- “Niketas Choniates”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Il soprannome deriva dal luogo di nascita, Chonai. La forma Acominato derivata da una lettura scorretta.
- 2.Judith Herrin, «Bisanzio», Corbaccio, Milano, 2008, p. 328.
- 3.Alexander P. Kazhdan, «La produzione intellettuale a Bisanzio. Libri e scrittori in una società colta», Liguori, Napoli, 1983.
- 4.Carlo Carena, «Historia magistra? Dannate Crociate!», in Il Sole 24 Ore, 8 dicembre 2014.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
The Metaphrase of Niketas Choniates’ History. Part 1, The Metaphrase of Niketas Choniates’ ›History‹, 2025Crossref registry
Verifiedscholarly publication
The Metaphrase of Niketas Choniates’ History. Part 2, The Metaphrase of Niketas Choniates’ ›History‹, 2025Crossref registry
Verifiedreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q297340: Niketas ChoniatesWikimedia Foundation
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,960 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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