Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία

1. Birth – family

Constantine Loukites’ date of birth is not known. However, it is estimated that he could not have been born after 1280.¹According to a note in a manuscript,² he came from Macedonia. Nevertheless, he grew up and was educated in Constantinople, where he received an excellent education. Among his teachers were the well-known poetry and rhetorics teacher Theodore Hyrtakenos.³

2. Career

After completing his studies, at the end of the 13^th or the beginning of the 14^th century,⁴ Constantine Loukites settled in Trebizond, where he worked in the court of the Grand Komnenoi as a high-ranking state official. Hiring administrative employees that had completed their studies in Constantinople was common practice among the Trebizond emperors, so as to staff the state mechanism with capable executives.⁵ Earning the trust of the Trebizond emperor Alexios II Grand Komnenos (1297-1330), Loukites was first appointed protonotarios and afterwards, protovestiarios. As a protovestiarios, he escorted emperor Alexios II in September 1301 in the campaign against the "Amitiotai", Turkmens from Amida (Diyarbakır), who invaded Cerasous.⁶ This is the first safe date we have for the life of Constantine Loukites. It is estimated that he kept his prominent position in the emperor’s court during the reign of Basil, successor to Alexios II.

The last safe chronological indication for the life and activity of Constantine Loukites is a letter by Nikephoros Gregoras addressed to him, dated between 1335 and 1340.⁷

3. Scientific interests

Loukites, in parallel with his administrative duties, seems to have been teaching astronomy and mathematics. Moreover, he was a pioneer in leading the science of astronomy to its highest peak after Gregory Chioniades, whom he is believed to be succeeding.

Various opinions have been presented by researchers regarding whether Loukites taught in the school that was possibly active in the Monastery of Saint Sophia in Trebizond or he simply gathered around him a circle of people that had scientific concerns, due to his personal scientific adequacy and radiance. The opinion that he taught in the Saint Sophia school was based on the fact that his grave is on the eastern side of the temple, in the arch behind the sanctum, according to the marble plaque bearing the sign “Κωνσταντίνου πέφυκα Λουκίτου τάφος".⁸ However, this is not definite; he could have been buried there due to his high position in the court hierarchy.

Constantine Loukites was distinguished for his rhetoric capabilities and was greatly appreciated by the intellectuals of his time, as it results from the letters he received from Theodore Hyrtakenos. Moreover, in the famous Trebizond Almanac of the year 1336, his name is mentioned immediately after the emperor’s.⁹ He is also mentioned as an honored guest in a ceremony for the celebration of the Transfiguration of Christ in the Monastery of Saint Sophia around 1330.¹⁰

4. Works

As it was said earlier, Loukites maintained contacts and corresponded with important Constantinople intellectuals. There are letters sent to Loukites by his teacher Theodoros Hyrtakenos,¹¹ by Nikephoros Gregoras¹² and Gregorios Chioniades,¹³ who also bequeathed him a codex that is now in the care of the Vatican Library.¹⁴

Two other of his works are also saved:

- Εγκώμιον εις τον άγιον μεγαλομάρτυρα του Χριστού Ευγένιον και τους συνάθλους αυτού Κανίδιον, Ουαλεριανόν και Ακύλαν, τους εν Τραπεζούντι μαρτυρήσαντες.It is a encomium to Saint Eugenios, who was celebrated as the city’s patron saint during the period of the Grand Komnenoi and whose cult was highly popular.¹⁵

- Επιτάφιον εις τον εν βασιλεύσιν αοίδιμον εκείνον και τρισμακάριστον κύριον Αλέξιον τον Κομνηνόν. Funeral oration for Alexios II Komnenos, emperor of Trebizond.¹⁶ Loukites gave the oration for emperor Alexios II – for whom we know that he died on May 3rd, 1330- nine days after his death. In that speech, which Loukites must have given inside the temple of Theotokos Chrysokephalos, the cathedral of Trebizond,¹⁷ he mentions one by one all the ancestors of Alexios II, asking them to accept the late emperor among their ranks.

1. See Rosenqvist, J.O., The Hagiographical dossier of St. Eugenios of Trebizond in Codex Athos Dionysiou 154: a critical with introduction, translation, commentary and indexes (Studia Byzantina Upsaliensia 5, Upsala 1996), p. 23. Rosenqvist's is the most recent complete study regarding the texts preserved from codex 154 of the Monastery Dionysiou at Mount Athos that refer to St Eugenios.

2. See Vogel, M., Gardthausen, V., Die griechischen Schreiber des Mittelalters und der Rennaissance (Leipzig 1909), p. 246.

3. See Constantinides, C.N., Higher Education in Byzantium in the Thirteenth and Early Fourteenth Centuries (1204-ca. 1310) (Nicosia 1982), p. 93.

4. Nevertheless, we know that in 1301 he followed Alexios II in the campain against the Turkmens, so a few years earlier he must have moved from Constantinople to Trebizond, see Karpozilos, A., “The Correspondence of Theodoros Hyrtakenos”, JÖB 40 (1990), p. 281.

5. See Oikonomides, N., “The Chancery of the Grand Komnenoi: Imperial Tradition and Political Reality”, Αρχείον Πόντου (1979), pp. 312, 331. According to Constandinidis, C.N., Higher Education in Byzantium in the Thirteenth and Early Fourteenth Centuries (1204-ca. 1310) (Nicosia 1982), pp. 109-110, many educated young people of Constantinople who were destined for high official posts sought to boost their careers away from Constantinople, where opportunities were sparse, and moved to cities such as Trebizond.

6. This is known from a letter of Gregorios Chioniades to Loukites, see Παπαδόπουλος, Ι., «Γρηγορίου Χιονιάδου του Αστρονόμου Επιστολαί», Επιστημονική Επετηρίς Φιλοσοφικής Θεσσαλονίκης 1 (1927), epistle Η, pp. 196-197.

7. Chrysanthos, Metropolite of Trebizond, «Η εκκλησία Τραπεζούντος», Αρχείον Πόντου 4-5 (1933), p. 33. Regarding the letter see Guilland, R., Correspondance de Nicéphore Grégoras (Paris 1927), epistle 66, pp. 101-102.

8. According to Παπαδόπουλος, Ι., «Γρηγορίου Χιονιάδου του Αστρονόμου Επιστολαί», Επιστημονική Επετηρίς Φιλοσοφικής Θεσσαλονίκης 1 (1927), p. 165, the burial of Loukites in the church of St Sophia, where it is believed that he run a school, is adequate evidence that he was active and taught there. Chrysanthos, Metropolite of Trebizond, considered Loukitεs as a successor of Gregorios Chioniades in the teaching of astronomy and mathematics in the monasteries of Trebizond, «Η εκκλησία Τραπεζούντος», Αρχείον Πόντου 4-5 (1933), p. 339. In contrast, Hunger, H., Βυζαντινή Λογοτεχνία. Η λόγια κοσμική γραμματεία των Βυζαντινών Γ΄, p. 57, considers that the burial of Loukites in the church of St Sophia could be just an honorary act for an important scholar of that period and this does not necessarily constitute proof that Loukites has taught to a local school. Janin, R., Les églises et les monastères des grands centres byzantins (Paris 1975), p. 268, disagrees even with the existence of a school in the monastery – a school that Loukites himself does not mention at all in his Enkomion for St Eugenios. He believes that it was more likely that some scholars had attracted students due to their personalities.

9. See Mercier, R., An Almanac for Trebizond for the year 1336, Corpus des Astronomes Byzantins VII (Louvain-la-Neuve 1994), pp. 15, 23-24.

10. See Fatouros, G., “Zur Chronologie der Briefe des Theodoros Hyrtakenos”, Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 43 (1993), pp. 221-231, mainly 225, epistle 73, and synopsis, verse 1626 ff.

11. Seven letters of Theodoros Hyrtakenos to his pupil Constantine Loukites have been preserved: 37, 40, 41, 56, 73, 78, 85, see La Porte-du Theil F.J.G. (ed.), “Opuscules et letters anecdotes de Théodôre l’Hyrtacènien”, Notices et extraits des manuscripts de la Bibliothéque Nationale 5 (1798), pp. 709-744, 6 (1800), pp. 1-48, and Fatouros, G., “Zur Chronologie der Briefe des Theodoros Hyrtakenos”, Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 43 (1993), pp. 224-225; based on epistles 73 and 85 Fatouros claims that the correspondence between the two scholars had begun already in 1318. Among the issues referred to in the epistles are Hyrtakenos' request to Loukites for financial help and clothing, as well as Hyrtakenos' unsuccesful attempt to secure a copy of the Odyssey for Loukites, which the latter had requested. See Karpozilos, A., “The Correspondence of Theodoros Hyrtakenos”, Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 40 (1990), pp. 281-282, 292, and Constandinidis, C.N., Higher Education in Byzantium in the Thirteenth and Early Fourteenth Centuries (1204-ca. 1310) (Nicosia 1982), pp. 93, 95, 109-110, 142.

12. Guilland, R., Correspondance de Nicéphore Grégoras (Paris 1927), p. 92, επ. 43, pp. 101-102, epistle. 66, p. 347.

13. Παπαδόπουλος, Ι., «Γρηγορίου Χιονιάδου του Αστρονόμου Επιστολαί», Επιστημονική Επετηρίς Φιλοσοφικής Θεσσαλονίκης 1 (1927), pp. 195-197 and 200-201, epistles. Ζ, Η, ΙΒ.

14. See Vogel, M., Gardthausen, V., Die griechischen Schreiber des Mittelalters und der Rennaissance (Leipzig 1909), p. 246.

15. Κωνσταντίνου πρωτονοταρίου και πρωτοβεστιαρίου του Λουκίτου, Εγκώμιον εις τον άγιον μεγαλομάρτυρα του Χριστού Ευγένιον και τους συνάθλους αυτού Κανίδιον, Ουαλεριανόν και Ακύλαν, τους εν Τραπεζούντι μαρτυρήσαντας, Papadopoulos-Kerameus, A. (ed.), in Fontes Historiae Imperii Trapezunti (St Petersburg 1897), pp. 1-32.

16. Κωνσταντίνου του πρωτονοταρίου και πρωτοβεστιαρίου του Λουκίτου, Επιτάφιον εις τον εν βασιλεύσιν αοίδιμον εκείνον και τρισμακάριστον κύριον Αλέξιον τον Κομνηνόν, Παπαδόπουλος-Κεραμεύς, Α. (ed.), in Ανάλεκτα Ιεροσολυμιτικής Σταχυολογίας Ι (St Petersburg 1891), pp. 421-430.

17. Rosenqvist, J.O., “Three Trapezuntine Notes”, Byzantinoslavica 54 (1993), pp. 294-299, refutes the view of Oikonomides, N., “The Chancery of the Grand Komnenoi: Imperial Tradition and Political Reality”, Αρχείον Πόντου (1979), pp. 322-324, that the funeral oration had been given in a ceremony hall at the palace.