Myriobiblon

Myriobiblon 

(also, Myriobiblion, Bibliotheca; real title, Description and Enumeration of Books We Have Read), the first medieval bibliographical work, compiled in the ninth century by Photius, patriarch of Constantinople.

The Myriobiblon consists of annotations of 280 works by ancient Greek and Byzantine authors (from the fifth century B.C. to the ninth century A.D.). The annotated works, the majority of which are prose, deal with a variety of subjects, including history, geography, and theology (158 ecclesiastical and 122 secular texts). Some of the annotations give information about the authors and critical evaluations of their works. Among the works described in the Myriobiblon about 60 secular and about 100 ecclesiastical texts are now lost (either in whole or in part).

PUBLICATION

Photius: Bibliotheque, vols. 1–4, 6. Paris, 1959–71.