John Geometres orKyriotes (Greek:Ιωάννης Γεωμέτρης/Κυριώτης,fl. 2nd half of 10th century), was aByzantinepoet,soldier, andmonk. He is one of the main literary figures of theMacedonian Renaissance.

John was probably of noble descent, but other relatives have not been identified. He was well educated and served in theByzantine army before retiring as a monk.^[1] His career encompassed the eventful reigns ofNikephoros II Phokas (r. 963–969),John I Tzimiskes (r. 969–976) and the early years ofBasil II (r. 976–1025). As a result, his poetry is full of references to the contemporary Byzantine conflicts with theBulgarians and theRus', as well as the rebellions ofBardas Skleros andBardas Phokas. Among the Byzantine emperors, he singles out Nikephoros II Phokas for particular praise, while he denigrates his murderer and successor John Tzimiskes.^[1][2] He was previously erroneously identified with another John, Bishop ofMelitene.^[1]

John Geometres wrote both in verse and in prose. His works includeepigrams, including a collection on monasticism calledParadeisos ("Paradise"), hymns to theVirgin Mary, anencomium to an oak tree, as well as prose works onrhetoric, oratory andexegesis.^[1][2]

The first edition of his poems was published byJohn Antony Cramer in 1841, based on the 13th-centuryParis. suppl. gr. 352 manuscript,^[3] but his edition contained many errors. A revised edition with a translation in French was published by Émilie Marlène van Opstall in 2008.^[4] An edition and English translation of Geometres's proseLife of the Virgin Mary was published by Maximos Constas and Christos Simelidis in 2023.^[5]

• Kazhdan, Alexander (1991). "John Geometres". InKazhdan, Alexander (ed.).The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 1059.ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.
• Vasiliev, A. A. (1958).History of the Byzantine Empire, 324–1453, Volume I. THe University of Wisconsin Press.ISBN 9780299809256.

• Lauxtermann, Marc D. (2003). "Appendix I. The Poems of John Geometres".Byzantine Poetry from Pisides to Geometres: Texts and Contexts, Volume I(PDF). Wiener Byzantinistische Studien XXIV/1. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. pp. 287–296.ISBN 978-3-7001-3150-2.

• Byzantine poets
• 10th-century Byzantine writers
• 10th-century poets

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