"As the volumes of texts ranged from virtue and vice to the succession of monarchs, this encyclopedia was important material for the ruling elites to consult on matters from the running of the imperial household to the governance of the empire itself. Moreover, because it contained texts of 23 Greek historians, it also became the only way these works survived through the ages, and thus Excerpta Constantiniana was also important for the study of ancient history, especially Republican and Imperial Rome."
"It was a work arranged in 53 thematic topics and compiled from historical materials of 23 Greek historians from classical period to the 9th century. As the Latin title Excerpta suggests, the encyclopedia did not change nor rewrite the materials but rather use the method of excerption, that was, taking a chosen passage out of their original narrative context."
Excerpta Constantiniana is a mid-10th-century Byzantine palace encyclopedia organized in 53 thematic topics and compiled from the works of 23 Greek historians spanning the classical period to the ninth century. The compilation employed excerption, taking chosen passages from original narratives and placing them under thematic headings without rewriting the source material. The collection functioned as a practical manual for ruling elites on household management and imperial governance while preserving otherwise lost historical writings, particularly on Republican and Imperial Rome. The project began in the 940s, continued into the 980s, involved court literati and scribes, and was later produced in a deluxe version with Basil Lekapenos as a key figure.
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