The volume presents a critical edition and translation of the final part of the Byzantine text known as
Theophanes Continuatus
. Entitled 'Book VI' by previous editors, the text follows upon Books I-IV and the
Vita Basilii
which recount the reigns of the emperors from AD 813 to the death of Basil I in 886. 'Book VI' then brings the text down to the advent of Nicephorus II Phokas in 963. Tellingly, the first two parts are composed in a classicising style typical of the literary circle of the emperor Constantine VII; but this third part, undertaken after Constantine's death – presumably on the initiative of the high official Basil the parakoimomenos, an ally of Phokas – presents a strange mixture of stylistic and linguistic levels which points to a team of authors, apparently working in the imperial palace and assuming different roles in expanding and polishing the sources. Compiled in apparent haste, this third text is based on continuations of the Logothete Chronicle with various revisions, such as additional sections of text or glosses – often inserted in the wrong places – which were presumably taken over from marginal notes or leaves inserted in the prototype, providing examples of Middle Byzantine methods of textual re-writing.