Arethas of Caesarea

   Archbishop of Caesarea (qq.v.); important scholar, theologian, bibliophile, and literary figure of the early 10th century. Some of his more formal works are unoriginal, including his commentary on the Apocalypse, as well as many of his notes ("scholia") in the margins of the manuscripts of ancient authors he collected. His notes in the margin of a manuscript containing the brief chronicle of the patriarch Nikephoros (qq.v.) follow closely the Chronicle of Monemvasia (q.v.), and figure prominently in modern arguments about the veracity of that chronicle (q.v.). Other marginal notes, as well as his letters and pamphlets, are invaluable sources for contemporary affairs, including the tetragamy of Leo VI (qq.v.). His polemical writings include attacks on Leo Choirosphaktes and on Leo VI's (qq.v.) chief minister during the early part of his reign, Stylianos Zaoutzes.