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Son of Paniskos, from Koptos,[1] a city of Egypt; epic poet. He was at his peak in the times of the emperor Anastasios.[2] He wrote an Isaurika in six books; it contains the sack of Isauria by the emperor Anastasios. [He also wrote] an epic called Land of Constantinople in 12 books, an epic called Land of Thessalonike in 25 books, Land of Nakle (a city near Heliopolis where the so-called Aphaka are),[3] Land of Miletos in Ionia, Land of Tralles, Land of Aphrodisias, Description of the Statues in [the baths of] Zeuxippos [at Constantinople],[4] and many other works.

Christodôros, Paniskou, apo Koptou poleôs tês Aiguptou, epopoios. êkmazen epi tôn Anastasiou tou basileôs chronôn. egrapsen Isaurika en bibliois hex: echei de tên Isaurias halôsin tên hupo Anastasiou tou basileôs genomenên: Patria Kônstantinoupoleôs epikôs biblia ib#, Patria Thessalonikês epikôs biblia ke#, Patria Naklês: esti de polis peri Hêlioupolin, en hêi ta kaloumena Aphaka: Patria Milêtou tês Iônias, Patria Tralleôn, Patria Aphrodisiados, Ekphrasin tôn en tôi Zeuxippôi agalmatôn: kai alla polla.

Cameron (below) 475 argues that Christodorus is likely to have been a pagan, in spite of his name (which indicates only that he had Christian parents), because, besides the works mentioned here, he wrote a poem "On the pupils of the great Proclus".
[1] The ruins are in the center of the present-day city of Qift.
[2] 491-518 CE. (See alpha 2077 and web address 1.)
[3] See alpha 4548 and nu 18.
[4] Second book of the Palatine Anthology; 416 hexameters; cf. zeta 37.

P. Baumgarte. De Christodoro Poeta Thebano. Bonn, 1881
Alan Cameron, "Wandering Poets: A Literary Movement in Byzantine Egypt," Historia 14 (1965) 469-509
Sarah Bassett. The Urban Image of Late Antique Constantinople. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 51-8; 160-185
E. Heitsch, Die griechischen Dichterfragmente der roemischen Kaiserzeit (Goettingen 1964) 48
R. Stupperich, "Das Statuenprogramm in der Zeuxippos-Thermen. Uberlegungen zur Beschreibung der Christodorus von Koptos," IstMitt 32: 210-235

Catharine Roth (cosmetics, cross-reference) on 5 December 2002@18:14:44.
Catharine Roth on 5 December 2002@18:15:19.
David Whitehead (augmented notes and keywords; added bibliography; cosmetics) on 6 December 2002@03:07:11.
David Whitehead (corrected my mistaken x-ref) on 6 December 2002@05:03:38.
Catharine Roth (added note and bibliographical item) on 15 April 2008@10:10:31.
Mehmet Fatih Yavuz (augmented bibliography;modified translation.) on 11 December 2009@14:10:04.
David Whitehead on 13 November 2013@08:54:32.

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