Synecdemus

The "Synecdemus" or "Synekdemos" is a geographic text, attributed to Hierocles, which contains a table of administrative divisions of the Byzantine Empire and lists of the cities of each. The work is dated to the reign of Justinian but prior to 535, as it divides the 912 listed cities in the Empire among 64 Eparchies. The "Synecdemus" is thus one of the most invaluable monuments which we have to study the political geography of the sixth century East. The "Synecdemus", along with the work of Stephanus of Byzantium were the principal sources of Constantine VII's work on the Themes (De Thematibus).

The "Synecdemus" was published in various editions from 1735, notably by Gustav Parthey ("Hieroclis Synecdemus"; Berlin, 1866) then in a corrected text, by A. Burckhardt in the Teubner series ( [http://books.google.com/books?id=HIITK93F54wC Hieroclis Synecdemus; Leipzig, 1893] ). The most recent major publication was by E. Honigmann (Le Synekdèmos d'Hiéroklès et l'opuscule géographique de Georges de Chypre; Brussels, 1939).

References

* Getzel Cohen, The Hellenistic Settlements in Europe, the Islands, and Asia Minor (ISBN 0-520-08329-6), p. 7.
* Wolfgang Buchwald, Dictionnaire des auteurs grecs et latins de l'Antiquité et du Moyen-Âge, s. v. Hiéroclès, p. 408.
* Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, s. v. Hierokles, vol. II, 930.