Nicholas Kallikles () was a prominent Greek physician and a leading court poet active in the Byzantine court in Constantinople during the reigns of Alexios I Komnenos () and John II Komnenos ().

Biography

Very little is known about Kallikles's life. What information we have comes from a short mention in the Alexiad of Anna Komnene, his correspondence with Theophylact of Ohrid and his own poems. He was a well-known physician at the imperial court already before 1108. In 1118, he was one of the doctors attending Alexios I during his final illness. According to the Alexiad (XV.11.3), Kallikles was the only one to discern the gravity of the emperor's situation and to suggest the use of purgatives. As his colleagues were opposed to this, his advice was not followed.

Nicholas Kallikles

From his correspondence with Theophylact, Kallikles appears as a very learned and cultivated man, and was in possession of a fine library. As a court poet, he was, along with his contemporary Theodore Prodromos, the major exponent of the genre of poetic panegyrics praising the Komnenian system's leading aristocrats: his major themes are their wealth and noble descent. He also dedicated poems to individual artifacts such as icons, and a number of reliquary inscriptions are attributed to him.

Nicholas Kallikles

The date of his death is unknown. His latest known composition is an epitaph for John II, which was composed before the emperor's actual death, probably circa 1142.

Nicholas Kallikles

References

Sources

11th-century births

12th-century deaths

12th-century Byzantine physicians

Byzantine poets

Alexios I Komnenos

11th-century Byzantine physicians

11th-century Byzantine scientists

12th-century Byzantine scientists

11th-century Byzantine writers

12th-century Byzantine writers

11th-century poets

12th-century poets