10 (return) [ For the viith and viiith century, we have scarcely any original evidence of the Byzantine historians, except the chronicles of Theophanes (Theophanis Confessoris Chronographia, Gr. et Lat. cum notis Jacobi Goar. Paris, 1665, in folio) and the Abridgment of Nicephorus, (Nicephori Patriarchae C. P. Breviarium Historicum, Gr. et Lat. Paris, 1648, in folio,) who both lived in the beginning of the ixth century, (see Hanckius de Scriptor. Byzant. p. 200-246.) Their contemporary, Photius, does not seem to be more opulent. After praising the style of Nicephorus, he adds, and only complains of his extreme brevity, (Phot. Bibliot. Cod. lxvi. p. 100.) Some additions may be gleaned from the more recent histories of Cedrenus and Zonaras of the xiith century.] 11 (return) [ Tabari, or Al Tabari, a native of Taborestan, a famous Imam of Bagdad, and the Livy of the Arabians, finished his general history in the year of the Hegira 302, (A.D. 914.) At the request of his friends, he reduced a work of 30,000 sheets to a more reasonable size. But his Arabic original is known only by the Persian and Turkish versions. The Saracenic history of Ebn Amid, or Elmacin, is said to be an abridgment of the great Tabari, (Ockley’s Hist. of the Saracens, vol. ii. preface, p. xxxix. and list of authors, D’Herbelot, p. 866, 870, 1014.)] 12 (return) [ Besides the list of authors framed by Prideaux, (Life of Mahomet, p. 179-189,) Ockley, (at the end of his second volume,) and Petit de la Croix, (Hist. de Gengiscan, p. 525-550,) we find in the Bibliotheque Orientale Tarikh, a catalogue of two or three hundred histories or chronicles of the East, of which not more than three or four are older than Tabari. A lively sketch of Oriental literature is given by Reiske, (in his Prodidagmata ad Hagji Chalifae librum memorialem ad calcem Abulfedae Tabulae Syriae, Lipsiae, 1776;) but his project and the French version of Petit de la Croix (Hist. de Timur Bec, tom. i. preface, p. xlv.) have fallen to the ground.]