The Madrid Skylitzes is a twelfth century illuminated manuscript version of the Synopsis of Histories (Greek: Σύνοψις Ἱστοριῶν, Byzantine Greek: [ˈsy̜.nop.sis is.to.riˈon]), by John Skylitzes, which covers the reigns of the Byzantine emperors from the death of Nicephorus I in 811 to the deposition of Michael VI in 1057.[1] The manuscript was produced in Norman Sicily and is now at the Biblioteca Nacional de España in Madrid, with the shelfmark MS Graecus Vitr. 26–2. Other names for it are Codex Græcus Matritensis Ioannis Skyllitzes and Skyllitzes Matritensis.
Apart from the very fragmentary 6th-century Alexandrian World Chronicle, it is the only surviving illustrated manuscript of a Greek chronicle, and includes 574 miniatures which includes depictions of everyday life in the Byzantine Empire such as boats, literary practices, sieges and ceremonies.[1]
It is unclear whether these illustrations are copies of earlier Byzantine images or were newly created specifically for this copy.
