A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

105. RHETOR (Ῥήτωρ), an historian of the earlier Byzantine period, frequently cited by Evagrius. H. E. 1.16, 2.12, 3.10, 28, 4.5.) As most if not all, of the particulars for which Evagrius refers to him relate to Antioch, and some of them imply considerable local knowledge, it is probable that Joannes was a resident in that town, if not a native of it. His history, which is not extant, comprised the period from the beginning of the reign of Theodosius II. to the earthquake and fire by which Antioch was in a great degree destroyed, A. D. 526, with an account of which calamities John "mournfully" closed his history. He must have lived, therefore, about that time, or between that and the time of Evagrius, A. D. 593 or 594. [EVAGRIUS, No. 3.] Joannes Rhetor is not to be confounded with Joannes of Epiphaneia [see No. 56], as he has been by Vossius. (Evagrius, ll. cc., with the notes of Valesius; Cave, Hist. Litt. vol. i. p. 508.)