A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

1. JOANNES (Ἰωάννης Τζέτζης), a Greek grammarian of Constantinople.

The period when he flourished may be gathered from his own statement, that he wrote one hundred years after Michael Psellus (Chil. 11.719), and from the fact that he dedicated his Homeric Allegories to

Irene Augusta, the wife of Manuel Comnenus. who died A. D. 11 58. The father of Joannes Tzetzes was Michael Tzetzes. His another's name was Endocia (Chil. 5.611). He was himself named after his paternal grandfather, a native of Byzantium. a man of some wealth, who, though not a learned man, showed great respect for scholars (ib. 615). His maternal grandmother was of a Basque or Iberian family. The earlier part of his life he spent with his brother Isaac at home, where they received various wholesome precepts from their father, urging them to prefer learning to riches, power, or precedence. (Chil. 3.157, 4.566, &c.) At the age of fifteen he was placed under the instruction of tutors, who not only carried him through the usual routine of study, but taught him Hebrew and Syriac (comp. Chil. 6.282).

His writings bear evident traces of the extent of his acquirements in literature, science, and philosophy, and not less of the inordinate self-conceit with which they had filled him. He boasts of having the best memory of any living man. (Chil. 1.275, 545.) He styles himself a second Cato or Palamedes (3.160); and says that he knows whole books off by heart (10.681, comp. 6.407. 475, 8.182, 9.752, 10.340, 364, 12.13, 118, καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα ἕτερα ἐθέλοι τις μανθάνειν, εἰ ἀπὸ στήθους οἴδαμεν λέγειν πειράσθω). Another subject on which he glorifies himself is the rapidity with which he could write, comparing it to the speed of lightning (12.119, 8.269, 526, καὶ νόει τὸ ὀξύτατον τῆς Τζέτζου διανοίας). He talks of Τζετζικὰς ἐρεύνας, as models of investigation, ἐν αἷσπερ ἡ ἀλήθεια ἐκ χάους ἀνατρεχει (12.75, 126). It is not much to be wondered at that others had not so exalted an opinion of him as he had of himself (12.97). The neglect of his fellow-countrymen even excites in him the fear that Constantinople would be given up to the barbarians, and become itself barbarous (12.993, &c.). He complains with bitterness that the princes and great men of his age did not appreciate his merits. but left him to get a livelihood by transcribing and selling his writings, of which they nevertheless expected copies to be sent them gratis (5.941, comp. 9.369). He speaks of Irene Augusta as the only person of high station from whom he had received any thing (11.48), and even in this instance he complains that the sums promised him for his Homeric Allegories were kept back by those who should have paid him (9.282, &c.). Further biographical particulars have not come down to us.