LEONE DIACONO. - Byzantine chronicler, born at Kaloe near Tmolo in 950; Skylitzes, in the preface to his Storia, calls him
L. the Asiatic, whereas Cedreno calls him L. of Caria. As a young man, he was in Costantinopoli; having been made deacon, he followed the emperor Basilio II Bulgaroctono in the war against the Bulgarians (986); he fell prisoner to the enemy during the siege of Triaditza, ancient Sardica (Sofia).
He wrote Historiae libri X from 959 to 975 (ed. B. Hase, Parigi 1819; PG 117, 655-926), divided into three periods: the Romans against the Arab corsairs of Crete; the war in Asia; the war against the Bulgarians and the Russians. L.’s style is connected with that of the Byzantine chroniclers of the period, such as Agdthia and Teofilatto. His information was supplied by witnesses present at the events.
Interesting are his descriptions of the Arabs and Bulgarians; good are his portrayals of the reigns of Nicotero Foca. The history, left unfinished, was probably written in 992.