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An epitome (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 epitemnein—to cut short) is a summary or miniature form; an instance that represents a larger reality, also used as a synonym
Synonym

Synonyms are different words with identical or very similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy....
 for embodiment.

Many documents from the Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
 and Roman
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 worlds survive now only "in epitome," referring to the practice of some later authors (epitomators) who wrote distilled versions of larger works now lost. Some writers attempted to convey the stance and spirit of the original, while others added further details or anecdotes regarding the general subject.






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An epitome (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
 epitemnein—to cut short) is a summary or miniature form; an instance that represents a larger reality, also used as a synonym
Synonym

Synonyms are different words with identical or very similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy....
 for embodiment.

Many documents from the Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek

Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning across the Archaic Greece , Classical Greece , and Hellenistic civilization periods of ancient Greece and the classical antiquity....
 and Roman
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 worlds survive now only "in epitome," referring to the practice of some later authors (epitomators) who wrote distilled versions of larger works now lost. Some writers attempted to convey the stance and spirit of the original, while others added further details or anecdotes regarding the general subject. As with all secondary historical sources, a different bias
Bias

Bias is a term used to describe a tendency or preference towards a particular perspective , ideology or result, especially when the tendency interferes with the ability to be impartial, unprejudiced, or Objectivity ....
 not present in the original may creep in.

Documents surviving in epitome differ from those surviving only as fragments quoted in later works, and those used as unacknowledged sources by later scholars, as they can stand as discrete documents, albeit refracted through the views of another author.

The word is often mispronounced; its correct English pronunciation is .

Examples


Examples of epitomes providing the only record of now lost works include:

  • John Xiphilinus
    John Xiphilinus

    Joannes Xiphilinus, wikt:epitomator of Dio Cassius, lived at Constantinople during the latter half of the 11th century AD. He was a monk and the nephew of Patriarch John VIII of Constantinople, a well-known preacher ....
    's precis of the missing portions of Cassius Dio's History of Rome
  • Justin
    Junianus Justinus

    'Justin' was a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire. His name is mentioned only in the title of his own history, and there it is in the genitive, which would be M....
    's abridged version of the Philippic History by Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus
    Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus

    Gnaeus Pompeius Trogus, known as Pompeius Trogus, Pompey Trogue, or Trogue Pompey, was a 1st century BC Roman historian of the Celtic tribe of the Vocontii in Gallia Narbonensis, flourished during the age of Augustus Caesar, nearly contemporary with Livy....
    , one of the main sources for the life of Alexander the Great
    Alexander the Great

    Alexander the Great , also known as Alexander III of Macedon was an ancient Greeks King of Macedon . He was one of the most successful military commanders of all time and is presumed undefeated in battle....
  • The epitome of Book IV of the Pseudo-Apollodorus's Bibliotheca
    Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)

    The Bibliotheca , in three books, provides a grand summary of traditional Greek mythology and heroic legends, "the most valuable mythographical work that has come down from ancient times," Aubrey Diller observed, whose "stultifying purpose" was neatly expressed in the epigram noted by Patriarch Photius I of Constantinople:...
     [Library], a comprehensive encyclopedia
    Encyclopedia

    An encyclopedia is a comprehensive written compendium that holds information from either all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge....
     of Greek mythology
    Greek mythology

    Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the Ancient Greece concerning their List of Greek mythological figures#Immortals and Greek hero cult, Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices....


See also

  • Epitome (image processing)
    Epitome (image processing)

    In , an epitome is a condensed digital representation of the essential statistical properties of ordered datasets, such as matrices representing s, audio signals, videos, or genetic sequences....
    , an image processing technique which generates short descriptions of images
  • Epitome de Caesaribus
    Epitome de Caesaribus

    The Epitome de Caesaribus is the name for a Latin historical work, written at the end of the 4th century.It is a brief account of the reigns of the emperors from Augustus to Theodosius the Great....