Joannes Laurentius Lydus

John the Lydian or John Lydus (Greek: Ἰωάννης Λαυρέντιος ὁ Λυδός; Latin: Ioannes Laurentius Lydus) was a 6th-century Byzantine administrator and writer on antiquarian subjects.

He was born in 490 AD at Philadelphia in Lydia, whence his cognomen "Lydus". At an early age he set out to seek his fortune in Constantinople, and held high court and state offices in the praetorian prefecture of the East under Anastasius and Justinian. In 552 he lost favour, and was dismissed. The date of his death is not known, but he was probably alive during the early years of Justin II (reigned 565–578).

During his retirement he occupied himself in the compilation of works on the antiquities of Rome, three of which have been preserved:

The chief value of these books consists in the fact that the author made use of the works (now lost) of old Roman writers on similar subjects. Lydus was also commissioned by Justinian to compose a panegyric on the emperor, and a history of his campaign against Sassanid Persia; but these, as well as some poetical compositions, are lost.

There is an edition of De Ostentis by Curt Wachsmuth (1897), with full account of the authorities in the prolegomena.

There is an edition of De Magistratibus and De Mensibus by Richard Wünsch (1898–1903). See also the essay by CB Hase (the first editor of the De Ostentis) prefixed to I. Bekker's edition of Lydus (1837) in the Bonn Corpus scriptorum hist. Byzantinae.

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