The Suda - The Byzantine Encyclopedia Written in the Year 1100

The Suda, the massive tome written by a Byzantine scholar around the year 1100, was one of the world’s first encyclopedias and lexicons.

Created as both a syllabary of the Greek language and an overview of events in the known world up until that time, it is a benchmark in scholarship of the Medieval period.

The Suda, or Souda (Σοῦδα,) was formerly attributed to an author called Soudas or Souidas.

It is an encyclopedic lexicon, written in Greek, with a staggering 30,000 entries, many drawing from ancient sources that have since been lost, and often derived from medieval Christian compilers. The derivation of the word “Suda” is from the Byzantine Greek word souda, meaning “fortress” or “stronghold,” with the alternate name, Suidas, stemming from an error made by Eustathius, who mistook the title for the author’s name.

read more here @ the Greek Reporter