Peter the Patrician

Peter the Patrician, known in Latin as Petrus Patricius and in Greek as Petros ho Patrikios, lived from around 500 to 565 and was a senior Byzantine official, diplomat and historian. A well-educated and successful lawyer, he was repeatedly sent as envoy to Ostrogothic Italy in the prelude to the Gothic War of 535 to 554; despite his diplomatic skill he was unable to avert the war and was imprisoned by the Goths in Ravenna for several years. Upon his release he was appointed magister officiorum, head of the imperial secretariat, an office he held for an unparalleled twenty-six years as one of the leading ministers of Emperor Justinian I, playing an important role in the emperor's religious policies and in relations with Sassanid Persia, most notably leading the negotiations for the peace agreement of 562 that ended the twenty-year Lazic War. His historical writings survive only in fragments but provide unique source material on early Byzantine ceremonies and diplomacy between Byzantium and the Sassanids.