Bryennius, Manuel
Μανουὴλ Βρυέννιος
(Μανουὴλ Βρυέννιος), a Greek writer on music, is probably identical with one Manuel Bryennius, the contemporary of the emperor Andronicus I., who reigned from 1282 till 1328.
Works
Ἁρμονικά, or a commentary on the theory of music
Bryennius wrote Ἁρμονικά, or a commentary on the theory of music, which is divided into three books, in the first of which he frequently dwells upon the theory of Euclid, while in the second and third books he has chiefly in view that of Ptolemy the musician.
Editions
The learned Meibomius intended to publish this work, and to add it to his " Antiquae Musicae Autores Septem," Amsterdam, 1652; but he was prevented from accomplishing his purpose. The " Harmonica" having attracted the attention of John Wallis, who perused the Oxford MSS., he published it in 1680 together with the "Harmonica" of Ptolemy and some other ancient musicians; he also added a Latin translation.
The "Harmonica" of both Bryennius and Ptolemy are contained in the third volume of Wallis's works, Oxford, 1699.
Further Information
Fabric. Bibl. Graec. iii. pp. 648, 649; Labbe, Biblioth. Nov. MSS. p. 118.
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.