Manuel Bryennios

Manuel Bryennios (Greek: Μανουήλ Βρυέννιος; c. 1275–1340) was a Byzantine scholar who flourished in Constantinople about 1300 teaching astronomy, mathematics and musical theory. His only surviving work is the Harmonika (Greek: Ἁρμονικά), which is a three-volume codification of Byzantine musical scholarship based on the classical Greek works of Ptolemy, Nicomachus, and the Neopythagorean authors on the numerological theory of music. One of Bryennios's students was Theodore Metochites, the grand logothete during the reign of Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos (r. 1272–1328). Metochites studied astronomy under Bryennios. According to the Mathematics Genealogy Project of North Dakota State University, he is the scholarly ancestor with the most known academic descendants (i.e., 128,446), all through his student Theodore Metochites.