[5] William Smith in his Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology follows Hankius De Byzantinarum Rerum Scriptoribus Graecis in stating that Akropolites was sent on an embassy to the king of Bulgaria in 1282; George Finlay has shown that both are in error.
Finlay notes, "in this case he [Hankius] seems inadvertently to have written Bulgarorum instead of Lazorum Principem, for he quotes at length the passage of Pachymeres as his authority, which states distinctly that Acropolita was sent to the prince of the Lazes, as the vain Constantinopolitan writers called the emperor of Trebizond.
It is valuable as written by a contemporary, whose official position as Grand Logothete, military commander, and confidential ambassador afforded him frequent opportunities of observing the course of events.
[1] Authorities: Editio princeps by Leo Allatius (1651), with the editor's famous treatise De Georgiis eorumque Scriptis; editions in the Bonn Corpus Scriptorum Hist.
Byz., by I. Bekker (1836), and Migne, Patrologia Graeca, cxl; in the Teubner series by A. Heisenberg (1903), the second volume of which contains a full life, with bibliography; see also Karl Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur (1897).