827?-869

Greek librarian and missionary, also known as Constantine the Philosopher, who invented Cyrillic script. The youngest child of a Greek father and a Slavic mother, Cyril studied science, music, geography, and languages at the royal school of Magnaura in Constantinople, then part of the Byzantine Empire. Afterwards, he was appointed librarian of Saint Sofia and later professor of philosophy at Magnaura. Along with his brother, Methodius, Cyril helped create the Slavic alphabet, based upon Cyrillic script, which was used to translate Christian texts.