1.
Byzantine Empire
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It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire was the most powerful economic, cultural, several signal events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the period of transition during which the Roman Empires Greek East and Latin West divided. Constantine I reorganised the empire, made Constantinople the new capital, under Theodosius I, Christianity became the Empires official state religion and other religious practices were proscribed. Finally, under the reign of Heraclius, the Empires military, the borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Maurice, the Empires eastern frontier was expanded, in a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia, the Empire recovered again during the Komnenian restoration, such that by the 12th century Constantinople was the largest and wealthiest European city. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople in 1261, the Byzantine Empire remained only one of several small states in the area for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Byzantine Empire, the term comes from Byzantium, the name of the city of Constantinople before it became Constantines capital. This older name of the city would rarely be used from this point onward except in historical or poetic contexts. The publication in 1648 of the Byzantine du Louvre, and in 1680 of Du Canges Historia Byzantina further popularised the use of Byzantine among French authors, however, it was not until the mid-19th century that the term came into general use in the Western world. The Byzantine Empire was known to its inhabitants as the Roman Empire, the Empire of the Romans, Romania, the Roman Republic, Graikia, and also as Rhōmais. The inhabitants called themselves Romaioi and Graikoi, and even as late as the 19th century Greeks typically referred to modern Greek as Romaika and Graikika. The authority of the Byzantine emperor as the legitimate Roman emperor was challenged by the coronation of Charlemagne as Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III in the year 800. No such distinction existed in the Islamic and Slavic worlds, where the Empire was more seen as the continuation of the Roman Empire. In the Islamic world, the Roman Empire was known primarily as Rûm, the Roman army succeeded in conquering many territories covering the entire Mediterranean region and coastal regions in southwestern Europe and north Africa. These territories were home to different cultural groups, both urban populations and rural populations. The West also suffered heavily from the instability of the 3rd century AD
2.
Domestic of the Schools
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The office of the Domestic of the Schools was a senior military post of the Byzantine Empire, extant from the 8th century until at least the early 14th century. The office was eclipsed in the 12th century by that of the Grand Domestic, the first holder of the office of Domestic of the Schools first appears in the sources for the year 767, shortly after the creation of the tagmata. The Schools was the senior tagma, tracing their origin to the Scholae Palatinae established by Constantine the Great, as the magister officiorum was gradually deprived of some of his functions in the 7th and 8th centuries, the Domestic apparently became an independent official. In the 9th century, the office of the Domestic, or Domesticate, of the Schools rose in importance and its holder was often appointed as the head of the army in the absence of the emperor. However, this role was not yet enshrined, it depended rather on the abilities of the current Domestic, from the time of Michael III on, the Domestic ranked in the imperial hierarchy above all other military commanders except for the stratēgos of the Anatolic Theme. In the reign of Romanos II the post was split, with a Domestic of the West, the ceremony for the Domestics appointment is described in the De Ceremoniis, the same work describes his duties and role in court ceremonies. With some exceptions, most notably the unparalleled 22-year tenure of John Kourkouas, or in times of domestic instability, during the 10th century, the Domesticate of the Schools was dominated by members of the Phokas family, which produced six holders of the office. In the words of the mid-14th century Book of Offices of Pseudo-Kodinos, the Domestic of the Schools once had a similar to that of the Grand Domestic currently. In Pseudo-Kodinos work, the Domestic of the Schools ranks 31st in the imperial hierarchy, between the mystikos and the Grand Drungary of the Fleet. The Domestics distinctive court dress, as reported by Pseudo-Kodinos, consisted of a hat, a plain silk kabbadion tunic. Note, the list does not include holders known only through their seals, the Imperial Administrative System of the Ninth Century - With a Revised Text of the Kletorologion of Philotheos. Byzantine empresses, women and power in Byzantium, AD 527-1204, recherches sur les institutions byzantines, Tome I. Recherches sur les institutions byzantines, Tome I, Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press. The Decline of the Opsikian Domesticates and the Rise of the Domesticate of the Scholae, athens, Institute for Byzantine Research, 27–36. Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles, paris, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. The Perfect Servant, Eunuchs and the Social Construction of Gender in Byzantium, the Reign of Leo VI, Politics and People. Verpeaux, Jean, ed. Pseudo-Kodinos, Traité des Offices, paris, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
3.
Nikephoros Phokas the Elder
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In ca.886 he led a major expedition in southern Italy, where his victories laid the foundation for the Byzantine resurgence in the peninsula. He died either in 895/6 or, less likely, sometime ca, contemporaries and later historians lauded him for his military ability and character. Both of his sons succeeded him as Domestics of the Schools. His grandsons Nikephoros and Leo were likewise distinguished generals, while the former emperor in 963–969. Nikephoros was the son of the founder of the Phokas family, a man called Phokas, during one of the campaigns of Emperor Basil I the Macedonian sometime in the 870s, Nikephoros father caught the emperors attention and was raised to the rank of tourmarches. At the same time Nikephoros, still in his youth, was taken into the imperial retinue and he possibly participated in Basils 873 campaign against Samosata. Shortly after, at any rate before 878, Nikephoros was promoted to the rank of protostrator and received from the emperor his own palace in the vicinity of the Church of St. Thecla. Eventually he rose to the post of governor of the theme of Charsianon. This took place in 885, according to traditional dating, Nikephoros command in Italy lasted until his recall to Constantinople following the accession of Leo VI the Wise, in late 886. Shaun Tougher however posits that Nikephoros was sent to Italy only after the accession of Leo VI, as Leo in his writings takes credit for his dispatch there, otranto was taken from the Saracens in 873, and Bari in 876. According to Skylitzes, the grateful Italians dedicated a church in his honour, by the time of his departure, he had extended Byzantine control over most of Apulia and Calabria. These victories were followed up by his successors and laid the foundation of a resurgence of Byzantine power in southern Italy, the regions of Apulia, Calabria and Basilicata would remain firmly under Byzantine control until the 11th century. In 895, he was sent against the Bulgarians at the head of a large army and this is the last campaign associated with Nikephoros Phokas, and Symeon Logothetes reports that he died in 895/6. His death reportedly encouraged Tsar Simeon to reopen hostilities, with devastating success against Nikephoros successor as Domestic and this undated raid probably took place either in the years before or directly after the Bulgarian war. No definite conclusion as to the date of Nikephoros death can be reached today, by all accounts, Nikephoros Phokas was a capable soldier. Skylitzes assesses him as a brave and prudent man, pious towards God, Nikephoros was the father of Bardas Phokas the Elder and Leo Phokas the Elder, both of whom became Domestics of the Schools. So did his grandsons through Bardas, Nikephoros and Leo Phokas the Younger, both Leo and Nikephoros II scored major successes against the Arabs, with Nikephoros in particular leading the recovery of Crete, Cyprus, Cilicia and Antioch. Recherches sur les institutions byzantines, Tome I, before the Normans, Southern Italy in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries
4.
Greek language
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Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
5.
Phokas (Byzantine family)
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Its members and their clients monopolized the high command positions of the Byzantine army for much of the 10th century and led the successful Byzantine offensive against the Arabs in the East. As one of the families of the Anatolian military aristocracy. Their power was broken by Basil II, and the family declined in importance after the 11th century. According to Michael Attaleiates, the family descended from the ancient Roman gens Fabia, whatever their origins, the Phokades appear to have settled in Cappadocia, where their estates were concentrated and which is clearly attested as their power base and the center of their activities. The first attested member of the family was a soldier, probably of humble origin and his son, Nikephoros Phokas the Elder, became a distinguished general, scoring several victories against the Arabs, especially in southern Italy, and reaching the position of Domestic of the Schools. His brother, Bardas Phokas the Elder, already active as a general, fell in disgrace for a time, but by the time of Lekapenoss fall in 944, he was a patrikios and a high-ranking general. These appointments heralded a period of twenty years when the Phokades. During this period, the Phokas clan was allied with the Maleinoi. Other families that were aligned with and often related to them through marriage were the Adralestoi, Skleroi, Kourkouai, Parsakoutenoi, Balantai. Bardas himself, already in his mid-sixties when named commander-in-chief, proved a mediocre general, one of them, in 953, even left his son Constantine captive in the Hamdanids hands. Finally, in 955, Bardas was replaced by his son Nikephoros, with the sudden death of Romanos II in 963, the popular and powerful Nikephoros seized the throne, becoming senior emperor and guardian over the young sons of Romanos, Basil II, and Constantine VIII. His father Bardas was named Caesar, and his brother Leo became kouropalates and logothetes tou dromou, as emperor, Nikephoros continued his campaigns in the East, conquering Cilicia and northwestern Syria. Nikephoross regime, however, quickly became unpopular, both due to his focus on military affairs to the detriment of the economy and for his religious policies. In December 969, he was murdered by a group of disaffected generals led by his nephew and one-time protégé John Tzimiskes, the Phokades were dismissed from their posts and titles and exiled by the new regime. One member of the family had a different fate, Leos daughter Sophia Phokaina had married Constantine Skleros, Constantine was Tzimiskess brother-in-law from his first marriage and a close ally of the new emperor. Their daughter, Theophano, was married in 972 to the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II, in 978, Bardas was recalled by Basil II to lead the imperial forces against the rebellion of Bardas Skleros. Named magistros and Domestic of the East, he managed to defeat Skleros, Bardas himself rebelled in 987, with the support of many of the major aristocratic families, in an uprising that lasted until his death in 989 at the Battle of Abydos. Leo tried to out in Antioch but was surrendered to the emperor by the citys inhabitants
6.
Byzantine army
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The Byzantine army or Eastern Roman army was the primary military body of the Byzantine armed forces, serving alongside the Byzantine navy. A direct descendant of the Roman army, the Byzantine army maintained a level of discipline, strategic prowess. It was among the most effective armies of western Eurasia for much of the Middle Ages, over time the cavalry arm became more prominent in the Byzantine army as the legion system disappeared in the early 7th century. Since much of the Byzantine military focused on the strategy and skill of generals utilizing militia troops, heavy infantry were recruited from Frankish, restricted to a largely defensive role in the 7th to mid-9th centuries, the Byzantines developed the theme-system to counter the more powerful Caliphate. With one of the most powerful economies in the world at the time, after the collapse of the theme-system in the 11th century, the Byzantines grew increasingly reliant on professional Tagmata troops, including ever-increasing numbers of foreign mercenaries. The Komnenian emperors made great efforts to re-establish a native army, the Komnenian successes were undone by the subsequent Angeloi dynasty, leading to the dissolution of the Empire at the hands of the Fourth Crusade in 1204. The Emperors of Nicaea managed to form a small but effective force using the structure of light and heavily armed troops. It proved effective in defending what remained of Byzantine Anatolia and reclaiming much of the Balkans, another period of neglect of the military followed in the reign of Andronikos II Palaiologos, which allowed Anatolia to fall prey to an emerging power, the Ottoman emirate. In the period after the Muslim conquests, which saw the loss of Syria and Egypt, despite this unprecedented disaster, the internal structures of the army remained much the same, and there is a remarkable continuity in tactics and doctrine between the 6th and 11th centuries. The Eastern Empire dates from the creation of the Tetrarchy by the Emperor Diocletian in 293 and his plans for succession did not outlive his lifetime, but his reorganization of the army did by centuries. Rather than maintain the traditional infantry-heavy legions, Diocletian reformed it into limitanei, there was an expansion of the importance of the cavalry, though the infantry still remained the major component of the Roman armies, in contrast to common belief. In preparation for Justinians African campaign of 533-534 AD, the army assembled amounted to 10,000 foot soldiers and 5,000 mounted archers, the limitanei and ripenses were to occupy the limes, the Roman border fortifications. The field units, by contrast, were to stay well behind the border and move quickly where they were needed, whether for offensive or defensive roles, the field units were held to high standards and took precedence over Limitanei in pay and provisions. Cavalry formed about one-third of the units, but as a result of smaller units, about half the cavalry consisted of heavy cavalry. They were armed with spear or lance and sword and armored in mail, some had bows, but they were meant for supporting the charge instead of independent skirmishing. In the field there was a component of some 15% of cataphractarii or clibanarii. The light cavalry featured high amongst the limitanei, being very useful troops on patrol, the infantry of the comitatenses was organized in regiments of about 500–1,200 men. They were still the heavy infantry of old, with a spear or sword, shield, body armour, but now each regiment was supported by a detachment of light infantry skirmishers
7.
First Bulgarian Empire
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The First Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state that existed in southeastern Europe between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. It was founded circa 681 when Bulgar tribes led by Asparukh moved to the north-eastern Balkans, there they secured Byzantine recognition of their right to settle south of the Danube by defeating – possibly with the help of local South Slavic tribes – the Byzantine army led by Constantine IV. At the height of its power, Bulgaria spread from the Danube Bend to the Black Sea, as the state solidified its position in the Balkans, it entered into a centuries-long interaction, sometimes friendly and sometimes hostile, with the Byzantine Empire. Bulgaria emerged as Byzantiums chief antagonist to its north, resulting in several wars, Byzantium had a strong cultural influence on Bulgaria, which also led to the eventual adoption of Christianity in 864. After the disintegration of the Avar Khaganate, the country expanded its territory northwest to the Pannonian Plain, later the Bulgarians confronted the advance of the Pechenegs and Cumans, and achieved a decisive victory over the Magyars, forcing them to establish themselves permanently in Pannonia. During the late 9th and early 10th centuries, Simeon I achieved a string of victories over the Byzantines, thereafter, he was recognized with the title of Emperor, and proceeded to expand the state to its greatest extent. After the annihilation of the Byzantine army in the battle of Anchialus in 917, the Byzantines, however, eventually recovered, and in 1014, under Basil II, inflicted a crushing defeat on the Bulgarians at the Battle of Kleidion. By 1018, the last Bulgarian strongholds had surrendered to the Byzantine Empire, and it was succeeded by the Second Bulgarian Empire in 1185. After the adoption of Christianity, Bulgaria became the center of Slavic Europe. Old Bulgarian became the lingua franca of much of Eastern Europe, in 927, the fully independent Bulgarian Patriarchate was officially recognized. The Bulgars and other tribes in the empire gradually adopted an essentially foreign Slavic language. Since the late 9th century, the names Bulgarians and Bulgarian gained prevalence and became permanent designations for the local population, the First Bulgarian Empire became known simply as Bulgaria since its recognition by the Byzantine Empire in 681. Some historians use the terms Danube Bulgaria, First Bulgarian State, during its early existence, the country was also called the Bulgar state or Bulgar qaghanate. Between 864 and 917/927, the country was known as the Principality of Bulgaria or Knyazhestvo Bulgaria, in English language sources, the country is often known as the Bulgarian Empire. The eastern Balkan Peninsula was originally inhabited by the Thracians who were a group of Proto-Indo-European tribes, the whole region as far north as the Danube River was gradually incorporated into the Roman Empire by the 1st century AD. The decline of the Roman Empire after the 3rd century AD, nonetheless, it never relinquished the claim to the whole region up to the Danube. A series of administrative, legislative, military and economic reforms somewhat improved the situation, the group of Slavs that came to be known as the South Slavs was divided into Antes and Sclaveni who spoke the same language. The Slavic incursions in the Balkans increased during the half of Justinian Is reign and while these were initially pillaging raids
8.
Battle of Achelous (917)
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The battle was one of the worst disasters ever to befall a Byzantine army, and conversely one of the greatest military successes of Bulgaria. Among the most significant consequences was the recognition of the Imperial title of the Bulgarian monarchs. After the Bulgarian victory in the War of 894–896 the Byzantines were forced to pay tribute to Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria, in 912 when the Byzantine emperor Leo VI died, his brother Alexander refused to pay tribute to the Bulgarians. Simeon saw an opportunity to wage a new war and fulfill his ambitions to conquer Constantinople, at some point, the patriarch and Simeon even met outside the walls of Constantinople, performing a coronation ceremony. Thereafter, Simeon began using the title Tsar of the Bulgarians, after a plot in the Byzantine court in 914 however, the new regent Zoe, Constantines mother, rejected the marriage. In answer the Bulgarians raided Eastern Thrace, adrianople opened its gates to Simeon in September 914, and its population recognised Simeon as their ruler, while the Byzantine army was occupied in the east. In the next year the Bulgarian armies attacked the areas of Dyrrhachium, both sides carefully prepared for a decisive end of the conflict. Empress Zoe wanted to make a peace settlement with the Arabs and to engage the whole army of the East in a war with Simeon. Thus the Byzantines were forced to fight alone and this was a very large army by contemporary standards, and its goal was the elimination of the Bulgarian threat from the north. The Byzantine commanders were convinced that their strategy would be successful, morale was raised as the soldiers vowed by the miraculous Cross to die for one another. The spirit of the army was raised as the troops were paid in advance. The Byzantines had tried to pay some Pecheneg tribes to attack, but Romanus would not agree to transport them across the Danube, the size of the Bulgarian army under Simeon I of Bulgaria is unknown. However Miracula Sancti Georgii points that the Bulgarian army in the battle of Achelous was allied with Hungarian and Pecheneg troops, in addition Bulgarian forces under Marmais were deployed near the western borders with the Serb principalities to prevent possible unrest. The Byzantine army marched northwards and set its camp in the vicinity of the fortress of Anchialus. Leo Phocas intended to invade Moesia and meet the Pechenegs and Lecapenuss troops in Dobrudzha, Simeon swiftly concentrated his army on the heights around the fortress. The Byzantine generals planned to outflank the right Bulgarian wing in order to detach Simeons troops from the Balkan Passes. The Bulgarian ruler concentrated his most powerful forces in the two wings and left the centre relatively weak in order to surround the enemy when the centre would yield to the Byzantine attack. Simeon himself was in charge of large cavalry reserves hidden behind the hills which were intended to strike the decisive blow, the Byzantine attack was fierce and it was not long before the Bulgarians began slowly to retreat
9.
Constantine VII
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Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos or Porphyrogenitus, the Purple-born, was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 913 to 959. He was the son of the emperor Leo VI and his wife, Zoe Karbonopsina, and the nephew of his predecessor. Constantine VII is best known for his four books, De Administrando Imperio, De Ceremoniis, De Thematibus and his nickname alludes to the Purple Room of the imperial palace, decorated with porphyry, where legitimate children of reigning emperors were normally born. Constantine was also born in this room, although his mother Zoe had not been married to Leo at that time, nevertheless, the epithet allowed him to underline his position as the legitimized son, as opposed to all others who claimed the throne during his lifetime. Sons born to a reigning Emperor held precedence in the Eastern Roman line of succession over elder sons not born in the purple, Constantine was born at Constantinople, an illegitimate son born before an uncanonical fourth marriage. To help legitimize him, his mother gave birth to him in the Purple Room of the palace, hence his nickname Porphyrogennetos. He was symbolically elevated to the throne as a child by his father. In June 913, as his uncle Alexander lay dying, he appointed a regency council for Constantine. Following Alexanders death, the new and shaky regime survived the attempted usurpation of Constantine Doukas, Patriarch Nicholas was presently forced to make peace with Tsar Simeon of Bulgaria, whom he reluctantly recognized as Bulgarian emperor. Because of this concession, Patriarch Nicholas was driven out of the regency by Constantines mother Zoe. She was no more successful with the Bulgarians, who defeated her main supporter, in 919 she was replaced as regent by the admiral Romanos Lekapenos, who married his daughter Helena Lekapene to Constantine. Romanos used his position to advance to the ranks of basileopatōr in May 919, to kaisar in September 920, thus, just short of reaching nominal majority, Constantine was eclipsed by a senior emperor. Nevertheless, he was an intelligent young man with a large range of interests. Romanos kept and maintained power until 944, when he was deposed by his sons, Romanos spent the last years of his life in exile on the Island of Prote as a monk and died on June 15,948. With the help of his wife, Constantine VII succeeded in removing his brothers-in-law, several months later, Constantine VII crowned his own son Romanos II co-emperor. In 949 Constantine launched a new fleet of 100 ships against the Arab corsairs hiding in Crete, but like his fathers attempt to retake the island in 911, on the Eastern frontier things went better, even if with alternate success. In 949 the Byzantines conquered Germanicea, repeatedly defeated the enemy armies, but in 953 the Hamdanid amir Sayf al-Daula retook Germanicea and entered the imperial territory. An Arab fleet was destroyed by Greek fire in 957
10.
Romanos I Lekapenos
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Romanos Lekapenos, born in Lakape between Melitene and Samosata, was the son of an Armenian peasant with the remarkable name of Theophylact the Unbearable. Theophylact, as a soldier, had rescued the Emperor Basil I from the enemy in battle at Tephrike and had been rewarded by a place in the Imperial Guard. Although he did not receive any refined education, Romanos advanced through the ranks of the army during the reign of Emperor Leo VI the Wise, in 911 he was general of the naval theme of Samos and later served as admiral of the fleet. In this capacity he was supposed to participate in the Byzantine operations against Bulgaria on the Danube in 917, on 25 March 919, at the head of his fleet, Lekapenos seized the Boukoleon Palace and the reins of government. It is notable that, as he left Constantine untouched, he was called the gentle usurper and his early reign saw several conspiracies to topple him, which led to the successive dismissal of his first paradynasteuontes, John the Rhaiktor and John Mystikos. From 925 and until the end of his reign, the post was occupied by the chamberlain Theophanes, the first major challenge faced by the new emperor was the war with Bulgaria, which had been re-ignited by the regency of Zoe. Consequently, the first four years of Romanos reign were spent in warfare against Bulgaria, although Simeon generally had the upper hand, he was unable to gain a decisive advantage because of the impregnability of Constantinoples walls. In 924, when Simeon had once again blockaded the capital by land, meeting Simeon in person at Kosmidion, Romanos criticized Simeons disregard for tradition and Orthodox Christian brotherhood and supposedly shamed him into coming to terms and lifting the siege. In reality, this was accomplished by Romanos tacit recognition of Simeon as emperor of Bulgaria, relations were subsequently marred by continued wrangling over titles, but peace had been effectively established. On the death of Simeon in May 927, Bulgarias new emperor, Peter I, made a show of force by invading Byzantine Thrace, in September 927 Peter arrived before Constantinople and married Maria, the daughter of his eldest son and co-emperor Christopher, and thus Romanos granddaughter. From this point on, Romanos government was free from direct confrontation with Bulgaria. Romanos appointed the brilliant general John Kourkouas commander of the armies in the East. John Kourkouas subdued a rebellion in the theme of Chaldia and intervened in Armenia in 924, from 926 Kourkouas campaigned across the eastern frontier against the Abbasids and their vassals, and won an important victory at Melitene in 934. The capture of this city is considered the first major Byzantine territorial recovery from the Muslims. In 941, while most of the army under Kourkouas was absent in the East, the invaders were defeated at sea, through the use of Greek fire, and again at land, when they landed in Bithynia, by the returning army under Kourkouas. In 944 Romanos concluded a treaty with Prince Igor of Kiev and this crisis having passed, Kourkouas was free to return to the eastern frontier. In 943 Kourkouas invaded northern Mesopotamia and besieged the important city of Edessa in 944, as the price for his withdrawal, Kourkouas obtained one of Byzantiums most prized relics, the mandylion, the holy towel allegedly sent by Jesus Christ to King Abgar V of Edessa. John Kourkouas, although considered by some of his contemporaries a second Trajan or Belisarius, was dismissed after the fall of the Lekapenoi in 945
11.
Italy
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Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
12.
Nikephoros II Phokas
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Nikephoros II Phokas was Byzantine Emperor from 963 to 969. His brilliant military exploits contributed to the resurgence of the Byzantine Empire during the 10th century and his mother, whose name is unknown, was a member of another powerful Anatolian Greek clan, the Maleinoi. Nikephoros joined the army at an early age and he was appointed the military governor of the Anatolikon Theme in 945 under Emperor Constantine VII. When his father was wounded in battle in 953, Nikephoros was promoted to commander on the eastern frontier. In the war with the Abbasid Caliphate under Al-Muti, Nikephoros began with a defeat in 954, from which he recovered in the following years with victories in Syria. From the accession of Emperor Romanos II in 959, Nikephoros and his younger brother Leo were placed in charge of the eastern and western field armies, in 960,27,000 oarsmen and marines were assembled to man a fleet of 308 ships carrying 50,000 troops. At the recommendation of the influential minister Joseph Bringas, Nikephoros was entrusted to lead this expedition against the Saracen Emirate of Crete, after a nine-month siege, Nikephoros stormed Chandax and wrested control of the entire island from the Muslims in 961. Upon returning to Constantinople, he was denied the honor of a triumph. He soon returned to the east with a large and well-equipped army, in the campaigns of 962–963, he employed a brilliant strategy to conquer the cities of Cilicia and to advance into Syria. There he captured Aleppo, in collusion with his nephew, John Tzimiskes and it was on these campaigns that he earned the sobriquet, The Pale Death of the Saracens. During the capture of Aleppo, the Byzantine army took possession of 390,000 silver dinars,2,000 camels, early in his life Nikephoros had married Stephano. She had died before he rose to fame, and after her death he took an oath of chastity and this would create problems later on. On 15 March 963, Emperor Romanos II died unexpectedly at the age of twenty-six of uncertain cause, Theophano had already gained a reputation as an intelligent and ambitious woman. She would later gain a reputation for ruthlessness in achieving her goals, Romanos had already crowned as co-emperors his two sons Basil II and Constantine VIII. At the time that Romanos died, however, Basil was five years old, Theophano was not allowed to rule alone. Joseph Bringas, the eunuch palace official who had become Romanos chief councilor, according to contemporary sources he intended to keep authority in his own hands. He also tried to reduce the power of Nikephoros Phokas, the victorious general had been accepted as the actual commander of the army and maintained his strong connections to the aristocracy. Joseph was afraid that Nikephoros could claim the throne with the support of both the army and the aristocracy, josephs intrigues during the following months turned both Theophano and Nikephoros against him
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Leo Phokas the Younger
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Leo Phokas or Phocas was a prominent Byzantine general who scored a number of successes in the eastern frontier in the mid-10th century alongside his older brother, the Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas. He served as minister during his brothers reign, but was dismissed and imprisoned by his successor. Leo was the son of Bardas Phokas the Elder, a noted general and longtime commander of the eastern armies under Constantine VII. Leo was first appointed as strategos of the thema of Cappadocia in 945, under Romanos II, he was named Domestic of the Schools of the West, i. e. commander of the western armies in the Balkans, and raised to the rank of magistros. When his older brother Nikephoros was detailed to assault the Emirate of Crete in 960, Leo replaced him as domestikos of the West, Leo waylaid him in a rocky defile, and destroyed most of the Arab army, while Sayf al-Daula barely managed to flee. Due to his record of service in the Byzantine-Arab frontier. In 970, Leo unsuccessfully tried to rebel against Tzimiskes, and was exiled to Lesbos, after another failed attempt at rebellion in 971 however, he was banished to the island of Prote and blinded. The date of his death is unknown, Leo was the father of Bardas Phokas the Younger and Sophia Phokaina, wife of Constantine Skleros and mother of Otto IIs wife Theophanu. Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, talbot, Alice-Mary, Sullivan, Dennis F. eds. The History of Leo the Deacon, Byzantine Military Expansion in the Tenth Century, Washington, Dumbarton Oaks, ISBN 978-0-88402-324-1 Treadgold, a History of the Byzantine State and Society, Stanford, CA, Stanford University Press, ISBN 978-0-8047-2630-6
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Leo VI the Wise
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Leo VI, called the Wise or the Philosopher, was Byzantine Emperor from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty, he was very well-read, born to the empress Eudokia Ingerina, Leo was either the illegitimate son of Emperor Michael III or the second son of his successor, Basil I the Macedonian. Eudokia was both Michael IIIs mistress and Basil’s wife, in 867, Michael was assassinated by Basil, who succeeded him as Emperor. As the second eldest son of the Emperor, Leo was associated on the throne in 870, Basil married Zoe off to an insignificant official, and later almost had Leo blinded when he was accused of conspiring against him. On August 29,886, Basil died in a hunting accident and this contributed to the suspicion that Leo was in truth Michaels son. His attempts to control the great aristocratic families occasionally led to serious conflicts, Leo also attempted to control the church through his appointments to the patriarchate. He dismissed the Patriarch Photios, who had been his tutor, on Stephens death in 893, Leo replaced him with Zaoutzes nominee, Antony II Kauleas, who died in 901. The church is one of the best examples of Byzantine architecture, Leo also completed work on the Basilika, the Greek translation and update of the law code issued by Justinian I, which had been started during the reign of Basil. According to one story, he was captured by the city guards during one of his investigations. Late in the evening, he was walking alone and disguised, though he bribed two patrols with 12 nomismata and moved on, a third city patrol arrested him. When a terrified guardian recognized the jailed ruler in the morning, Leo VIs fortune in war was more mixed than Basils had been. In indulging his chief counselor Stylianos Zaoutzes, Leo provoked a war with Simeon I of Bulgaria in 894, bribing the Magyars to attack the Bulgarians from the north, Leo scored an indirect success in 895. However, deprived of his new allies, he lost the major Battle of Boulgarophygon in 896 and had to make the required commercial concessions, nevertheless, the same period also saw the establishment of the important frontier provinces of Lykandos and Leontokome on territory recently taken from the Arabs. In 907 Constantinople was attacked by the Kievan Rus under Oleg of Novgorod, Leo paid them off, but they attacked again in 911, and a trade treaty was finally signed. Leo VI caused a scandal with his numerous marriages which failed to produce a legitimate heir to the throne. Upon this marriage Leo created the title of basileopatōr for his father-in-law, after Zoes death a third marriage was technically illegal, but he married again, only to have his third wife Eudokia Baïana die in 901. Instead of marrying a fourth time, which would have been a greater sin than a third marriage Leo took as mistress Zoe Karbonopsina. He married her only after she had given birth to a son in 905, replacing Nicholas Mystikos with Euthymios, Leo got his marriage recognized by the church
15.
Parakoimomenos
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The parakoimōmenos was a Byzantine court position, usually reserved for eunuchs. The positions proximity to the emperors guaranteed its holders influence and power, in the beginning, it was a modest office, given to those koubikoularioi who were tasked with sleeping outside the emperors chamber during the night as a security measure. As evidenced by seals from the 7th and 8th centuries, it was combined with other palace functions, such as the epi tēs trapezēs. It is possible that in the cases where several co-emperors reigned at the same time, over the next two centuries, many of its holders were able to use their proximity to the imperial person to exercise considerable political influence. Some of these men, exceptionally, were not eunuchs, by the 11th century, the parakoimōmenos had assumed most of the old administrative functions of the praipositos as well. The post survived in the Empire of Nicaea and into the Palaiologan period, in the absence of the prōtostratōr, they were also charged with carrying the emperors sword. At the same time, their holders ceased to be eunuchs, but were important noblemen and administrators, by the 14th century. The two posts ranked 16th and 17th respectively in the hierarchy, according to the mid-14th century author pseudo-Kodinos. Their court costume consisted of a silk kabbadion tunic, and a gold-embroidered skiadion hat and it bore in front a glass image of the emperor standing in front, and in the rear a similar image of him enthroned. The parakoimōmenos tēs sphendonēs was distinguished by his staff of office, which was of wood, with the topmost knob gilded, the next one covered in white-golden braid, the next again gilded, etc. The dikanikion of the parakoimōmenos tou koitōnos was similar, except only the topmost knob was gilded. A number of seals mention a Theophylact, koubikoularios, parakoimomenos and this would make Theophylact the first known holder. The next holder, the ostiarios Scholastikios, is known under Theophilos. The patrikios Damian served Michael III until circa 865, and was replaced by Michaels favourite. After Basils accession to co-emperor in 866, the office was occupied by a certain Rentakios until the murder of Michael III, judging from his own experience that the office was too powerful and too close to the emperor, Basil I did not appoint a parakoimōmenos. His son and successor Leo VI revived the office in 907 for his favourite Samonas and he held the post until his disgrace in summer 908. He was replaced by Constantine Barbaros, who held the office until circa 919 with the exception of the reign of Alexander, Romanos I Lekapenos named his trusted aide Theophanes as parakoimōmenos. Theophanes was retained by Constantine VII until 947, when he was replaced by Basil Lekapenos, Basil was replaced under Romanos II by the capable Joseph Bringas, who also exercised the de facto rule of the state, but was toppled by Lekapenos shortly after Romanos IIs death
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Arabs
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Arabs are an ethnic group inhabiting the Arab world. They primarily live in the Arab states in Western Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Arabs are first mentioned in the mid-ninth century BCE as a tribal people dwelling in the central Arabian Peninsula. The Arabs appear to have been under the vassalage of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, tradition holds that Arabs descend from Ishmael, the son of Abraham. The Arabian Desert is the birthplace of Arab, there are other Arab groups as well that spread in the land and existed for millennia. Before the expansion of the Caliphate, Arab referred to any of the largely nomadic Semitic people from the northern to the central Arabian Peninsula and Syrian Desert. Presently, Arab refers to a number of people whose native regions form the Arab world due to spread of Arabs throughout the region during the early Arab conquests of the 7th and 8th centuries. The Arabs forged the Rashidun, Umayyad and the Abbasid caliphates, whose borders reached southern France in the west, China in the east, Anatolia in the north, and this was one of the largest land empires in history. The Great Arab Revolt has had as big an impact on the modern Middle East as the World War I, the war signaled the end of the Ottoman Empire. They are modern states and became significant as distinct political entities after the fall and defeat, following adoption of the Alexandria Protocol in 1944, the Arab League was founded on 22 March 1945. The Charter of the Arab League endorsed the principle of an Arab homeland whilst respecting the sovereignty of its member states. Beyond the boundaries of the League of Arab States, Arabs can also be found in the global diaspora, the ties that bind Arabs are ethnic, linguistic, cultural, historical, identical, nationalist, geographical and political. The Arabs have their own customs, language, architecture, art, literature, music, dance, media, cuisine, dress, society, sports, the total number of Arabs are an estimated 450 million. This makes them the second largest ethnic group after the Han Chinese. Arabs are a group in terms of religious affiliations and practices. In the pre-Islamic era, most Arabs followed polytheistic religions, some tribes had adopted Christianity or Judaism, and a few individuals, the hanifs, apparently observed monotheism. Today, Arabs are mainly adherents of Islam, with sizable Christian minorities, Arab Muslims primarily belong to the Sunni, Shiite, Ibadi, Alawite, Druze and Ismaili denominations. Arab Christians generally follow one of the Eastern Christian Churches, such as the Maronite, Coptic Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic, or Chaldean churches. Listed among the booty captured by the army of king Shalmaneser III of Assyria in the Battle of Qarqar are 1000 camels of Gi-in-di-buu the ar-ba-a-a or Gindibu belonging to the Arab
17.
Steven Runciman
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Sir James Cochran Stevenson Runciman, CH, FBA, known as Steven Runciman, was an English historian best known for his three-volume A History of the Crusades. His three-volume history has had a impact on common conceptions of the Crusades, primarily portraying the Crusaders negatively. Runciman was an admirer of the Byzantine Empire, and consequently held a bias against the Crusaders for the Fourth Crusade evident in his work. While praised by older crusade historians as a storyteller and prose stylist, born in Northumberland, he was the second son of Walter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford, and Hilda Runciman, Viscountess Runciman of Doxford. Both of his parents were or became members of parliament for the Liberal Party and his father was created Viscount Runciman of Doxford in 1937. His paternal grandfather, Walter Runciman, 1st Baron Runciman, was a shipping magnate and he was named after his maternal grandfather, James Cochran Stevenson, the MP for South Shields. It is said that he was reading Latin and Greek by the age of five, a Kings Scholar at Eton College, he was an exact contemporary and close friend of George Orwell. While there, they both studied French under Aldous Huxley, in 1921 he entered Trinity College of Cambridge University as a history scholar and studied under J. B. Bury, becoming, as Runciman later claimed, falsely, his first, and only, student. At first the reclusive Bury tried to brush him off, then, when Runciman mentioned that he could read Russian, Bury gave him a stack of Bulgarian articles to edit and his work on the Byzantine Empire earned him a fellowship at Trinity in 1927. After receiving an inheritance from his grandfather, Runciman resigned his fellowship in 1938. Thus, for much of his life he was an independent scholar and he went on to be a press attache at the British Legation in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia, in 1940 and at the British Embassy in Cairo in 1941. From 1945 to 1947 he was a representative in Athens of the British Council, in his personal life, Runciman was an old-fashioned English eccentric, known, among other things, as an aesthete, raconteur, and enthusiast of the occult. He died in Radway, Warwickshire, while visiting relatives, aged 97, earlier the same year, he had made a final visit to Mount Athos to witness the blessing of the Protaton Tower at Karyes, which had been refurbished thanks to a gift from him. He was interred in Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire, jonathan Riley-Smith, one of the leading historians of the Crusades, denounced Runciman for his perspective on the Crusades. Riley-Smith had been told by Runciman during an interview that he considered himself not a historian. Runciman held sympathies toward the Byzantine Empire and blamed the Crusaders, consequently, a bias against the Crusaders is evident in his work. Less than a decade after the Second World War ended, Runciman called the Fourth Crusade the greatest crime committed against humanity, edward Peters claims Runcimans three-volume narrative history, instantly became the most widely known and respected single-author survey of the subject in English. John M. Riddle says that for the part of the twentieth century Runciman was the greatest historian of the Crusades
18.
Madrid Skylitzes
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The manuscript was produced in Sicily in the 12th century, and is now at the Biblioteca Nacional de España in Madrid, with the shelfmark MS Graecus Vitr. 26-2, it known as the Madrid Skylitzes, Codex Græcus Matritensis Ioannis Skyllitzes. It is the only surviving illustrated manuscript of a Greek chronicle and it is unclear whether these illustrations are copies of earlier Byzantine images or were newly created specifically for this copy. Color facsimile edition by Militos Publishers, ISBN 960-8460-16-6, vasiliki Tsamakda, The Illustrated Chronicle of Ioannes Skylitzes, Leiden 2002. Bente Bjørnholt and J. Burke, eds, the Cultures and Contexts of the Madrid Skylitzes International Medieval Congress, University of Leeds,13 July 2004. Images from the Madrid Skylitzes World Digital Library page, and PDF download of the Madrid Skylitzes Evans, the glory of Byzantium, art and culture of the Middle Byzantine era, A. D. 843-1261, no
19.
Zoe Karbonopsina
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Zoe Karbonopsina, also Karvounopsina or Carbonopsina, i. e. with the Coal-Black Eyes, was an empress consort and regent of the Byzantine empire. She was the wife of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise. Zoe Karbonopsina was a relative of the chronicler Theophanes the Confessor, desperate to sire a son, Leo VI married his mistress Zoe on 9 January 906, only after she had given birth to the future Constantine VII at the end of 905. Although the Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos reluctantly baptised Constantine, he forbade the emperor from marrying for the fourth time. Leo VI married Zoe with the assistance of a cooperative priest, Thomas, the new patriarch attempted a compromise by defrocking the offending priest but recognizing the marriage. When Leo died in 912, he was succeeded by his younger brother Alexander, shortly before his death Alexander provoked a war with Bulgaria. However, Nicholas unpopular concessions to the Bulgarians later in the same year weakened his position and in 914 Zoe was able to overthrow Nicholas, Nicholas was allowed to remain patriarch after reluctantly recognizing her as empress. Zoe governed with the support of imperial bureaucrats and the influential general Leo Phokas the Elder, Zoes first order of business was to revoke the concessions to Simeon I of Bulgaria, including the recognition of his imperial title and the arranged marriage between his daughter and Constantine VII. This renewed the war with Bulgaria, which began badly for the Byzantines who were distracted by military operations in Southern Italy, in 915 Zoes troops defeated an Arab invasion of Armenia, and made peace with the Arabs. This freed her hands to organize an expedition against the Bulgarians. The campaign was planned on a scale, and intended the bribing. However, the Pecheneg alliance failed, and Leo Phokas was crushingly defeated in the Battle of Anchialus, Zoe tried to ally with Serbia and the Magyars against Simeon. This also failed to any concrete results, and the Arabs, encouraged by the empires weakness. A humiliating treaty with the Arabs of Sicily, who were asked to help subdue revolts in Italy, did little to improve the position of Zoe, the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press,1991
20.
Magister officiorum
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The magister officiorum was one of the most senior administrative officials in the late Roman Empire and the early centuries of the Byzantine Empire. In Byzantium, the office was transformed into a senior honorary rank. Although some scholars have supported its creation under Emperor Diocletian, the office can first be traced to the rule of Roman emperor Constantine I. Constantine probably created it in an effort to limit the power of the praetorian prefect, the first bureau handled imperial decisions called annotationes, because they were notes made by the emperor on documents presented to him, and also handled replies to petitions to the emperor. Especially this control of the feared agentes, or magistriani, as they were colloquially known, the office rose quickly in importance, initially ranked as a tribunus, by the end of Constantines reign the magister was a full comes. These last changes are reflected in the Notitia Dignitatum, a list of all offices compiled circa 400, sometime in the 5th century, the Eastern magister also assumed authority over the border guards or limitanei. One of the most important incumbents of this office was Peter the Patrician, the office was also retained in Ostrogothic Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and was held by eminent Roman senators such as Boethius and Cassiodorus. The rank continued in existence thereafter, but lost increasingly in importance, in the late 10th and 11th centuries, it was often held in combination with the title of vestēs. From the late 11th century it was devalued, especially in the Komnenian period. The Imperial Administrative System of the Ninth Century - With a Revised Text of the Kletorologion of Philotheos, new York and Oxford, Oxford University Press. The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Constantine, martindale, John Robert, Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin, Morris, J. eds. The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Volume II, A. D. 395–527, the Reign of Leo VI, Politics and People
21.
Pechenegs
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The Pechenegs or Patzinaks were a semi-nomadic Turkic people of the Central Asian steppes speaking the Pecheneg language which belonged to the Oghuz branch of Turkic language family. Three of the clans of the Pechenegs were the Kankalis/Kangli. The Pechenegs ethnonym derived from the Old Turkic word for brother-in-law”, sources written in different languages used similar denominations when referring to the confederation of the Pecheneg tribes. The modern Tatar name for them is Böcänäklär, Anna Komnene and other Byzantine authors referred to the Pechenegs as Patzinakoi or Patzinakitai. In medieval Latin texts, the Pechenegs were referred to as Pizenaci, East Slavic peoples use the terms Pečenegi or Pečenezi, while the Poles mentions them as Pieczyngowie or Piecinigi. The Hungarian word for Pecheneg is besenyő, the Romanian word for Pechenegs is Pecenegi According to Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, three of the eight Pechenegs provinces or clans were known under the name Kangar. He added that they received this denomination because they are more valiant and noble than the rest of the people, however, no Turkic word with the meaning suggested by the emperor has been demonstrated. Ármin Vámbéry connected the Kangar denomination to the Kirghiz words kangir, kangirmak and kani-kara, Omeljan Pritsak proposed that the name had initially been a composite term deriving from the Tocharian word for stone and the Iranian ethnonym As. If the latter assumption is valid, the ethnonym of the three Kangar tribes suggest that Iranian elements contributed to the formation of the Pecheneg people. Mahmud al-Kashgari, an 11th-century man of letters specialized in Turkic dialects argued that the language spoken by the Pechenegs was a variant of the Cuman and he suggested that foreign influences on the Pechenegs gave rise to phonetical differences between their tongue and the idiom spoken by other Turkic peoples. Anna Komnene likewise stated that the Pechenegs and the Cumans shared a common language, although the Pecheneg language itself died out centuries ago, the names of the Pecheneg provinces recorded by Constantine Porphyrogenitus prove that the Pechenegs spoke a Turkic language. The Huns, Khazars and Pechenegs are thought to have belonged to the same group of languages as the modern Chuvash language. Ibn Khordadbeh, Mahmud al-Kashgari, Muhammad al-Idrisi and many other Muslim scholars agreed that the Pechenegs belonged to the Turkic peoples. The Russian Primary Chronicle stated that the Torkmens, Pechenegs, Torks, and Polovcians descended from the sons of Ishmael. Paul Pelliot was the first to propose that a 7th-century Chinese work and it writes of the Pei-ju, a people settled along the En-chu and A-lan peoples east of Fu-lin. In contrast with this view, Victor Spinei argues that the first certain reference to the Pechenegs can be read in a Tibetan translation of an 8th-century Uyghur text and it narrates a war between two peoples, the Be-ča-nag and the Hor. The Pechenegs inhabited the region along the river Syr Darya at the time when the first records were made of them, the Pechenegs were forced to leave their Central Asian homeland by a coalition of the Oghuz Turks, Karluks and Kimaks. The Pechenegs westward migration started between the 790s and 850s, but its exact date cannot be determined, the Pechenegs settled in the steppe corridor between the rivers Ural and Volga
22.
Danube
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The Danube is Europes second-longest river, after the Volga River, and also the longest river in the European Union region. It is located in Central and Eastern Europe, the Danube was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire, and today flows through 10 countries, more than any other river in the world. Its drainage basin extends into nine more countries, the Latin name Dānuvius is one of a number of Old European river names derived from a Proto-Indo-European *dānu. Other river names from the root include the Dunajec, Dzvina/Daugava, Don, Donets, Dnieper, Dniestr. In Rigvedic Sanskrit, dānu means fluid, drop, in Avestan, in the Rigveda, Dānu once appears as the mother of Vrtra. Known to the ancient Greeks as the Istros a borrowing from a Daco-Thracian name meaning strong, in Latin, the Danube was variously known as Danubius, Danuvius or as Ister. The Dacian/Thracian name was Donaris for the upper Danube and Istros for the lower Danube, the Thraco-Phrygian name was Matoas, the bringer of luck. The Latin name is masculine, as are all its Slavic names, the German Donau is feminine, as it has been re-interpreted as containing the suffix -ouwe wetland. Classified as a waterway, it originates in the town of Donaueschingen, in the Black Forest of Germany, at the confluence of the rivers Brigach. The Danube then flows southeast for about 2,800 km, passing through four capital cities before emptying into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and its drainage basin extends into nine more. The highest point of the basin is the summit of Piz Bernina at the Italy–Switzerland border. The land drained by the Danube extends into other countries. Many Danubian tributaries are important rivers in their own right, navigable by barges, from its source to its outlet into the Black Sea, its main tributaries are, The Danube flows through many cities, including four national capitals, more than any other river in the world. Danube remains a mountain river until Passau, with average bottom gradient 0. 0012%. Middle Section, From Devín Gate to Iron Gate, at the border of Serbia and Romania, the riverbed widens and the average bottom gradient becomes only 0. 00006%. Lower Section, From Iron Gate to Sulina, with average gradient as little as 0. 00003%, about 60 of its tributaries are also navigable. In 1994 the Danube was declared one of ten Pan-European transport corridors, routes in Central, the amount of goods transported on the Danube increased to about 100 million tons in 1987. In 1999, transport on the river was difficult by the NATO bombing of three bridges in Serbia during the Kosovo War
23.
Byzantine navy
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The Byzantine navy was the naval force of the East Roman or Byzantine Empire. Like the empire it served, it was a continuation from its Imperial Roman predecessor. The first threat to Roman hegemony in the Mediterranean was posed by the Vandals in the 5th century and this process would be furthered with the onset of the Muslim conquests in the 7th century. Following the loss of the Levant and later Africa, the Mediterranean Sea was transformed from a Roman lake into a battleground between Byzantines and Arabs, initially, the defence of the Byzantine coasts and the approaches to Constantinople was borne by the great fleet of the Karabisianoi. Progressively however it was split up into several regional fleets, while a central Imperial Fleet was maintained at Constantinople, guarding the city, by the late 8th century, the Byzantine navy, a well-organized and maintained force, was again the dominant maritime power in the Mediterranean. The antagonism with the Muslim navies continued with alternating success, but in the 10th century, during the 11th century, the navy, like the Empire itself, began to decline. A period of recovery under the Komnenians was followed by period of decline. After the Empire was restored in 1261, several emperors of the Palaiologan dynasty tried to revive the navy, the diminished navy, however, continued to be active until the fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottomans in 1453. The Byzantine navy, like the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire itself, was a continuation of the Roman Empire, after the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, in the absence of any external threat in the Mediterranean, the Roman navy performed mostly policing and escort duties. Massive sea battles, like those fought in the Punic Wars, no longer occurred, the civil wars of the 4th and early 5th centuries, however, did spur a revival of naval activity, with fleets mostly employed to transport armies. The new Vandalic Kingdom of Carthage, under the capable king Geiseric, immediately launched raids against the coasts of Italy and Greece, the Vandal raids continued unabated over the next two decades, despite repeated Roman attempts to defeat them. The Western Empire was impotent, its navy having dwindled to almost nothing, a first Eastern expedition in 448, however, went no further than Sicily, and in 460, the Vandals attacked and destroyed a Western Roman invasion fleet at Cartagena in Spain. Finally, in 468, a huge Eastern expedition was assembled under Basiliscus, reputedly numbering 1,113 ships and 100,000 men, but it failed disastrously. About 600 ships were lost to ships, and the financial cost of 130,000 pounds of gold and 700000 pounds of silver nearly bankrupted the Empire. This forced the Romans to come to terms with Geiseric and sign a peace treaty, after Geiserics death in 477, however, the Vandal threat receded. The 6th century marked the rebirth of Roman naval power, in 508, as antagonism with the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Theodoric flared up, the Emperor Anastasius I is reported to have sent a fleet of 100 warships to raid the coasts of Italy. In 513, the general Vitalian revolted against Anastasius, the rebels assembled a fleet of 200 ships which, despite some initial successes, were destroyed by admiral Marinus, who employed a sulphur-based incendiary substance to defeat them. This fact was not lost on the Byzantines enemies, already in the 520s, Theodoric had planned to build a massive fleet directed against the Byzantines and the Vandals, but his death in 526 limited the extent to which these plans were realized
24.
Simeon I of Bulgaria
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Simeon I the Great ruled over Bulgaria from 893 to 927, during the First Bulgarian Empire. Simeons successful campaigns against the Byzantines, Magyars and Serbs led Bulgaria to its greatest territorial expansion ever and his reign was also a period of unmatched cultural prosperity and enlightenment later deemed the Golden Age of Bulgarian culture. During Simeons rule, Bulgaria spread over a territory between the Aegean, the Adriatic and the Black Sea, and the new Bulgarian capital Preslav was said to rival Constantinople and it was at the Preslav Literary School in the 890s that the Cyrillic alphabet was developed. Halfway through his reign, Simeon assumed the title of Emperor, Simeon was born in 864 or 865, as the third son of Knyaz Boris I of Krums dynasty. As Boris was the ruler who Christianized Bulgaria in 865, Simeon was a Christian all his life and he took the name Simeon as a novice in a monastery in Constantinople. During the decade he spent in the Byzantine capital, he received excellent education and studied the rhetoric of Demosthenes and he also learned fluent Greek, to the extent that he was referred to as the half-Greek in Byzantine chronicles. He is speculated to have been tutored by Patriarch Photios I of Constantinople, meanwhile, Vladimir had succeeded Boris, who had retreated to a monastery, as ruler of Bulgaria. Vladimir attempted to reintroduce paganism in the empire and possibly signed a pact with Arnulf of Carinthia. Boris had Vladimir imprisoned and blinded, and then appointed Simeon as the new ruler and it is not known why Boris did not place his second son, Gavril, on the throne, but instead preferred Simeon. With Simeon on the throne, the peace with the Byzantine Empire established by his father was about to end. The Bulgarians sought protection by Simeon, who in turn complained to Leo, however, the Byzantine emperor ignored his embassy. The Bulgarians took most of the Khazar mercenary guardsmen prisoners and killed many archons, however, instead of continuing his advance to the Byzantine capital, Simeon quickly withdrew his troops to face a Magyar invasion from the north. These events were called the first trade war in medieval Europe by Bulgarian historians. Leo VI may have concluded an agreement with Arnulf to make sure that the Franks did not support Simeon against the Magyars. In addition, the talented commander Nikephoros Phokas was called back from southern Italy to lead an army against Bulgaria in 895 with the mere intention to overawe the Bulgarians. Simeon, unaware of the threat from the north, rushed to meet Phokas forces, instead, the Byzantines offered peace, informing him of both the Byzantine foot and maritime campaign, but intentionally did not notify him of the planned Magyar attack. Once notified of the invasion, Simeon headed north to stop the Magyars. Simeons two encounters with the enemy in Northern Dobruja resulted in Magyar victories, forcing him to retreat to Drǎstǎr
25.
Constantinople
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Constantinople was the capital city of the Roman/Byzantine Empire, and also of the brief Latin, and the later Ottoman empires. It was reinaugurated in 324 AD from ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, Constantinople was famed for its massive and complex defences. The first wall of the city was erected by Constantine I, Constantinople never truly recovered from the devastation of the Fourth Crusade and the decades of misrule by the Latins. The origins of the name of Byzantion, more known by the later Latin Byzantium, are not entirely clear. The founding myth of the city has it told that the settlement was named after the leader of the Megarian colonists, Byzas. The later Byzantines of Constantinople themselves would maintain that the city was named in honour of two men, Byzas and Antes, though this was likely just a play on the word Byzantion. During this time, the city was also called Second Rome, Eastern Rome, and Roma Constantinopolitana. As the city became the remaining capital of the Roman Empire after the fall of the West, and its wealth, population, and influence grew. In the language of other peoples, Constantinople was referred to just as reverently, the medieval Vikings, who had contacts with the empire through their expansion in eastern Europe used the Old Norse name Miklagarðr, and later Miklagard and Miklagarth. In Arabic, the city was sometimes called Rūmiyyat al-kubra and in Persian as Takht-e Rum, in East and South Slavic languages, including in medieval Russia, Constantinople was referred to as Tsargrad or Carigrad, City of the Caesar, from the Slavonic words tsar and grad. This was presumably a calque on a Greek phrase such as Βασιλέως Πόλις, the modern Turkish name for the city, İstanbul, derives from the Greek phrase eis tin polin, meaning into the city or to the city. In 1928, the Turkish alphabet was changed from Arabic script to Latin script, in time the city came to be known as Istanbul and its variations in most world languages. In Greece today, the city is still called Konstantinoúpolis/Konstantinoúpoli or simply just the City, apart from this, little is known about this initial settlement, except that it was abandoned by the time the Megarian colonists settled the site anew. A farsighted treaty with the emergent power of Rome in c.150 BC which stipulated tribute in exchange for independent status allowed it to enter Roman rule unscathed. The site lay astride the land route from Europe to Asia and the seaway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, and had in the Golden Horn an excellent and spacious harbour. He would later rebuild Byzantium towards the end of his reign, in which it would be briefly renamed Augusta Antonina, fortifying it with a new city wall in his name, Constantine had altogether more colourful plans. Rome was too far from the frontiers, and hence from the armies and the imperial courts, yet it had been the capital of the state for over a thousand years, and it might have seemed unthinkable to suggest that the capital be moved to a different location. Constantinople was built over 6 years, and consecrated on 11 May 330, Constantine divided the expanded city, like Rome, into 14 regions, and ornamented it with public works worthy of an imperial metropolis
26.
Bosphorus
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The Bosphorus or Bosporus is a narrow, natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in northwestern Turkey. It forms part of the boundary between Europe and Asia, and separates Asian Turkey from European Turkey. The worlds narrowest strait used for navigation, the Bosphorus connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, and, by extension via the Dardanelles. Most of the shores of the strait are heavily settled, straddled by the city of Istanbuls metropolitan population of 17 million inhabitants extending inland from both coasts, together with the Dardanelles, the Bosphorus forms the Turkish Straits. This folk etymology was canonized by Aeschylus in Prometheus Bound, where Prometheus prophesies to Io that the strait would be named after her, the site where Io supposedly went ashore was near Chrysopolis, and was named Bous the Cow. The same site was known as Damalis, as it was where the Athenian general Chares had erected a monument to his wife Damalis. Historically, the Bosphorus was also known as the Strait of Constantinople, or the Thracian Bosphorus and these are expressed in Herodotus Histories,4.83, as Bosporus Thracius, Bosporus Thraciae, and Βόσπορος Θρᾴκιος, respectively. Other names by which the strait is referenced by Herodotus include Chalcedonian Bosporus, the term eventually came to be used as common noun βόσπορος, meaning a strait, and was also formerly applied to the Hellespont in Classical Greek by Aeschylus and Sophocles. Presently, the waterway is officially referred to as simply Bosphorus, the Marmara further connects to the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas via the Dardanelles. A common mistake made by those who are unfamiliar with the locale is to assume the Bosphorus is a river, when it is, in fact. The exact scientific cause and date of the formation of the Bosphorus remain the subject of debate among geologists, many geologists, however, claim that the strait is much older, even if relatively young on a geologic timescale. The Symplegades were defeated when the lyrical hero Jason obtained successful passage, whereupon the rocks became fixed, between these limits, the strait is 31 km long, with a width of 3,329 m at the northern entrance and 2,826 m at the southern entrance. Its maximum width is 3,420 m between Umuryeri and Büyükdere Limanı, and minimum width 700 m between Kandilli Point and Aşiyan, the depth of the Bosphorus varies from 13 to 110 m in midstream with an average of 65 m. The deepest location is between Kandilli and Bebek with 110 m, the most shallow locations are off Kadıköy İnciburnu on the northward route with 18 m and off Aşiyan Point on the southward route with 13 m. The study of the water and wind erosion of the straits relates to that of its formation, sections of the shore have been reinforced with concrete or rubble and sections of the strait prone to deposition are periodically dredged. These channels are the main pathway for sediments to the deep sea where they form sedimentary deposits. These deposits ultimately hold not only untapped reserves of gas and oil and our initial findings show that the flow in these channels is quite different to the flow in river channels on land. Specifically, as flow moves around a bend it spirals in the direction in the deep sea compared to the spiral found in river channels on land
27.
Nicholas Mystikos
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Nicholas I Mystikos or Nicholas I Mysticus was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from March 901 to February 907 and from May 912 to his death in 925. His feast day in the Orthodox Church is May 16, Nicholas was born in the Italian Peninsula and had become a friend of the Patriarch Photios. He fell into disfavor after Photios dismissal in 886 and retired to a monastery, Emperor Leo VI the Wise retrieved him from the monastery and made him mystikos, a dignity designating either the imperial secretary or a judicial official. On March 1,901, Nicholas was appointed patriarch, however, he fell out with Leo VI over the latters fourth marriage to his mistress Zoe Karbonopsina. He was deposed as patriarch on February 1,907 and replaced by Euthymios, exiled to his own monastery, Nicholas regarded his deposition as unjustified and involved Pope Sergius III in the dispute. About the time of the accession of Leo VIs brother Alexander to the throne in May 912, a protracted struggle with the supporters of Euthymios followed, which did not end until the new Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos promulgated the Tomos of Union in 920. In the meantime Alexander had died in 913 after provoking a war with Bulgaria, Nicholas Mystikos became the leading member of the seven-man regency for the young emperor, and as such had to face the advance of Simeon I of Bulgaria on Constantinople. This unpopular concession undermined his position, and by March 914, with the support of the magistros John Eladas, Zoe Karbonopsina overthrew Nicholas and she revoked the agreement with Simeon, prompting the renewal of hostilities with Bulgaria. With her main supporter Leo Phokas crushingly defeated by the Bulgarians at the Battle of Acheloos in 917, the Patriarch Nicholas came to be one of the strongest supporters of the new emperor, and took the brunt of renewed negotiations with the Bulgarians until his death in 925. In addition to his numerous letters to various notables and foreign rulers and he was a critical thinker who went as far as to question the authority of Old Testament quotations and the notion that the emperors command was unwritten law. Nicholas I, Patriarch of Constantinople, Letters, greek Text and English Tr. by R. J. H. Jenkins and L. G. Westerink
28.
Solidus (coin)
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The solidus, nomisma, or bezant was originally a relatively pure gold coin issued in the Late Roman Empire. Under Constantine, who introduced it on a scale, it had a weight of about 4.5 grams. The Byzantine solidus also inspired the originally slightly less pure Arabian dinar, in late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the solidus also functioned as a unit of weight equal to 1/72 of a pound. The solidus was introduced by Diocletian in AD301 as a replacement of the aureus, composed of solid gold. His minting was on a scale, however, and the coin only entered widespread circulation under Constantine I after AD312. Constantines solidus was struck at a rate of 72 to a Roman pound of gold, each coin weighed 24 Greco-Roman carats. By this time, the solidus was worth 275,000 increasingly debased denarii, with the exception of the early issues of Constantine the Great and the odd usurpers the Solidus today is a much more affordable Gold Roman Coin to collect compared to the Older Aureus. Especially those of Valens Honorius and later Byzantine issues, the solidus was maintained essentially unaltered in weight, dimensions and purity until the 10th century. During the 6th and 7th centuries lightweight solidi of 20,22 or 23 siliquae were struck along with the weight issues. Many of these coins have been found in Europe, Russia and Georgia. The lightweight solidi were distinguished by different markings on the coin, usually in the exergue for the 20 and 22 siliquae coins and by stars in the field for the 23 siliquae coins. In theory the solidus was struck from pure gold, but because of the limits of refining techniques, in the Greek-speaking world during the Roman period, and then in the Byzantine economy, the solidus was known as the νόμισμα nomisma. Initially it was difficult to distinguish the two coins, as they had the design, dimensions and purity, and there were no marks of value to distinguish the denominations. The only difference was the weight, the tetarteron nomisma was a lighter coin, about 4.05 grams, but the histamenon nomisma maintained the traditional weight of 4.5 grams. To eliminate confusion between the two, from the reign of Basil II the solidus was struck as a coin with a larger diameter. From the middle of the 11th century the larger diameter histamenon nomisma was struck on a concave flan, former money changer Michael IV the Paphlagonian assumed the throne of Byzantium in 1034 and began the slow process of debasing both the tetarteron nomisma and the histamenon nomisma. Alexius reformed the coinage in 1092 and eliminated the solidus altogether, in its place he introduced a new gold coin called the hyperpyron nomisma at about 20. 5k fine. The weight, dimensions and purity of the hyperpyron nomisma remained stable until the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders in 1204, after that time the exiled Empire of Nicea continued to strike a debased hyperpyron nomisma
29.
Caesar (title)
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Caesar is a title of imperial character. It derives from the cognomen of Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator, the change from being a familial name to a title adopted by the Roman Emperors can be dated to about AD 68/69, the so-called Year of the Four Emperors. For political and personal reasons Octavian chose to emphasize his relationship with Caesar by styling himself simply Imperator Caesar, without any of the other elements of his full name. His successor as emperor, his stepson Tiberius, also bore the name as a matter of course, born Tiberius Claudius Nero, he was adopted by Caesar Augustus on June 26,4 AD, as Tiberius Julius Caesar. The precedent was set, the Emperor designated his successor by adopting him, Claudius in turn adopted his stepson and grand-nephew Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, giving him the name Caesar in the traditional way, his stepson would rule as the Emperor Nero. Galba helped solidify Caesar as the title of the heir by giving it to his own adopted heir. Galbas reign did not last long and he was deposed by Marcus Otho. Otho did not at first use the title Caesar and occasionally used the title Nero as emperor, Otho was then defeated by Aulus Vitellius who acceded with the name Aulus Vitellius Germanicus Imperator Augustus. Vitellius did not adopt the cognomen Caesar as part of his name, vespasians son, Titus Flavius Vespasianus became Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus. By this point the status of Caesar had been regularised into that of a given to the Emperor-designate. After some variation among the earliest emperors, the style of the Emperor-designate on coins was usually Nobilissimus Caesar Most Noble Caesar, on March 1,293, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus established the Tetrarchy, a system of rule by two senior Emperors and two junior sub-Emperors. The two coequal senior emperors were styled identically to previous Emperors, as Imperator Caesar NN, pius Felix Invictus Augustus, and were called the Augusti, while the two junior sub-Emperors were styled identically to previous Emperors-designate, as Nobilissimus Caesar. Likewise, the junior sub-Emperors retained the title Caesar upon accession to the senior position, an exceptional case was the conferment of the dignity and its insignia to the Bulgarian khan Tervel by Justinian II who had helped him regain his throne in 705. The title was awarded to the brother of Empress Maria of Alania, according to the Klētorologion of 899, the Byzantine Caesars insignia were a crown without a cross, and the ceremony of a Caesars creation, is included in De Ceremoniis I.43. The title remained the highest in the hierarchy until the introduction of the sebastokratōr by Alexios I Komnenos. The title remained in existence through the last centuries of the Empire, in the late Byzantine hierarchy, as recorded in the mid-14th century Book of Offices of pseudo-Kodinos, the rank continued to come after the sebastokratōr. Pseudo-Kodinos writes that the forms of another form of hat, the domed skaranikon, and of the mantle. In the Middle East, the Persians and the Arabs continued to refer to the Roman and Byzantine emperors as Caesar
30.
Great Palace of Constantinople
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It served as the main royal residence of the Eastern Roman or Byzantine emperors from 330 to 1081 and was the center of imperial administration for over 690 years. Only a few remnants and fragments of its foundations have survived into the present day, when Constantine I moved the Roman capital to Constantinople in 330, he planned out a palace for himself and his heirs. The palace was located between the Hippodrome and Hagia Sophia and it was rebuilt and expanded several times during its history. Much of the complex was destroyed during the Nika riots of 532 and was rebuilt lavishly by the emperor Justinian I, further extensions and alterations were commissioned by Justinian II and Basil I. However, it had fallen into disrepair by the time of Constantine VII and it declined substantially during the following century when parts of the complex were demolished or filled with rubble. During the sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade, the Palace was plundered by the soldiers of Boniface of Montferrat, although the subsequent Latin emperors continued to use the Palace complex, they lacked money for its maintenance. The last Latin emperor, Baldwin II, went as far as removing the lead roofs of the Palace, consequently, when the city was retaken by the forces of Michael VIII Palaiologos in 1261, the Great Palace was in disrepair. The Palaiologos emperors largely abandoned it, ruling from Blachernae and using the vaults as a prison, when Mehmed II entered the city in 1453, he found the palace ruined and abandoned. Much of the palace was demolished in the rebuilding of Constantinople in the early years of the Ottoman era. The site of the Great Palace began to be investigated in the late 19th century, on this site prison cells, many large rooms, and possibly tombs were found. Initial excavations were carried out by French archaeologists at the Palace of Manganae between 1921-23, a much larger excavation was carried out by the University of St Andrews in 1935 to 1938. Further excavations took place under the directorship of David Talbot Rice from 1952 to 1954, the archaeologists discovered a spectacular series of wall and floor mosaics which have been conserved in the Great Palace Mosaic Museum. The Palace was located in the corner of the peninsula where Constantinople is situated, behind the Hippodrome. The Palace is considered by scholars to have been a series of pavilions, the total surface area of the Great Palace exceeded 200,000 square feet. It stood on a sloping hillside that descends nearly 33 metres from the Hippodrome to the shoreline. The palace complex occupied six distinct terraces descending to the shore, the main entrance to the Palace quarter was the Chalke gate at the Augustaion. The Augustaion was located on the side of the Hagia Sophia, and it was there that the citys main street. To the east of the lay the Senate house or Palace of Magnaura, where the University was later housed, and to the west the Milion
31.
Helena Lekapene
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Helena Lekapene was the Empress consort of Constantine VII. She was a daughter of Romanos I and his wife Theodora, the deaths of Emperor Leo VI the Wise in 912 and his brother and successor Alexander in 913, left the throne of the Byzantine Empire to Constantine VII. Constantine was only seven years old when he assumed the throne, the Empire was placed in the care of regents. Nicholas Mystikos, Patriarch of Constantinople was the regent until March 914. He was displaced by Zoe Karbonopsina, mother of the young emperor, Zoe reigned with the support of influential general Leo Phocas until 919. However, Leo led the Byzantine army into a series of lost battles against Simeon I of Bulgaria in one campaign of the Byzantine-Bulgarian Wars and this strengthened the opposition to the Regent and her favorite general. In 919, a coup détat involving various factions managed to remove Zoe from power, the new effective regent was Romanos Lekapenos, Drungarios of the Byzantine navy. Romanos orchestrated the marriage of Helena to Constantine VII as a way to secure a connection to the legitimate Macedonian dynasty, the work Theophanes Continuatus was a continuation of the chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor by other writers, active during the reign of her husband. The description of her marriage at the places the event in April or May 919. The groom was still four or five short of his fourteenth birthday. The age of Helena is not recorded but she was also of minor age. They would not have children until the 930s, Romanos was proclaimed basileopatōr on the occasion of the marriage. In September,920, Romanos was invested as kaisar, on 17 December 920, Romanos was crowned co-emperor and in effect became the senior of the two associate emperors. Helena was now married to the junior co-ruler and her mother Theodora was crowned Augusta in January 921 and was her senior in palace hierarchy until her death on 20 February 922. Helena became in effect the senior co-empress of the following the death of her mother. Her brother Christopher Lekapenos became co-emperor in 921, prior to his elevation to the throne, Christopher was married to Sophia, daughter of magistros Niketas. Sophia was crowned empress in February 922, in 924, there was a senior Emperor, two junior emperors and two Empresses. However Romanos crowned two more of his sons as co-emperors, Stephen Lekapenos and Constantine Lekapenos, by 933, Stephen was married to Anna, daughter of Gabalos
32.
Political mutilation in Byzantine culture
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Mutilation in the Byzantine Empire was a common method of punishment for criminals of the era but it also had a role in the empires political life. Some disfigurements practised bore a secondary practical rationale as well, by blinding a rival, one would not only restrict their mobility but make it almost impossible for them to lead an army into battle, then an important part of taking control of the empire. Castration was also used to eliminate potential opponents, in the Byzantine Empire, for a man to be castrated meant that he was no longer a man—half-dead, life that was half death. Castration also eliminated any chance of heirs being born to either the emperor or the emperors childrens place at the throne. Other mutilations were the severing of the nose or the amputating of limbs, the mutilation of political rivals by the emperor was deemed an effective way of side-lining from the line of succession a person who was seen as a threat. In Byzantine culture, the emperor was a reflection of heavenly authority, since God was perfect, the emperor also had to be unblemished, any mutilation, especially facial wounds, would disqualify an individual from taking the throne. An exception was Justinian II, who had his nose cut off when he was overthrown in 695 but was able to become emperor again, in 705. Castration as a punishment for political rivals did not come into use until much later, an example is that of Basil Lekapenos, the illegitimate son of Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos, who was castrated when young. He gained enough power to become parakoimomenos and effective prime minister for three emperors, but could not assume the throne himself. The last to use this method voluntarily was Michael VIII Palaiologos, although some of his successors were forced to use it again by the Ottoman Sultans
33.
Bithynia
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Bithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian Bosporus and the Euxine Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Paphlagonia to the northeast along the Pontic coast, Bithynia was an independent kingdom from the 4th century BC. Its capital Nicomedia was rebuilt on the site of ancient Astacus in 264 BC by Nicomedes I of Bithynia. Bithynia fell to the Roman Republic in 74 BC, and became united with the Pontus region as the province of Bithynia et Pontus and it became a border region to the Seljuk Empire in the 13th century, and was eventually conquered by the Ottoman Turks in the 1330s. Several major cities sat on the shores of the Propontis, Nicomedia, Chalcedon, Cius. Bithynia also contained Nicaea, noted for being the birthplace of the Nicene Creed, on the west and southwest it was separated from Mysia by the river Rhyndacus and on the south it adjoined Phrygia and Galatia. It is occupied by mountains and forests, but has valleys, the most important mountain range is the Mysian Olympus, which towers above Bursa and is clearly visible as far away as Istanbul. Its summits are covered with snow for a part of the year. East of this the range extends for more than 100 miles, both of these ranges are part of the border of mountains which bound the great tableland of Anatolia, Turkey. At its extremity is situated the town of Gemlik at the mouth of a valley, communicating with the lake of Iznik. The Parthenius, the boundary of the province, is a much less considerable stream. The valleys towards the Black Sea abound in fruit trees of all kinds, such as oranges, while the valley of the Sangarius, extensive plantations of mulberry trees supply the silk for which Bursa has long been celebrated, and which is manufactured there on a large scale. Bithynia is named for the Thracian tribe of the Bithyni, mentioned by Herodotus alongside the Thyni, the Thraco-Phrygian migration from the Balkans to Asia Minor would have taken place at some point following the Bronze Age collapse or during the early Iron Age. Herodotus mentions the Thyni and Bithyni as settling side by side, but the last king, Nicomedes IV, was unable to maintain himself in power against Mithridates VI of Pontus. After being restored to his throne by the Roman Senate, he bequeathed his kingdom through his will to the Roman republic, the coinage of these kings show their regal portraits, which tend to be engraved in an extremely accomplished Hellenistic style. As a Roman province, the boundaries of Bithynia changed frequently, during this period, Bithynia was commonly united for administrative purposes with the province of Pontus. Under the Byzantine Empire, Bithynia was again divided into two provinces, separated by the Sangarius, only the area to the west of the river retained the name of Bithynia. Bithynia attracted much attention because of its roads and its position between the frontiers of the Danube in the north and the Euphrates in the south-east
34.
Mule
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A mule is the offspring of a male donkey and a female horse. Horses and donkeys are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes, of the two F1 hybrids between these two species, a mule is easier to obtain than a hinny, which is the offspring of a female donkey and a male horse. The size of a mule and work to which it is put depend largely on the breeding of the female parent. Mules can be lightweight, medium weight, or when produced from draft horse mares, Mules are more patient, hardy and long-lived than horses, and are less obstinate and more intelligent than donkeys. Mules also tend to be more independent than most domesticated equines other than the donkey, the median weight range for a mule is between about 370 and 460 kg. While a few mules can carry live weight up to 160 kg, in general, a mule can be packed with dead weight of up to 20% of its body weight, or approximately 90 kg. Although it depends on the animal, it has been reported that mules trained by the Army of Pakistan can carry up to 72 kilograms. The average equine in general can carry up to approximately 30% of its weight in live weight. A female mule that has estrus cycles and thus, in theory, could carry a fetus, is called a molly or Molly mule, pregnancy is rare, but can occasionally occur naturally as well as through embryo transfer. A male mule is called a horse mule, though often called a john mule. A young male mule is called a colt, and a young female is called a mule filly. With its short thick head, long ears, thin limbs, small narrow hooves, and short mane, in height and body, shape of neck and rump, uniformity of coat, and teeth, it appears horse-like. The mule comes in all sizes, shapes and conformations, there are mules that resemble huge draft horses, sturdy quarter horses, fine-boned racing horses, shaggy ponies and more. The mule is an example of hybrid vigor, charles Darwin wrote, The mule always appears to me a most surprising animal. The mule inherits from its sire the traits of intelligence, sure-footedness, toughness, endurance, disposition, from its dam it inherits speed, conformation, and agility. Mules exhibit a higher intelligence than their parent species. This is also believed to be the result of hybrid vigor, similar to how mules acquire greater height and their hooves are harder than horses, and they show a natural resistance to disease and insects. Many North American farmers with clay soil found mules superior as plow animals, a mule does not sound exactly like a donkey or a horse
35.
Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium
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The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium is a three volume historical dictionary published by the English Oxford University Press. It contains comprehensive information in English on topics relating to the Byzantine Empire and it was edited by Dr. Alexander Kazhdan, and was first published in 1991. Kazhdan was a professor at Princeton University who became a Senior Research Associate at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington and he contributed to many of the articles in the Dictionary and always signed his initials A. K. at the end of the article to indicate his contribution. The dictionary is available in printed and e-reference text versions from Oxford Reference Online and it covers the main historical events of Byzantium, as well as important social and religious events. It also includes biographies of eminent political and literary personalities and describes in detail religious, cultural topics include music, theology and the arts
36.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
37.
Constantine Doukas (usurper)
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Constantine Doukas was a prominent Byzantine general. In 904, he stopped the influential court official Samonas from defecting to the Arabs. In return, Samonas manipulated his father, Andronikos Doukas, into rebelling and fleeing to the Abbasid court in 906/7. Constantine followed his father to Baghdad, but soon escaped and returned to Byzantium, Constantine Doukas was the son of Andronikos Doukas, a prominent general under Emperor Leo VI the Wise and the first prominent member of the Doukas family. Constantine first appears in the sources in 904, during the flight of the Arab-born eunuch Samonas, one of the emperors most trusted aides. Constantine captured Samonas at the Monastery of the Holy Cross at Siricha, near the river Halys, and escorted him back to Constantinople, where an enquiry into the matter was held before the Senate. Leo, who was attached to his servant, enjoined Constantine to maintain that Samonas had in fact been making a pilgrimage to the shrine of Siricha. When the senators however asked Constantine to verify the truth of claim by swearing on God. Samonas was punished by house arrest, and although he was pardoned by Leo after only four months and restored to his offices and this grudge came to the fore in 906, when Samonas tricked Andronikos into refusing to participate in an imperial expedition. Constantine and his father ended up in Baghdad, the Abbasid capital, Constantine however managed to escape Baghdad, and was warmly welcomed back by Leo in a ceremony in the throne room of the Chrysotriklinos. The date of his return to Byzantium is unclear, but must be placed between ca.908 and ca, despite his fathers revolt, the Doukai remained very popular due to their military successes, and prophecies apparently circulated that predicted Constantines rise to the throne. As a result, according to Theophanes Continuatus, Leo warned the man from trying to become emperor. From both positions he fought victoriously against the Arabs, Leo VI died in May 912 and was succeeded by his brother Alexander, who reigned for little over a year before dying in June 913. Thus, at the death of Alexander, with Constantine VII not even eight years old and it was at this point that Constantine Doukas launched a rebellion aiming for the throne. Doukas, enjoying wide support among both the aristocrats and the populace, accepted the summons and headed to Constantinople with a few trusted friends. Already before dawn on the morning, Constantine and his supporters, bearing torches, marched to the Hippodrome. Constantine was duly proclaimed emperor before the people at the Hippodrome, a clash followed, in which many were killed, including Constantines son Gregory, his nephew Michael and his friend Kourtikes. Disheartened, Constantine turned and tried to flee, but his horse slipped, Constantine was killed by an arrow, according to the Life of Euthymius cursing the Patriarch Nicholas as he died
