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Macedonian Dynasty
The Macedonian dynasty (Greek: Μακεδονική Δυναστεία) ruled the Byzantine Empire from 867 to 1056, following the Amorian dynasty. During this period, the Byzantine state reached its greatest extent since the Muslim conquests, and the Macedonian Renaissance in letters and arts began. The dynasty was named after its founder, Basil I the Macedonian who came from the theme of Macedonia, which, at the time, was part of Thrace. Origins The dynasty's ethnic origin is unknown, and has been a subject of debate. During Basil's reign, an elaborate genealogy was produced that purported that his ancestors were not mere peasants, as everyone believed, but descendants of the Arsacid (Arshakuni) kings of Armenia, and also of Constantine the Great. Some Persian writers such as Hamza al-Isfahani or Al-Tabari, called Basil a ''Saqlabi'', an ethnogeographic term that usually denoted the Slavs, but it can be interpreted as a generic term encompassing the inhabitants of the region ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basil I In The Madrid Skylitzes
Basil (, ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' , also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" refers to the variety also known as sweet basil or Genovese basil. Basil is native to tropical regions from Central Africa to Southeast Asia. In temperate climates basil is treated as an annual plant, however, basil can be grown as a short-lived perennial or biennial in warmer horticultural zones with tropical or Mediterranean climates. There are many varieties of basil including sweet basil, Thai basil (''O. basilicum'' var. ''thyrsiflora''), and Mrs. Burns' Lemon (''O. basilicum var. citriodora''). ''O. basilicum'' can cross-pollinate with other species of the ''Ocimum'' genus, producing hybrids such as lemon basil (''O. × citriodorum'') and African blue basil (''O. × kilimandscharicum''). Etymology The name "basil" comes from the Latin , and the Greek (), m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armenians
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora of around five million people of full or partial Armenian ancestry living outside modern Armenia. The largest Armenian populations today exist in Russia, the United States, France, Georgia, Iran, Germany, Ukraine, Lebanon, Brazil, and Syria. With the exceptions of Iran and the former Soviet states, the present-day Armenian diaspora was formed mainly as a result of the Armenian genocide. Richard G. Hovannisian, ''The Armenian people from ancient to modern times: the fifteenth century to the twentieth century'', Volume 2, p. 421, Palgrave Macmillan, 1997. Armenian is an Indo-European language. It has two mutually intelligible spoken and written forms: Eastern Armenian, today spoken mainly in Armenia, Artsakh, Iran, and the former Soviet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cappadocian
Cappadocian Greeks also known as Greek Cappadocians ( el, Έλληνες-Καππαδόκες, Ελληνοκαππαδόκες, Καππαδόκες; tr, Kapadokyalı Rumlar) or simply Cappadocians are an ethnic Greek community native to the geographical region of Cappadocia in central-eastern Anatolia, roughly the Nevşehir Province and surrounding provinces of modern Turkey. There had been a continuous Greek presence in Cappadocia since antiquity, and the indigenous populations of Cappadocia, some of whose Indo-European languages may have been closely related to Greek, (cf. Phrygian) became entirely Greek-speaking by at least the 5th century. In the 11th century Seljuq Turks arriving from Central Asia conquered the region, beginning its gradual shift in language and religion. According to 1897 estimations, the sanjak of Konya had a total Greek population of 68,101 and according to Ottoman population statistics of 1914, the sanjak of Niğde had a total Greek population of 5 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nikephoros II Phokas
Nikephoros II Phokas (; – 11 December 969), Latinized Nicephorus II Phocas, was Byzantine emperor from 963 to 969. His career, not uniformly successful in matters of statecraft or of war, nonetheless included brilliant military exploits which contributed to the resurgence of the Byzantine Empire during the 10th century. In the east, Nikephoros completed the conquest of Cilicia and even retook the islands of Crete and Cyprus, thus opening the path for subsequent Byzantine incursions reaching as far as Upper Mesopotamia and the Levant; these campaigns earned him the sobriquet "pale death of the Saracens". Meanwhile in the west, he inflamed conflict with the Bulgarians and saw Sicily completely turn over to the Muslims, while he failed to make any serious gains in Italy following the incursions of Otto I. At home, Nikephoros' administrative policies caused controversy. He financed his wars with increased taxes both on the people and on the church, while maintaining unpopular th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romanos II
Romanos II Porphyrogenitus ( gr, Ρωμανός, 938 – 15 March 963) was Byzantine Emperor from 959 to 963. He succeeded his father Constantine VII at the age of twenty-one and died suddenly and mysteriously four years later. His son Basil II the Bulgar slayer would ultimately succeed him in 976. Life Romanos II was a son of the Emperor Constantine VII and Helena Lekapene, the daughter of Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos and his wife Theodora. The ''Theophanes Continuatus'' states that he was 21 years old at the time of his accession in 963, meaning that he was born in 938. Named after his maternal grandfather, Romanos was married, as a child, to Bertha, the illegitimate daughter of Hugh of Arles, King of Italy, to bond an alliance. She had changed her name to Eudokia after their marriage, but died an early death in 949 before producing an heir, thus never becoming a real marriage, and dissolving the alliance. On 27 January 945, Constantine VII succeeded in removing his bro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romanos I Lekapenos
Romanos I Lekapenos ( el, Ρωμανός Λεκαπηνός; 870 – 15 June 948), Latinisation of names, Latinized as Romanus I Lecapenus, was Byzantine emperor from 920 until his deposition in 944, serving as regent for the infant Constantine VII. Origin Romanos Lekapenos, born in Lakape (later Laqabin (West Syriac diocese), Laqabin) between Melitene and Samosata (hence the name), was the son of an Armenian peasant with the remarkable name of Theophylact the Unbearable (Theophylaktos Abastaktos). However, according to the Byzantinist Anthony Kaldellis, Romanos is discussed in many Byzantine sources, but none of them calls him an Armenian. His father came from humble origin and that's the reason he was assumed to have been Armenian. This alleged ethnicity has been repeated so often in literature that it has acquired the status of a known fact, even though it is based on the most tenuous of indirect connections. Nevertheless, his father Theophylact, as a soldier, had rescued the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constantine VII
Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Karbonopsina, and the nephew of his predecessor Alexander. Most of his reign was dominated by co-regents: from 913 until 919 he was under the regency of his mother, while from 920 until 945 he shared the throne with Romanos Lekapenos, whose daughter Helena he married, and his sons. Constantine VII is best known for the ''Geoponika'' (τά γεοπονικά), an important agronomic treatise compiled during his reign, and three, perhaps four, books; ''De Administrando Imperio'' (bearing in Greek the heading Πρὸς τὸν ἴδιον υἱὸν Ῥωμανόν), '' De Ceremoniis'' (Περὶ τῆς Βασιλείου Τάξεως), '' De Thematibus'' (Περὶ θεμάτων Άνατολῆς καὶ Δύσεως), and ''Vita Basilii'' ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Of Byzantium
Alexander Porphyrogenitus ( gr, Αλέξανδρος, ''Alexandros'', 23 November 8706 June 913) was briefly Byzantine emperor from 912 to 913, and the third emperor of the Macedonian dynasty. Life Alexander was the third son of Emperor Basil I and Eudokia Ingerina. Unlike his older brother Leo VI the Wise, his paternity was not disputed between Basil I and Michael III because he was born years after the death of Michael. As a child, Alexander was crowned as co-emperor by his father in early 879, following the death of Basil's son Constantine. Upon the death of his brother Leo on 11 May 912, Alexander succeeded as senior emperor alongside Leo's young son Constantine VII. He was the first Byzantine emperor to use the term "''autocrator''" () on coinage to celebrate the ending of his thirty-three years as co-emperor. Alexander promptly dismissed most of Leo's advisers and appointees, including the admiral Himerios, the patriarch Euthymios, and the Empress Zoe Karbonopsina, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leo VI The Wise
Leo VI, called the Wise ( gr, Λέων ὁ Σοφός, Léōn ho Sophós, 19 September 866 – 11 May 912), was Byzantine Emperor from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty (although his parentage is unclear), he was very well read, leading to his epithet. During his reign, the renaissance of letters, begun by his predecessor Basil I, continued; but the Empire also saw several military defeats in the Balkans against Bulgaria and against the Arabs in Sicily and the Aegean. His reign also witnessed the formal discontinuation of several ancient Roman institutions, such as the separate office of Roman consul. Early life Born on 19 September 866 to the empress Eudokia Ingerina, Leo was either the illegitimate son of Emperor Michael III or the second son of Michael's successor, Basil I the Macedonian. Eudokia was both Michael III's mistress and Basil's wife. In 867, Michael was assassinated by Basil, who succeeded him as emperor. As the second-eldest son of the Emp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael III
Michael III ( grc-gre, Μιχαήλ; 9 January 840 – 24 September 867), also known as Michael the Drunkard, was Byzantine Emperor from 842 to 867. Michael III was the third and traditionally last member of the Amorian (or Phrygian) dynasty. He was given the disparaging epithet ''the Drunkard'' () by the hostile historians of the succeeding Macedonian dynasty, but modern historical research has rehabilitated his reputation to some extent, demonstrating the vital role his reign played in the resurgence of Byzantine power in the 9th century. He was also the youngest person to bear the imperial title, as well as the youngest to succeed as senior emperor. Life Early life and regency Michael was the youngest child of the emperor Theophilos and his empress Theodora. His precise date of birth is uncertain, but the balance of available evidence supports a birthdate in early 840, probably on 9 or 10 January. He was crowned co-emperor soon after, probably on 16 May of the same year ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eudokia Ingerina
Eudokia (or Eudocia) Ingerina ( el, Ευδοκία Ιγγερίνα) (c. 840 – c. 882) was a Byzantine Empress as the wife of the Byzantine emperor Basil I, the mistress of his predecessor Michael III, and the mother of emperors Leo VI and Alexander, as well as the mother of Patriarch Stephen I of Constantinople. Family Eudokia was the daughter of Inger, who was probably a Varangian, while her mother was a member of a prominent Greek family, the Martinakoi, who claimed imperial ancestry, or according to a later alternative reconstruction by Christian Settipani, her connection to the Martinakoi came through her father, whom he identifies as a Byzantine noble, Inger Martinakios, ''logothete''. Life Because her family was iconoclastic, the Empress Mother Theodora strongly disapproved of them. Around 855, Eudokia became the mistress of Theodora's son, Michael III, who thus incurred the anger of his mother and the powerful minister Theoktistos. Unable to risk a major scandal by lea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Basil I
Basil I, called the Macedonian ( el, Βασίλειος ὁ Μακεδών, ''Basíleios ō Makedṓn'', 811 – 29 August 886), was a Byzantine Emperor who reigned from 867 to 886. Born a lowly peasant in the theme of Macedonia, he rose in the Imperial court. He entered into the service of Theophilitzes, a relative of Emperor Michael III (r. 842–867), and was given a fortune by the wealthy Danielis. He gained the favour of Michael III, whose mistress he married on the emperor's orders, and was proclaimed co-emperor in 866. He ordered the assassination of Michael the next year. Despite his humble origins, he showed great ability in running the affairs of state. He was the founder of the Macedonian dynasty. He was succeeded upon his death by his son (perhaps actually Michael III's son) Leo VI. From peasant to emperor Basil was born to peasant parents in late 811 (or sometime in the 830s in the estimation of some scholars) at Chariopolis in the Byzantine theme of Macedonia (an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
