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Gregory The Patrician
Gregory the Patrician ( el, Γρηγόριος, Grēgórios; la, Flavius Gregorius, died 647) was a Byzantine Empire, Byzantine Exarch of Africa (modern Tunisia, eastern Algeria and western Libya). A relative of the ruling Heraclian dynasty, Gregory was fiercely pro-Chalcedonian and led a rebellion in 646 against Emperor Constans II over the latter's support for Monothelism. Soon after declaring himself emperor, he faced an Rashidun Caliphate, Arab invasion in 647. He confronted the invaders but was decisively Battle of Sufetula (647), defeated and killed at Sbeitla, Sufetula. Exarch of Africa, Africa returned to imperial allegiance after his death and the Arabs' withdrawal, but the foundations of Byzantine rule there had been fatally undermined. Biography Gregory the Patrician was related by blood to Emperor Heraclius (r. 610–641) and his grandson Constans II (r. 641–668), and was possibly the son of Heraclius' cousin Nicetas (cousin of Heraclius), Niketas.Hollingsworth (1991 ...
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Usurper
A usurper is an illegitimate or controversial claimant to power, often but not always in a monarchy. In other words, one who takes the power of a country, city, or established region for oneself, without any formal or legal right to claim it as one's own. Usurpers can rise to power in a region by often unexpected physical force, as well as through political influence and deceit. Etymology The word originally came from the Latin word ''usurpare'' (“to seize", "to take forcefully" or "to use”). Politics The Greeks had their own conception of what usurpers were, calling them tyrants. In the ancient Greek usage, a tyrant (''tyrannos''/''τύραννος'' in Greek) was an individual who rose to power via unconstitutional or illegitimate means, usually not being an heir to an existing throne. Such individuals were perceived negatively by political philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Usurpers often try to legitimize their position by claiming to be a descendant ...
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Theophanes The Confessor
Theophanes the Confessor ( el, Θεοφάνης Ὁμολογητής; c. 758/760 – 12 March 817/818) was a member of the Byzantine aristocracy who became a monk and chronicler. He served in the court of Emperor Leo IV the Khazar before taking up the religious life. Theophanes attended the Second Council of Nicaea in 787 and resisted the iconoclasm of Leo V the Armenian, for which he was imprisoned. He died shortly after his release. Theophanes the Confessor, venerated on 12 March in both the Eastern Orthodox and the Roman Catholic churches, should not be confused with Theophanes of Nicaea, whose feast is commemorated on 11 October. Biography Theophanes was born in Constantinople of wealthy and noble iconodule parents: Isaac, governor of the islands of the Aegean Sea, and Theodora, of whose family nothing is known. His father died when Theophanes was three years old, and the Byzantine Emperor Constantine V (740–775) subsequently saw to the boy's education and upbringing at t ...
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Al-Tabari
( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari is known for his historical works and his expertise in Qur'anic exegesis (), but he has also been described as "an impressively prolific polymath".Lindsay Jones (ed.), ''Encyclopedia of religion'', volume 13, Macmillan Reference USA, 2005, p. 8943 He wrote works on a diverse range of subjects, including world history, poetry, lexicography, grammar, ethics, mathematics, and medicine. His most influential and best known works are his Quranic commentary, known in Arabic as , and his historical chronicle called ''History of the Prophets and Kings'' (), often referred to as ("al-Tabari's History"). Al-Tabari followed the Shafi'i madhhab for nearly a decade before he developed his own interpretation of Islamic jurisprudence. His understanding ...
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Charles Diehl
Charles Diehl (; 19 January 1859 – 1 November 1944) was a French historian born in Strasbourg. He was a leading authority on Byzantine art and history. Biography He received his education at the École Normale Supérieure, and later taught classes on Byzantine history at the Sorbonne. He was member of the École française de Rome (1881–1883) and the École française d'Athènes. In 1910 he became a member of the ''Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres'' (elected president in 1921). He died in Paris. Legacy The Karolou Dil Street in the city of Thessaloniki (Greece) was named after Charles Diehl. The street is located near the Byzantine church of Hagia Sophia that was restored by him between 1907 and 1909. Honours and awards Honorary degrees * Harvard University * Université libre de Bruxelles * University of Belgrade * University of Bucharest * National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Prizes * Montyon Prize (1981) * Marcelin-Guérin Prize (1907) * Grand ...
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Muslim Conquest Of Egypt
The Muslim conquest of Egypt, led by the army of 'Amr ibn al-'As, took place between 639 and 646 AD and was overseen by the Rashidun Caliphate. It ended the seven-century-long period of Roman Egypt, Roman reign over Egypt that began in 30 BC. Byzantine rule in the country had been shaken, as Egypt had been Sasanian conquest of Egypt, conquered and occupied for a decade by the Sasanian Empire in 618–629, before being recovered by the Byzantine emperor Heraclius. The caliphate took advantage of Byzantines' exhaustion and captured Egypt ten years after its reconquest by Heraclius. During the mid-630s, the Romans had already lost the Levant and its Ghassanid allies in Arabia to the Caliphate. The loss of the prosperous province of Egypt and the defeat of the Byzantine armies severely weakened the empire, resulting in further territorial losses in the centuries to come. Background With the death of Muhammad in 632 AD, the Muslim world began a period of rapid expansion. Under the ...
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Europe Around 650
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. Comprising the westernmost peninsulas of Eurasia, it shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with both Africa and Asia. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and Asia to the east. Europe is commonly considered to be separated from Asia by the watershed of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Greater Caucasus, the Black Sea and the waterways of the Turkish Straits. "Europe" (pp. 68–69); "Asia" (pp. 90–91): "A commonly accepted division between Asia and Europe ... is formed by the Ural Mountains, Ural River, Caspian Sea, Caucasus Mountains, and the Black Sea wit ...
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Heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ... teachings, but is also used of views strongly opposed to any generally accepted ideas. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. The term is used particularly in reference to Heresy in Christianity, Christianity, Heresy in Judaism, Judaism, and Bid‘ah, Islam. In certain historical Christian, Muslim, and Jewish cultures, among others, espousing ideas deemed heretical has been (and in some cases still is) met with censure ranging from excommunication to the death penalty. Heresy is distinct ...
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Synod
A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word ''wikt:synod, synod'' comes from the meaning "assembly" or "meeting" and is analogous with the Latin word meaning "council". Originally, synods were meetings of bishops, and the word is still used in that sense in Roman Catholic Church, Catholicism, Oriental Orthodoxy and Eastern Orthodoxy. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not. It is also sometimes used to refer to a church that is governed by a synod. Sometimes the phrase "general synod" or "general council" refers to an ecumenical council. The word ''synod'' also refers to the standing council of high-ranking bishops governing some of the autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches. Similarly, the day-to-day governance of patriarchal and major archbishop, major arch ...
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Patriarch Pyrrhus Of Constantinople
Pyrrhus (Greek: Πύρρος, ? – 1 June 654) was the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople from 20 December 638 to 29 September 641, and again from 9 January to 1 June 654. He was a supporter of Monotheletism, a christological doctrine propounded by the Emperor Heraclius. In 638, with the support of Heraclius, he was elected to the patriarchal throne. In the unrest following the death of Heraclius, he was accused of plotting against the life of Emperor Constantine III with Empress Martina to favor her son, Heraklonas. The army and the populace rose in revolt and the powerful Valentinus deposed and banished Pyrrhus to Africa. Soon after, Martina and Heraklonas were also deposed and exiled; Constans II, Constantine's son, was proclaimed the sole emperor. While in exile, in 645 he conducted with Maximus the Confessor a public discussion on faith (''Disputatio cum Pyrrho''), after which he rejected Monothelitism, and visited Rome in 647. From there he continued to Ravenna and ...
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Ecumenical Patriarch Of Constantinople
The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), New Rome and '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of the several autocephalous churches which compose the Eastern Orthodox Church. The ecumenical patriarch is regarded as the representative and spiritual leader of many Orthodox Christians worldwide. The term ''ecumenical'' in the title is a historical reference to the Ecumene, a Greek designation for the civilised world, i.e. the Roman Empire, and it stems from Canon 28 of the Council of Chalcedon. The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople is one of the most enduring institutions in the world and has had a prominent part in world history. The ecumenical patriarchs in ancient times helped in the spread of Christianity and the resolution of various doctrinal disputes. In the Middle Ages they played a major role in the affairs of the Eastern ...
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Maximus The Confessor
Maximus the Confessor ( el, Μάξιμος ὁ Ὁμολογητής), also spelt Maximos, otherwise known as Maximus the Theologian and Maximus of Constantinople ( – 13 August 662), was a Christian monk, theologian, and scholar. In his early life, Maximus was a civil servant, and an aide to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius. He gave up this life in the political sphere to enter the monastic life. Maximus had studied diverse schools of philosophy, and certainly what was common for his time, the Platonic dialogues, the works of Aristotle, and numerous later Platonic commentators on Aristotle and Plato, like Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, and Proclus. When one of his friends began espousing the Christological position known as Monothelitism, Maximus was drawn into the controversy, in which he supported an interpretation of the Chalcedonian formula on the basis of which it was asserted that Jesus had both a human and a divine will. Maximus is venerated in both the Catholic and Ea ...
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Carthage
Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classical world. The city developed from a Canaanite Phoenician colony into the capital of a Punic empire which dominated large parts of the Southwest Mediterranean during the first millennium BC. The legendary Queen Alyssa or Dido, originally from Tyre, is regarded as the founder of the city, though her historicity has been questioned. According to accounts by Timaeus of Tauromenium, she purchased from a local tribe the amount of land that could be covered by an oxhide. As Carthage prospered at home, the polity sent colonists abroad as well as magistrates to rule the colonies. The ancient city was destroyed in the nearly-three year siege of Carthage by the Roman Republic during the Third Punic War in 146 BC and then re-developed as Roman Car ...
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