Kalokyros ( el, Καλοκυρός, died 971) was a pretender to the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

throne during the Rus'–Byzantine War (970–971) in the reigns of Nikephoros II and

John I Tzimiskes John I Tzimiskes (; 925 – 10 January 976) was the senior Byzantine emperor from 969 to 976. An intuitive and successful general, he strengthened the Empire and expanded its borders during his short reign. Background John I Tzimiskes ...

. According to the historians

John Skylitzes John Skylitzes, commonly Latinized as Ioannes, la, Johannes, label=none, la, Iōannēs, label=none Scylitzes ( el, Ἰωάννης Σκυλίτζης, ''Iōánnēs Skylítzēs'', or el, Σκυλίτση, ''Skylítsē'', label=none ; la, ...

and Leo the Deacon, Kalokyros was the son of a ''

strategos ''Strategos'', plural ''strategoi'', Latinized ''strategus'', ( el, στρατηγός, pl. στρατηγοί; Doric Greek: στραταγός, ''stratagos''; meaning "army leader") is used in Greek to mean military general. In the Helleni ...

'' of

Chersonesos Chersonesus ( grc, Χερσόνησος, Khersónēsos; la, Chersonesus; modern Russian and Ukrainian: Херсоне́с, ''Khersones''; also rendered as ''Chersonese'', ''Chersonesos'', contracted in medieval Greek to Cherson Χερσών; ...

. In 967 or 968, Nikephoros II bestowed upon him the title of ''

patrikios The patricians (from la, patricius, Greek: πατρίκιος) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom, and the early Republic, but its relevance waned aft ...

'' and dispatched him to the court of

Sviatoslav I of Kiev ; (943 – 26 March 972), also spelled Svyatoslav, was Grand Prince of Kiev famous for his persistent campaigns in the east and south, which precipitated the collapse of two great powers of Eastern Europe, Khazars, Khazaria and the First Bulgarian E ...

in order to persuade him to launch an invasion of the

First Bulgarian Empire The First Bulgarian Empire ( cu, блъгарьско цѣсарьствиѥ, blagarysko tsesarystviye; bg, Първо българско царство) was a medieval Bulgar- Slavic and later Bulgarian state that existed in Southeastern Eur ...

, with which Byzantium was at war. Kalokyros was to pay Sviatoslav 15,000 pounds of gold to defray the expense of the voyage. The Greek historians also allege that Sviatoslav agreed to support Kalokyros in his ambition of gaining the imperial throne, while Kalokyros promised to reward Sviatoslav with "great, incalculable treasures from the imperial coffers" and to acknowledge his conquest of Bulgaria. During the following Rus'–Byzantine conflict, Kalokyros (whom Sviatoslav reportedly loved and respected as his own brother) was captured by the Byzantines at Preslav and put to death. The Rus' mission of Kalokyros may be the subject of an obscure record inscribed on the blank pages of a 10th-century Byzantine codex. In this document, a Greek

toparch ''Toparchēs'' ( el, τοπάρχης, "place-ruler"), anglicized as toparch, is a Greek term for a governor or ruler of a district and was later applied to the territory where the toparch exercised his authority. In Byzantine times the term came t ...

recounts his passage through the hostile country north of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

sometime between 964 and 967. A. N. Sakharov believes that the document describes Kalokyros's return from Kiev through

Berezan Island Berezan (Cyrillic: Береза́нь; Ancient Greek: Borysthenes; former tr, Pirezin) is an island in the Black Sea at the entrance of the Dnieper-Bug Estuary, Ochakiv Raion, Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine. Located 8 kilometers from the city of O ...

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...

, although the accuracy of this interpretation is open to question.

References

* Andrey Nikolayevich Sakharov. ''The Diplomacy of Svyatoslav''. Moscow: International Relations, 1982. * Fyodor Uspensky. ''The History of the Byzantine Empire'', vol. 2. Moscow: Mysl, 1997. 10th-century births 971 deaths 10th-century Byzantine people 10th century in Kievan Rus' Byzantine usurpers Patricii