Peter of Goulaion ( gr, Πέτρος τοῦ Γουλαίου or ὁ Γουλαιάτης, Petros tou Goulaiou/ho Goulaiates) was a

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 ...

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

of the early 9th century, who was used by Emperor

Nikephoros I Nikephoros I or Nicephorus I ( gr, Νικηφόρος; 750 – 26 July 811) was Byzantine emperor from 802 to 811. Having served Empress Irene as '' genikos logothetēs'', he subsequently ousted her from power and took the throne himself. In r ...

as envoy. He was abbot ('' hegumenos'') of the monastery of Goulaion, whose exact location and identity are not known. He is commonly identified with the ''Petrus abbas'' who was one of the leaders (along with ''Michahel episcopus'', identified with Michael of Synnada) of an embassy sent by Nikephoros I to

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

in 802/3. In 806, during the invasion of Asia Minor by the

Abbasid The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

caliph

Harun al-Rashid Abu Ja'far Harun ibn Muhammad al-Mahdi ( ar , أبو جعفر هارون ابن محمد المهدي) or Harun ibn al-Mahdi (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Harun al-Rashid ( ar, هَارُون الرَشِيد, translit=Hārūn ...

, Peter and Michael, along with Gregory, the steward of Amastris, were sent to the Caliph to propose negotiate a peace. He may also be identifiable with the unnamed abbot of Goulaion, who according to

Theodore Stoudites Theodore the Studite ( grc-x-medieval, Θεόδωρος ό Στουδίτης; 759–826), also known as Theodorus Studita and Saint Theodore of Stoudios/Studium, was a Byzantine Greek monk and abbot of the Stoudios Monastery in Constantinople. He ...

abandoned the veneration of icons in , but later () returned to an iconophile position.

References

Sources

* * {{Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit , volume = online 9th-century Byzantine monks Byzantine diplomats Byzantine Iconoclasm Year of birth unknown Byzantine people of the Arab–Byzantine wars Ambassadors of the Byzantine Empire to the Abbasid Caliphate Byzantine Empire–Carolingian Empire relations 9th-century diplomats