Tzitzak (; died 750), baptised Irene (), was a

Khazar The Khazars ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a nomadic Turkic people who, in the late 6th century CE, established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia, southern Ukraine, Crimea, an ...

princess Princess is a title used by a female member of a regnant monarch's family or by a female ruler of a principality. The male equivalent is a prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for ...

, the daughter of ''

khagan Khagan or Qaghan (Middle Mongol:; or ''Khagan''; ) or zh, c=大汗, p=Dàhán; ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakhan, Khaqan, Xagahn, Qaghan, Chagan, Қан, or Kha'an is a title of empire, im ...

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

, who became empress by marriage to Eastern Roman Emperor

Constantine V Constantine V (; July 718 – 14 September 775) was Byzantine emperor from 741 to 775. His reign saw a consolidation of Byzantine security from external threats. As an able military leader, Constantine took advantage of Third Fitna, civil war ...

(r. 741–775).

Etymology

According to Gyula Moravcsik, ''Tzitzak'' is most likely a Hellenized version of a Turkic word descending from

Proto-Turkic Proto-Turkic is the linguistic reconstruction of the common ancestor of the Turkic languages that was spoken by the Proto-Turks before their divergence into the various Turkic peoples. Proto-Turkic separated into Oghur (western) and Common Tu ...

* and cognate with Chuvash and Turkish , all meaning 'flower'. However,

Marcel Erdal Marcel Erdal (born 8 July 1945) is a linguist and Turkologist. He is Head of the Turcology department at the Goethe University in Frankfurt. He graduated from Istanbul's Robert College in 1963. Publications * ''The Turkic Nagy-Szent-Miklos Ins ...

notes that

Constantine VII Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (; 17 May 905 – 9 November 959) was the fourth Byzantine emperor of the Macedonian dynasty, reigning from 6 June 913 to 9 November 959. He was the son of Emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife, Zoe Karbonopsina, an ...

used ''tzitzak'' to denote the empress's garment and deems Moravcsik's idea that Tzitzak was her personal name "far-fetched". Therefore, Erdal thinks that ''tzitzak'' more likely described the colourfulness of the empress's garment; Erdal additionally reminds readers of Hebrew ṣiṣiṯ 'fringed Jewish ceremonial shawl' and 'fringes'.Erdal, Marcel, "The Khazar Language" in ''The World of the Khazars''. Brill, 2007. p. 80, n. 22

Life

In 732, the

Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

was under threat of invasion from the

Umayyad Caliphate The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a member o ...

. Seeking allies,

Leo III the Isaurian Leo III the Isaurian (; 685 – 18 June 741), also known as the Syrian, was the first List of Byzantine emperors, Byzantine emperor of the Isaurian dynasty from 717 until his death in 741. He put an end to the Twenty Years' Anarchy, a period o ...

sent an embassy to

, ''

Khagan Khagan or Qaghan (Middle Mongol:; or ''Khagan''; ) or zh, c=大汗, p=Dàhán; ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakhan, Khaqan, Xagahn, Qaghan, Chagan, Қан, or Kha'an is a title of empire, im ...

'' of the

Khazars The Khazars ; 突厥可薩 ''Tūjué Kěsà'', () were a nomadic Turkic people who, in the late 6th century CE, established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia, southern Ukraine, Crimea, a ...

. The alliance was sealed with the marriage of Tzitzak to

, son and junior co-ruler of Leo. Tzitzak was escorted to

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

for her marriage. Constantine was about fourteen years old, while Tzitzak may have been even younger as she would not give birth for eighteen years. Tzitzak became a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

under the

baptism Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

al name

Irene Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), Greek for "peace". Irene, and related names, may refer to: * Irene (given name) Places * Irene, Gauteng, South Africa * Irene, South Dakota, United States * Irene, Texas, United States ...

. Tzitzak's wedding gown became famous, starting a new fashion craze in Constantinople for male robes called '' tzitzakia''.

Empress

The chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor records that Tzitzak learned to read

religious text Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They often feature a compilation or discussion of beliefs, ritual practices, moral commandments and ...

s. He describes her as pious and contrasts her with the "impiety" of her father-in-law and husband: 'she learned Holy Scripture and lived piously, thus reproving the impiety of those men eo and Constantine. The emperors Leo III and Constantine V were iconoclasts while Theophanes was an

iconodule Iconodulism (also iconoduly or iconodulia) designates the religious service to icons (kissing and honourable veneration, incense, and candlelight). The term comes from Neoclassical Greek εἰκονόδουλος (''eikonodoulos'') (from – '' ...

monk. His praise probably reflected the fact that Irene herself shared his views."Irene, wife of Constantine V" (2000)
/ref> It is uncertain whether her mother-in-law Maria was still the senior empress at the time of Tzitzak's marriage. Leo III died on 18 June 741. Constantine V succeeded him with Irene as empress. However, civil war broke out almost immediately as

Artabasdos Artabasdos or Artavasdos ( or , from , , ), Latinized as Artabasdus, was a Byzantine general of Armenian descent who seized the throne from June 741 until November 743, in usurpation of the reign of Constantine V. Rise to power In about 713, ...

, brother-in-law of Constantine, claimed the throne for himself. The civil war lasted until 2 November 743. The role of Irene in the war is not described by Theophanes. On 25 January 750, Constantine and Tzitzak had a son, Leo, who would succeed his father as Emperor Leo IV—better known as "Leo the Khazar". Leo's birth is the last mention of Irene in the historical record. By the following year, Constantine was already married to his second wife Maria.

Lynda Garland Lynda Garland (born 13 October 1955) is a scholar and professor at the University of Queensland. Her research focuses on female images in the Late Antiquity period and Byzantine Society. Biography Professor Lynda Garland is currently the Hono ...

has suggested Tzitzak died in childbirth.

References

Bibliography

* Kevin Alan Brook. ''The Jews of Khazaria.'' 2nd ed. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2006. * Douglas M. Dunlop. ''The History of the Jewish Khazars,'' Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1954. * ''The

Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium The ''Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium'' (ODB) is a three-volume historical dictionary published by the English Oxford University Press. With more than 5,000 entries, it contains comprehensive information in English on topics relating to the Byzan ...

'', Oxford University Press, 1991. {{Roman empresses 8th-century births 750 deaths Deaths in childbirth Khazar people Isaurian dynasty 8th-century Byzantine empresses 740s in the Byzantine Empire 8th-century Byzantine people Mothers of Byzantine emperors