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John Taronites (sebastos)
John Taronites ( el, Ἰωάννης Ταρωνίτης, born c. 1067) was a Byzantine aristocrat who served as provincial governor in the Balkans under his uncle, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Biography His father, the ''panhypersebastos'' Michael Taronites, belonged to the aristocratic family of the Taronitai, a clan of princely Armenian origin from Taron. In ca. 1061–1063 he married Maria Komnene, the oldest daughter of the ''megas domestikos'' John Komnenos and Anna Dalassene, and oldest sister of Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118). John was the couple's oldest son, and was probably born in ca. 1067. At some unknown date, probably ca. 1092/93, Taronites was military governor ('' doux'') of Skopje, as indicated by his correspondence with Theophylact of Ohrid. In summer 1094 his father was dismissed and banished for his involvement in the conspiracy of Nikephoros Diogenes against Emperor Alexios, but the affair does not appear to have affected Taronites' standing and career. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Constantinople. It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. During most of its existence, the empire remained the most powerful economic, cultural, and military force in Europe. The terms "Byzantine Empire" and "Eastern Roman Empire" were coined after the end of the realm; its citizens continued to refer to their empire as the Roman Empire, and to themselves as Romans—a term which Greeks continued to use for themselves into Ottoman times. Although the Roman state continued and its traditions were maintained, modern historians prefer to differentiate the Byzantine Empire from Ancient R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nikephoros Melissenos
Nikephoros Melissenos ( el, Νικηφόρος Μελισσηνός, – 17 November 1104), Latinized as Nicephorus Melissenus, was a Byzantine general and aristocrat. Of distinguished lineage, he served as a governor and general in the Balkans and Asia Minor in the 1060s. In the turbulent period after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, when several generals tried to seize the throne for themselves, Melissenos remained loyal to Michael VII Doukas and was exiled by his successor Nikephoros III Botaneiates. In 1080–1081, with Turkish aid, he seized control of what remained of Byzantine Asia Minor and proclaimed himself emperor against Botaneiates. After the revolt of his brother-in-law Alexios I Komnenos, however, which succeeded in taking Constantinople, he submitted to him, accepting the rank of '' Caesar'' and the governance of Thessalonica. He remained loyal to Alexios thereafter, participating in most Byzantine campaigns of the period 1081–1095 in the Balkans at the empe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thessalonica (theme)
The Theme of Thessalonica ( el, Θέμα Θεσσαλονίκης) was a military-civilian province (''thema'' or theme) of the Byzantine Empire located in the southern Balkans, comprising varying parts of Central and Western Macedonia and centred on Thessalonica, the Empire's second-most important city. History In Late Antiquity, Thessalonica was the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia and of the Diocese of Macedonia, and the seat of the praetorian prefect of Illyricum. With the loss of most of the Balkan hinterland to the Slavic and Bulgar invasions in the 7th century, however, the authority of the prefect (in Greek ''eparchos'', " eparch") was largely confined to the city and its immediate surroundings. The eparch continued to govern Thessalonica until the early 9th century, when he was replaced by a ''strategos'' at the head of the new theme of Thessalonica. The ''strategos'' of Thessalonica is attested for the first time in 836, but a letter of Emperor Michael II ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Strymon (theme)
The Theme of Strymon ( el, θέμα Στρυμόνος) was a Byzantine military-civilian province ( theme) located in modern Greek Macedonia, with the city of Serres as its capital. Founded probably by the mid-to-late 9th century, its history as an administrative history was chequered, being variously split up and/or united with neighbouring themes. Location The theme covered the region between the Strymon and Nestos rivers, between the Rhodope mountains and the Aegean Sea. The area was strategically important. Not only did the theme control the exits to the mountain passes from the Slav-dominated interior of the Balkans into the coastal plains of Macedonia, but it was transversed by the great ''Via Egnatia'' highway, which linked Byzantine-controlled Thrace with Thessalonica, the Empire's second-largest city.. The region was peopled predominantly with Slavs from the late 7th century on, and retained a significant Slavic population at least until the 11th century.. Its main cit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boleron
Boleron ( el, Βολερόν) was the name of a region and a Byzantine province in southwestern Thrace during the Middle Ages. The region is first mentioned in the mid-9th century ''Life of Saint Gregory of Dekapolis'', and designated the area enclosed between the Nestos River in the west, the Rhodope Mountains to the north, the Korpiles defile to the east, and the Aegean Sea to the south. In the early 11th century, it became a distinct administrative unit, but had a chequered history: a ''dioikesis'' (fiscal district) in 1047, it is attested as a separate theme—with at least two known ''banda'', Mosynopolis and Peritheorion—in 1083, but most often it is found as part of a composite province along with the older themes of Thessalonica and Strymon. After the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire following the Fourth Crusade, the region fell to the Kingdom of Thessalonica and followed its fortunes until its conquest by the Empire of Nicaea. In ca. 1246, John III Vatatzes reco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Macedonia (theme)
The Theme of Macedonia ( el, θέμα Μακεδονίας) was a military-civilian province ( theme) of the Byzantine Empire established between the late 8th century and the early 9th century. Byzantine Macedonia had limited geographical relation to the Ancient Macedonia and mainly laid in what is now the modern region of Southern Thrace. Its capital was Adrianople. History From the beginning of the 6th century, the former Roman Diocese of Macedonia, then part of the Byzantine Empire became a subject to frequent raids by Slavic tribes which in the course of next centuries, resulted in drastic demographic and cultural changes. The Slavs organized themselves into "Sklaviniai", that continued to assault the Byzantine Empire, either independently, or aided by Bulgars or Avars during the 7th century. In the late 7th century, the Byzantines organized a massive expedition against the Slavs in the area. They subdued many Slavic tribes and established a new theme of Thrace in the hint ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thrace (theme)
The Theme of Thrace ( el, ) was a province (''thema'' or theme) of the Byzantine Empire located in the south-eastern Balkans, comprising varying parts of the eponymous geographic region during its history. History Traditionally, it has been held that the theme (at the time primarily a military command) was constituted in c. 680, as a response to the Bulgar threat... This is based on the mention of a certain ''patrikios'' Theodore, Count of the '' Opsikion'' and '' hypostrategos'' of Thrace, in 680/681. However, it is unclear whether this implies the existence of Thrace as a separate command, with Theodore holding a dual post, or whether Thrace was administratively united to the ''Opsikion''. In fact, separate ''strategoi'' of Thrace are not clearly attested in literary sources until 742, while seals of ''strategoi'' are also extant only from the eighth century on. Initially, Adrianople was probably the theme's capital. Under Empress Irene of Athens, in the late eighth century ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theme (Byzantine District)
The themes or ( el, θέματα, , singular: , ) were the main military/administrative divisions of the middle Byzantine Empire. They were established in the mid-7th century in the aftermath of the Slavic invasion of the Balkans and Muslim conquests of parts of Byzantine territory, and replaced the earlier provincial system established by Diocletian and Constantine the Great. In their origin, the first themes were created from the areas of encampment of the field armies of the East Roman army, and their names corresponded to the military units that had existed in those areas. The theme system reached its apogee in the 9th and 10th centuries, as older themes were split up and the conquest of territory resulted in the creation of new ones. The original theme system underwent significant changes in the 11th and 12th centuries, but the term remained in use as a provincial and financial circumscription until the very end of the Empire. History Background During the late 6th an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anagrapheus
''Anagrapheus'' ( el, ἀναγραφεύς) was a Byzantine fiscal official in the 9th–12th centuries. The title does not appear in the lists of offices (''taktika''), but is attested on seals and monastic charters, with the first occurrence ca. 750–850, and the last secured mention in 1189. Franz Dölger thought that the office continued in existence until 1204, after which it was replaced by the ''apographeus''. The duties of the office were related with the revision of the cadaster; each ''anagrapheus'' was usually assigned to a particular theme. According to 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 Byzant ...'', its "functions were hardly distinguishable from those of the '' epoptes''". References Sources * {{ODB , last1 = Kazh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Praetor
Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected ''magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge various duties. The functions of the magistracy, the ''praetura'' (praetorship), are described by the adjective: the ''praetoria potestas'' (praetorian power), the ''praetorium imperium'' (praetorian authority), and the ''praetorium ius'' (praetorian law), the legal precedents established by the ''praetores'' (praetors). ''Praetorium'', as a substantive, denoted the location from which the praetor exercised his authority, either the headquarters of his ''castra'', the courthouse (tribunal) of his judiciary, or the city hall of his provincial governorship. History of the title The status of the ''praetor'' in the early republic is unclear. The traditional account from Livy claims that the praetorship was created by the Sextian-Licinian Rogation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sebastos
( grc-gre, σεβαστός, sebastós, venerable one, Augustus, ; plural , ) was an honorific used by the ancient Greeks to render the Roman imperial title of . The female form of the title was (). It was revived as an honorific in the 11th-century Byzantine Empire, and came to form the basis of a new system of court titles. From the Komnenian period onwards, the Byzantine hierarchy included the title ''sebastos'' and variants derived from it, like , , , and . History The term appears in the Hellenistic East as an honorific for the Roman emperors from the 1st century onwards, being a translation of the Latin . For example, the Temple of the Sebastoi in Ephesus is dedicated to the Flavian dynasty. This association also was carried over to the naming of cities in honor of the Roman emperors, such as Sebaste, Sebasteia and Sebastopolis. The epithet was revived in the mid-11th century—in the feminine form —by Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos () for his mistress Maria ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leo Of Chalcedon
Leo of Chalcedon was an 11th-century Eastern Orthodox bishop of Chalcedon who opposed the appropriation of church treasures by Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos between 1081 and 1091. Alexios I was in a desperate situation upon ascending the throne in 1081. With the Byzantine-Norman Wars draining what little money remained in the imperial treasury, and Robert Guiscard marching across the Balkans, Alexios was forced to assemble a synod of Greek ecclesiastics who authorised him to employ the wealth gathered as offerings in the churches for public service. This act was violently opposed by many of the clergy, with Leo, Bishop of Chalcedon being among the most prominent. Leo declared that the government had committed sacrilege in melting down sacred objects which were entitled to the adoration of Christians. Leo's opposition forced the emperor to back down temporarily in 1082. The resumption of confiscations soon after and the lack of resistance by Patriarch Nicholas III and the o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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