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Sergios Niketiates
Sergios Niketiates ( el, Σέργιος Νικητιάτης, ) was a senior Byzantine official and member of the Amorian dynasty. He is celebrated as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church on 28 June for his role in the restoration of the veneration of icons. Biography Sergios Niketiates is an obscure and "enigmatic" (Cyril Mango) figure, known only through brief references in two hagiographic works, the ''Acts of Saints David, Symeon and George'' and the ''Synaxarium Constantinopolitanum''... According to these, Sergios was born in the village of Niketia, near Amastris in Paphlagonia, whence his surname. He was a close relative, possibly the uncle, of Empress Theodora, the wife of Emperor Theophilos (r. 829–842) and mother of Michael III (r. 842–867). Under Theophilos, he became one of the leading members of the Byzantine Senate, reaching the supreme court rank of ''magistros''. Seals attributed to him also record him having progressively advanced through the levels of ''hyp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Byzantine Empire
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 after the Conflict of the Orders (494 BC to 287 BC). By the time of the late Republic and Empire, membership in the patriciate was of only nominal significance. The social structure of Ancient Rome revolved around the distinction between the patricians and the plebeians. The status of patricians gave them more political power than the plebeians. The relationship between the patricians and the plebeians eventually caused the Conflict of the Orders. This time period resulted in changing the social structure of Ancient Rome. After the Western Empire fell, the term "patrician" continued as a high honorary title in the Eastern Empire. In the Holy Roman Empire and in many medieval Italian republics, medieval patrician classes were once again formal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Damietta
Damietta ( arz, دمياط ' ; cop, ⲧⲁⲙⲓⲁϯ, Tamiati) is a port city and the capital of the Damietta Governorate in Egypt, a former bishopric and present multiple Catholic titular see. It is located at the Damietta branch, an eastern distributary of the Nile Delta, from the Mediterranean Sea, about north of Cairo. Damietta joined the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities. Etymology The modern name of the town comes from its Coptic name Tamiati ( cop, ⲧⲁⲙⲓⲁϯ} Late Coptic: ), which in turn most likely comes from Ancient Egyptian ("harbour, port"), although al-Maqrizi suggested a Syriac etymology. History Mentioned by the 6th-century geographer Stephanus Byzantius, it was called ''Tamiathis'' () in the Hellenistic period. Under Caliph Omar (579–644), the Arabs took the town and successfully resisted the attempts by the Byzantine Empire to recover it, especially in 739, 821, 921 and 968. The Abbasids used Alexandria, Damietta, Aden and Sir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sack Of Damietta (853)
The Sack of Damietta was a successful raid on the port city of Damietta on the Nile Delta by the Byzantine navy on 22–24 May 853. The city, whose garrison was absent at the time, was sacked and plundered, yielding not only many captives but also large quantities of weapons and supplies intended for the Emirate of Crete. The Byzantine attack, which was repeated in the subsequent years, shocked the Abbasid authorities, and urgent measures were taken to refortify the coasts and strengthen the local fleet, beginning a revival of the Egyptian navy that culminated in the Tulunid and Fatimid periods. Background During the 820s, the Byzantine Empire suffered two great losses that destroyed their naval supremacy in the Mediterranean: the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Sicily and the fall of Crete to Andalusian exiles. These losses ushered in an era where Saracen pirates raided the Christian northern shores of the Mediterranean almost at will. The establishment of the Emirate of Cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henri Grégoire (historian)
Henri Grégoire (; Huy, Belgium, 21 March 1881 – 28 September 1964, Brussels, Belgium) was an eminent scholar of the Byzantine Empire, virtually the founder of Byzantine studies in Belgium. Grégoire spent most of his teaching career at the Université libre de Bruxelles. In 1938, he taught at the New School for Social Research and during the Second World War, joined the École libre des hautes études at the New School. He was the editor of four journals—''Byzantion'', ''Nouvelle Clio'', ''Annuaire de l'Institut de Philologie et d'Histoire Orientales et Slaves'', and ''Flambeau''—and published prolifically: by 1953 he had 575 titles in his bibliography. Grégoire is especially remembered for his work on medieval epic poetry, notably Digenis Akritas ''Digenes Akritas'', ) is a variant of ''Akritas''. Sometimes it is further latinized as ''Acritis'' or ''Acritas''. ( el, Διγενῆς Ἀκρίτας, ) is the most famous of the Acritic songs and is often regarded as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicomedia
Nicomedia (; el, Νικομήδεια, ''Nikomedeia''; modern İzmit) was an ancient Greek city located in what is now Turkey. In 286, Nicomedia became the eastern and most senior capital city of the Roman Empire (chosen by the emperor Diocletian who ruled in the east), a status which the city maintained during the Tetrarchy system (293–324). The Tetrarchy ended with the Battle of Chrysopolis ( Üsküdar) in 324, when Constantine defeated Licinius and became the sole emperor. In 330 Constantine chose for himself the nearby Byzantium (which was renamed Constantinople, modern Istanbul) as the new capital of the Roman Empire. The city was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire with the victory of Sultan Orhan Gazi against the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines managed to retake it in the aftermath of the Battle of Ankara, but it fell definitively to the Ottomans in 1419. History It was founded in 712–11 BC as a Megarian colony and was originally known as Astacus (; , 'lob ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theotokos
''Theotokos'' (Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are ''Dei Genitrix'' or '' Deipara'' (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations are "Mother of God" or "God-bearer" – but these both have different literal equivalents in Greek, Μήτηρ Θεοῦ and Θεοφόρος ("Who gave birth to one who was God", "Whose child was God", respectively). The title has been in use since the 3rd century, in the Syriac tradition (as ) in the Liturgy of Mari and Addai (3rd century)''Addai and Mari, Liturgy of''. Cross, F. L., ed. ''The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church''. Oxford University Press. 2005. and the Liturgy of St James (4th century). The Council of Ephesus in AD 431 decreed that Mary is the ''Theotokos'' because Her Son Jesus is both God and man: one divine person from two natures (divine and human) intimately and hypostatically united. The title of Mothe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emirate Of Crete
The Emirate of Crete ( ar, إقريطش, Iqrīṭish or , ''Iqrīṭiya''; gr, Κρήτη, Krētē) was an Islamic state that existed on the Mediterranean island of Crete from the late 820s to the reconquest of the island by the Byzantine Empire in 961. Although the emirate recognized the suzerainty of the Abbasid Caliphate and maintained close ties with Tulunid Egypt, it was ''de facto'' independent. A group of Andalusian exiles led by Abu Hafs Umar al-Iqritishi conquered Crete in either 824 or 827/828, and established an independent Islamic state. The Byzantines launched a campaign that took most of the island back in 842-43 under Theoktistos, but the reconquest was not completed and would soon be reversed. Later attempts by the Byzantine Empire to recover the island failed, and for the approximately 135 years of its existence, the emirate was one of the major foes of Byzantium. Crete commanded the sea lanes of the Eastern Mediterranean and functioned as a forward base and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
June 28 (Eastern Orthodox Liturgics)
June 27 - Eastern Orthodox Church calendar - June 29 All fixed commemorations below celebrated on July 11 by Orthodox Churches on the Old Calendar. For June 28th, Orthodox Churches on the Old Calendar commemorate the Saints listed on June 15. Saints * Martyrs Plutarch, Serenus, Heraclides, Heron, Rhaïs, Potamiœna and her mother Marcella, at Alexandria, under Septimius Severus (203) 28 Ιουνίου'' Αποστολική Διακονία της Εκκλησίας της Ελλάδος (Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece).July 11 / June 28 HOLY TRINITY RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH (A parish of the Patriarchate of Moscow). * Hieromartyr Donagus, Bishop of Libya, by fire. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Byzantine Iconoclasm
The Byzantine Iconoclasm ( gr, Εικονομαχία, Eikonomachía, lit=image struggle', 'war on icons) were two periods in the history of the Byzantine Empire when the use of religious images or icons was opposed by religious and imperial authorities within the Orthodox Church and the temporal imperial hierarchy. The First Iconoclasm, as it is sometimes called, occurred between about 726 and 787, while the Second Iconoclasm occurred between 814 and 842. According to the traditional view, Byzantine Iconoclasm was started by a ban on religious images promulgated by the Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian, and continued under his successors. It was accompanied by widespread destruction of religious images and persecution of supporters of the veneration of images. The Papacy remained firmly in support of the use of religious images throughout the period, and the whole episode widened the growing divergence between the Byzantine and Carolingian traditions in what was still ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Petronas (general)
Petronas ( el, ; died November 11, 865) was a notable Byzantine general and leading aristocrat during the mid-9th century. Petronas was a brother of Empress Theodora and hence brother-in-law of Emperor Theophilos, under whom he advanced to the rank of ''patrikios'' and the post of ''droungarios'' of the '' Vigla'' regiment. After Theophilos' death, he played a role in the ending of Iconoclasm, but was sidelined along with his brother Bardas during the minority of his nephew, Michael III, when power was held by the regent Theoktistos. In 855, Petronas and Bardas encouraged Michael III to seize control of the government: Theoktistos was murdered, Theodora banished to a monastery, Bardas became Michael's chief minister, and Petronas was tasked with the war against the Arabs. In 863, he scored a crushing victory at the Battle of Lalakaon, a feat which marked the gradual beginning of a Byzantine counter-offensive in the East. Promoted to ''magistros'' and '' domestikos ton scholon' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bardas
Bardas ( el, Βάρδας; died 21 April 866) was a Byzantine noble and high-ranking minister. As the brother of Empress Theodora, he rose to high office under Theophilos (. Although sidelined after Theophilos's death by Theodora and Theoktistos, in 855 he engineered Theoktistos's murder and became the ''de facto'' regent for his nephew, Michael III (). Rising to the rank of ''Caesar'', he was the effective ruler of the Byzantine Empire for ten years, a period which saw military success, renewed diplomatic and missionary activity, and an intellectual revival that heralded the Macedonian Renaissance. He was assassinated in 866 at the instigation of Michael III's new favourite, Basil the Macedonian, who a year later would usurp the throne for himself and install his own dynasty on the Byzantine throne. Biography Early life Bardas was born to the ''droungarios'' Marinos and Theoktiste, and was the elder brother of Empress Theodora, the wife of Emperor Theophilos, and of Pet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
