Bardas Parsakoutenos () was a

Byzantine 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 ...

commander and nephew of Emperor

Nikephoros II Phokas Nikephoros II Phokas (; – 11 December 969), Latinized Nicephorus II Phocas, was Byzantine emperor from 963 to 969. His career, not uniformly successful in matters of statecraft or of war, nonetheless greatly contributed to the resurgence of t ...

Life

The family's surname (erroneously spelled Παρσακουντηνός, Parsakountenos, in some manuscripts) derives from the locality of "Parsakoute" (Παρσακούτη). His father, Theodoulos Parsakoutenos, married a lady from the mighty clan of the

Phokades Phokas () or Phocas ( Latinized), feminine form Phokaina or Phocaena (, ), was the name of a Byzantine aristocratic clan from Cappadocia, which in the 9th and 10th centuries provided a series of high-ranking generals and an emperor, Nikephoros II P ...

, apparently a daughter of the general

Bardas Phokas the Elder Bardas Phokas (; ) was a notable Byzantine general in the first half of the 10th century. He was the father of emperor Nikephoros II Phokas and the '' kouropalates'' Leo Phokas the Younger, and was also the maternal grandfather of the emperor John ...

, father of the general and future emperor

(reigned 963–969). Bardas had two brothers,

Theodore Theodore may refer to: Places * Theodore, Australian Capital Territory, Australia * Theodore, Queensland, Australia * Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada * Theodore, Alabama, United States * Theodore Reservoir, in Saskatchewan People * Theodore (gi ...

and

Nikephoros Nikephoros (), Nikiforos or Nicephorus is a Greek male name, meaning "Bringer of Victory", which was commonly used among the Byzantine Empire's aristocracy. It may refer to: Rulers * Nikephoros I Logothetes, Byzantine emperor 802–811 * Nikeph ...

. As he carried his maternal grandfather's name, he was probably the second-born of the three. According to Arabic sources, in a battle at

Hadath Al-Ḥadath al-Ḥamrā' (Arabic for "Hadath the Red") or Adata () was a town and fortress near the Taurus Mountains (modern southeastern Turkey), which played an important role in the Byzantine–Arab Wars. Location The town was located at c ...

on 19 October 954 Theodoulos Parsakoutenos and one of his sons, either Bardas or the younger Nikephoros, were taken prisoner by the

Hamdanid The Hamdanid dynasty () was a Shia Muslim Arab dynasty that ruled modern day Northern Mesopotamia and Syria (890–1004). They descended from the ancient Banu Taghlib tribe of Mesopotamia and Arabia. History Origin The Hamdanids hailed ...

emir

Sayf al-Dawla ʿAlī ibn ʾAbū'l-Hayjāʾ ʿAbdallāh ibn Ḥamdān ibn Ḥamdūn ibn al-Ḥārith al-Taghlibī (, 22 June 916 – 8 February 967), more commonly known simply by his honorific of Sayf al-Dawla (, ), was the founder of the Emirate of Aleppo, ...

. The eldest brother, Theodore, tried to ransom his father and brother for Sayf al-Dawla's cousin Abu Firas, whom he captured in autumn 962, but it was not until a

prisoner exchange A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners: prisoner of war, prisoners of war, spy, spies, hostages, etc. Sometimes, cadaver, dead bodies are involved in an exchange. Geneva Conven ...

on 23 June 966 that the Byzantine captives held by Sayf al-Dawla were released. As supporters of the failed revolt of his cousin

Bardas Phokas the Younger Bardas Phokas (or Phocas) () (–13 April 989) was a Byzantine general who took a conspicuous part in three revolts for and against the ruling Macedonian dynasty. First rebellion Bardas was a scion of the Phokas family, the most prominent By ...

against

John I Tzimiskes John I Tzimiskes (; 925 – 10 January 976) was the senior Byzantine emperor from 969 to 976. An intuitive and successful general who married into the influential Skleros family, he strengthened and expanded the Byzantine Empire to inclu ...

(r. 969–976) in 970, Bardas and his brothers may have been sent into exile. Their exile probably lasted until Phokas himself was recalled in 978 by Emperor

Basil II Basil II Porphyrogenitus (; 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar Slayer (, ), was the senior Byzantine emperor from 976 to 1025. He and his brother Constantine VIII were crowned before their father Romanos II died in 963, but t ...

(r. 976–1025) to confront the rebellion of

Bardas Skleros Bardas Skleros (Greek: Βάρδας Σκληρός) or Sclerus was a Byzantine general who led a wide-scale Asian rebellion against Emperor Basil II during the years 976 to 979. Background Bardas' father Niketas Skleros belonged to the great f ...

. The latter, a distinguished general and Tzimiskes' most senior lieutenant, had rebelled on Tzimiskes' death in 976 and quickly seized control of

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, repeatedly defeating the loyalist armies. Finally, Basil II's chief minister, the ''

parakoimomenos The ''parakoimōmenos'' (, literally "the one who sleeps beside

he emperor's chamber He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter call ...

) was a Byzantine Empire, Byzantine Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy, court position, usually reserved for eunuch (court official), eunuchs. The position' ...

Basil Lekapenos Basil Lekapenos (; – ), also called the Parakoimomenos () or the Nothos (, "the Bastard"), was an illegitimate child of the Byzantine emperor Romanos I Lekapenos. He served as the '' parakoimomenos'' and chief minister of the Byzantine Empire f ...

, was forced to recall Phokas from exile. It is likely that his partisans were pardoned and recalled at the same time. Accordingly, the contemporary historian

Leo the Deacon Leo the Deacon (; born ) was a Byzantine Greek historian and chronicler. He was born around 950 at Kaloe in Asia Minor, and was educated in Constantinople, where he became a deacon in the imperial palace. While in Constantinople he wrote a histor ...

records that in 978 Bardas Parsakoutenos, holding the supreme court rank of ''

magistros The (Latin; ; ) was one of the most senior administrative officials in the Later Roman Empire and the early centuries of the Byzantine Empire. In Byzantium, the office was eventually transformed into a senior honorary rank, simply called ''magist ...

'', commanded the central Imperial Fleet when it defeated a rebel fleet off Abydos through the use of

Greek fire Greek fire was an incendiary weapon system used by the Byzantine Empire from the seventh to the fourteenth centuries. The recipe for Greek fire was a closely-guarded state secret; historians have variously speculated that it was based on saltp ...

, before going on to disembark his men, defeat the rebel troops on land, and recapture Abydos.

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parsakoutenos, Bardas 10th-century deaths 10th-century Byzantine military personnel Byzantine admirals Byzantine people of the Arab–Byzantine wars Byzantine prisoners and detainees Byzantine prisoners of war Magistroi Generals of Basil II

Bardas Bardas (; 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 en ...