The Immortals (, ''Athanatoi'') were one of the elite '' tagmata'' military units of the

Byzantine 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 History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

, first raised during the late 10th century. The name derives from ''a-'' ("without") + ''

thanatos In Greek mythology, Thanatos (; , ''Thánatos'', pronounced in "Death", from θνῄσκω ''thnēskō'' "(I) die, am dying") was the Personifications of death, personification of death. He was a minor figure in Greek mythology, often referre ...

'' ("death").

History

The ''Athanatoi'' were a body of young men of noble status that was originally raised by

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 for his

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

with the

Rus' Rus or RUS may refer to: People * East Slavic historical peoples (). See Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia ** Rus' people, the people of Rus' ** Rus, a legendary eponymous ancestor, see Lech, Czech and Rus * Rus (surname), a surname found in Ro ...

, where they played a decisive role in the battles before

Preslav The modern Veliki Preslav or Great Preslav (, ), former Preslav (; until 1993), is a city and the seat of government of the Veliki Preslav Municipality (Great Preslav Municipality, new Bulgarian: ''obshtina''), which in turn is part of Shumen P ...

and during the

Siege of Dorostolon The Battle of Dorostopol or Dorystolon was fought in 971 between the Byzantine Empire and forces of Kievan Rus'. The Byzantines, led by John I Tzimiskes, were victorious. Background During the course of the Rus'-Bulgarian war, Svyatoslav I of ...

. The unit was commanded by a ''

domestikos ''Domestikos'' (; , from the ), in English sometimes heDomestic, was a civil, ecclesiastic and military office in the Late Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire. Military usage The ''domestikoi'' trace their ancestry to the '' protectores domest ...

'', as with most of the other '' tagmata'' (the professional standing regiments), and on campaign camped near the imperial bodyguard, the ''

Hetaireia The (, , Latinized as ) was a term for a corps of bodyguards during the Byzantine Empire. Etymology and usage of the term means (from ), echoing the ancient Macedonian Companions and the Classical Greek aristocrats who attended . The most ...

''. The contemporary historian Leo the Deacon describes the ''Athanatoi'' as heavily armoured shock cavalry, "sheathed in armour" or as "armed horsemen adorned with gold". Tzimiskes' unit was probably disbanded shortly after his death, since it does not appear again in the sources. The name of the ''Athanatoi'' was revived under the Emperor

Michael VII Michael VII Doukas or Ducas (), nicknamed Parapinakes (, , a reference to the devaluation of the Byzantine currency under his rule), was the senior Byzantine emperor from 1071 to 1078. He was known as incompetent as an emperor and reliant on ...

(r. 1071–1078), when his minister

Nikephoritzes Nikephoritzes () was an influential Byzantine eunuch official, who served as chief minister and virtual ruler of the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Emperor Michael VII Doukas (r. 1071–1078). His actual name was Nikephoros; he received the n ...

reorganised the army. This reconstruction was part of an effort to address a major military crisis for the Empire, following the disastrous defeat suffered by the Byzantines against the

Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turks, Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate society, Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persi ...

at the

Battle of Manzikert The Battle of Manzikert or Malazgirt was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Seljuk Empire on 26 August 1071 near Manzikert, Iberia (theme), Iberia (modern Malazgirt in Muş Province, Turkey). The decisive defeat of the Byzantine army ...

in 1071. The Seljuks had subsequently overrun most 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 ...

, which had provided the main recruiting ground for the pre-Manzikert army. As part of the reorganisation process, the remnants of the provincial troops of the Eastern ''

themata The themes or (, , singular: , ) were the main military and administrative divisions of the middle Byzantine Empire. They were established in the mid-7th century in the aftermath of the Slavic migrations to Southeastern Europe and Muslim conqu ...

'' (military provinces) were brought together as the Immortals, providing a new element of the ''tagma''. The new Immortals may have been

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...

, like the bulk of the old Byzantine field army, but this is not certain. Contemporary documents seem to place the ''Athanatoi'' among other foreign contingents, but modern scholars usually consider the unit to have been composed of native Byzantines. A schematic diagram of the standard field camp layout of the Byzantine army in the late 10th century shows the Immortals as deployed by the Imperial tent, within an outer square of Thematic units. The Byzantine historian Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger records that the Immortals numbered 10,000, but this is most likely an allusion to the old Persian Immortal Guard."Byzantine Armies, 886–1118", Ian Heath & Angus McBride, The new unit fought under the future emperor

Alexios I Komnenos Alexios I Komnenos (, – 15 August 1118), Latinization of names, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus, was Byzantine Emperor, Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. After usurper, usurping the throne, he was faced with a collapsing empire and ...

in the Battle of Kalavrye (1078) against the rebel general Nikephoros Bryennios the Elder, and are mentioned in the wars against the

Pechenegs The Pechenegs () or Patzinaks, , Middle Turkic languages, Middle Turkic: , , , , , , ka, პაჭანიკი, , , ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Pečenezi, separator=/, Печенези, also known as Pecheneg Turks were a semi-nomadic Turkic peopl ...

in the 1090s, but disappear thereafter, along with another contemporary creation, the '' Archontopouloi''.

In popular culture

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

's novel '' Count Robert of Paris'' the Immortals appear as rivals to the Viking or Anglo-Saxon

Varangian Guard The Varangian Guard () was an elite unit of the Byzantine army from the tenth to the fourteenth century who served as personal bodyguards to the Byzantine emperors. The Varangian Guard was known for being primarily composed of recruits from Nort ...

for Imperial favour. In Rise of The Tomb Raider (2015) the “Athanatoi” or “deathless ones” are armoured warriors who speak Greek and guard the fictional city of Kitezh.

References

Sources

* * * * {{Byzantine Empire topics Military units and formations established in the 10th century Guards units of the Byzantine Empire