Sisinnios Triphyllios (, died 26 July 811) was one of the senior dignitaries of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

during the reign of

Empress The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

Irene of Athens Irene of Athens (, ; 750/756 – 9 August 803), surname Sarantapechaena (, ), was Byzantine empress consort to Emperor Leo IV from 775 to 780, regent during the childhood of their son Constantine VI from 780 until 790, co-ruler from 792 unti ...

(797–802) and her successor Emperor

Nikephoros I Nikephoros I (; 750 – 26 July 811), also known as Nicephorus I, was Byzantine emperor from 802 to 811. He was General Logothete (finance minister) under Empress Irene, but later overthrew her to seize the throne for himself. Prior to becomi ...

(802–811). Sisinnios first appears in Irene's unique triumphal procession on Easter Monday, 1 April 799, through the imperial capital,

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 ...

. At the time, he held the post of ''

strategos ''Strategos'' (), also known by its Linguistic Latinisation, Latinized form ''strategus'', is a Greek language, Greek term to mean 'military General officer, general'. In the Hellenistic world and in the Byzantine Empire, the term was also use ...

'' (military governor) of

Thrace Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...

, the

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical appearance for certain software. * Theme (linguistics), topic * Theme ( ...

closest to Constantinople, and holder of the supreme dignity of ''

patrikios The patricians (from ) 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 B ...

''. He was one of the four ''patrikioi'' (along with

Bardanes Tourkos Bardanes, nicknamed , "the Turk" (, ), was a Byzantine general who launched an unsuccessful rebellion against Emperor Nikephoros I () in 803. Although a major supporter of Byzantine empress Irene of Athens (), soon after her overthrow he was ap ...

, Constantine Boilas, and Sisinnios' brother Niketas) leading the four white horses which drew the imperial carriage, a role which marked these men out as the most prominent of Irene's supporters among the high dignitaries of the state.Winkelmann et al. (2001), p. 163 Despite their earlier support of Irene, the Triphyllioi brothers opposed the rising influence of the eunuch Aetios (who replaced Sisinnios as ''strategos'' of Thrace with his own brother Leo sometime in 801/802) and the fiscal policies adopted by Irene over the next years. They were thus among the leaders of her overthrow by the

General Logothete The (, often called or simply (, 'the general ogothete), and usually rendered in English as the General Logothete, was in charge of the 'general financial ministry', the of the middle Byzantine Empire.. History and functions The was respo ...

, on 31 October 802. As a ''patrikios'', Sisinnios remained influential under Nikephoros, but is not recorded as having held any specific post. The death of his brother on 30 April 803 is rumoured by some Eastern Roman chroniclers to have been ordered by Nikephoros, but given Sisinnios' close relations with the emperor throughout the latter's reign, this is unlikely. Sisinnios was among the magnates who accompanied Nikephoros on his campaign against the

Bulgars The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari, Proto-Bulgarians) were Turkic peoples, Turkic Nomad, semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region between the 5th and 7th centu ...

in spring-summer 811, and was among those slain in the disastrous

Battle of Pliska The Battle of Pliska or Battle of Vărbitsa Pass was a series of battles between troops, gathered from all parts of the Byzantine Empire, led by the Emperor Nicephorus I, and the First Bulgarian Empire, governed by Khan Krum. The Byzantines pl ...

on 26 July.Treadgold (1988), pp. 170, 174

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Triphyllios, Sisinnios 8th-century births 811 deaths 8th-century Byzantine people 9th-century Byzantine people Byzantine generals Patricii Byzantines killed in battle Byzantine people of the Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars Governors of the Theme of Thrace