Synadenos ( el, Συναδηνός), feminine form Synadene (Συναδηνή), was the name of a middle and late

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 Constantin ...

aristocratic family, hailing from Synada in

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empire ...

. The family name is attested in the 9th/10th century seal, but the first known family member is Philetos Synadenos, ''

krites Through the 5th century Hellenistic political systems, philosophies and theocratic Christian-Eastern concepts had gained power in the eastern Greek-speaking Mediterranean due to the intervention of Important religious figures there such as ...

'' of

Tarsus Tarsus may refer to: Biology *Tarsus (skeleton), a cluster of articulating bones in each foot *Tarsus (eyelids), elongated plate of dense connective tissue in each eyelid *The distal segment of an arthropod leg see Arthropod tarsus *The lower le ...

ca. 1000/6. During the 11th and 12th centuries, several family members appear as military commanders, connected to the great aristocratic families of Botaneiates and

Komnenos Komnenos ( gr, Κομνηνός; Latinized Comnenus; plural Komnenoi or Comneni (Κομνηνοί, )) was a Byzantine Greek noble family who ruled the Byzantine Empire from 1081 to 1185, and later, as the Grand Komnenoi (Μεγαλοκομνην� ...

; thus a member of the family was given as wife to the Hungarian king Géza I by

Nikephoros III Botaneiates Nikephoros III Botaneiates, Latinized as Nicephorus III Botaniates ( el, Νικηφόρος Βοτανειάτης, 1002–1081), was Byzantine emperor from 7 January 1078 to 1 April 1081. He was born in 1002, and became a general du ...

Basil Synadenos Basil (, ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' , also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" refers to the variety also know ...

was governor of Dyrrhachium in the 1040s, and Andronikos Synadenos was governor of several provinces under

Manuel I Komnenos Manuel I Komnenos ( el, Μανουήλ Κομνηνός, translit=Manouíl Komnenos, translit-std=ISO; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized Comnenus, also called Porphyrogennetos (; " born in the purple"), was a Byzantine empero ...

, including

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

. In the

Empire of Nicaea The Empire of Nicaea or the Nicene Empire is the conventional historiographic name for the largest of the three Byzantine Greek''A Short history of Greece from early times to 1964'' by W. A. Heurtley, H. C. Darby, C. W. Crawley, C. M. Woodhouse ...

, the Synadenoi were members of the aristocratic opposition to the ruling

Laskaris The Laskaris or Lascaris ( el, Λάσκαρις, later Λάσκαρης) family was a Byzantine Greek noble family whose members formed the ruling dynasty of the Empire of Nicaea from 1204 to 1261 and remained among the senior nobility up to the d ...

dynasty. The family reached is peak under the Palaiologan emperors in the late 13th and first half of the 14th century: John Synadenos married Theodora Palaiologina, the niece of Emperor

Michael VIII Palaiologos Michael VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( el, Μιχαὴλ Δούκας Ἄγγελος Κομνηνὸς Παλαιολόγος, Mikhaēl Doukas Angelos Komnēnos Palaiologos; 1224 – 11 December 1282) reigned as the co-emperor of the Empire ...

, and served as ''

megas stratopedarches Magnús Þór Jónsson (born 7 April 1945), better known by the stage name Megas, is a vocalist, songwriter, and writer who is well known in his native Iceland. Interest in music Being an admirer of Elvis Presley, Megas welcomed the arrival of r ...

'', and his sons

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Seco ...

and

Theodore Theodore may refer to: Places * Theodore, Alabama, United States * Theodore, Australian Capital Territory * Theodore, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Banana, Australia * Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada * Theodore Reservoir, a lake in Saskatche ...

likewise held senior military commands. The elder John and Theodora also founded the Convent of Bebaia Elpis, and commissioned a splendidly illustrated ''

typikon A typikon (or ''typicon'', ''typica''; gr, , "that of the prescribed form"; Slavonic: Тvпико́нъ ''Typikonə'' or Оуставъ, ''ustavə'') is a liturgical book which contains instructions about the order of the Byzantine Rite of ...

'', with portraits of the family's members. At this time, the Synadenoi intermarried with two other prominent aristocratic families, the Asen and the Raoul.

Sources

* *{{Polemis-The Doukai, pages=178–182