Xiphilinus () 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 ...

family name. The family was from

Trebizond Trabzon, historically known as Trebizond, is a city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. The city was founded in 756 BC as "Trapezous" by colonists from Miletus. It was added into the Achaemenid Em ...

and was considered of lowly origin. In the 11th and 12th centuries members were found mainly in the church and the

bureaucracy Bureaucracy ( ) is a system of organization where laws or regulatory authority are implemented by civil servants or non-elected officials (most of the time). Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments ...

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 ...

and

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...

. They were intellectuals rather than soldiers. They declined in importance after the

sack of Constantinople The sack of Constantinople occurred in April 1204 and marked the culmination of the Fourth Crusade. Crusaders sacked and destroyed most of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. After the capture of the city, the Latin Empire ( ...

in 1204. Known Xiphilini include: *Bardas Xiphilinos (11th century), '' strategetes'' of Thessaloniki. *John Xiphilinos (died 1075), judge, became Patriarch

John VIII of Constantinople John VIII of Constantinople (; 1010 – 2 August 1075), a native of Trebizond, was a Byzantine intellectual, jurist, and Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1064 to 1075. He was the uncle of John Xiphilinus, the Epimator. He is consid ...

*Michael Xiphilinos, brother of John VIII *Constantine Xiphilinos (), ''

droungarios tes viglas The of the Watch (), sometimes anglicized as Drungary of the Watch, was originally a senior Byzantine military post. Attested since the late 8th century, the commanded the or "Watch", one of the elite professional cavalry regiments () of the mi ...

'' * John Xiphilinos the Younger, epitomator of

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

*John Xiphilinos (), ''

vestarches () was a senior Byzantine honorific dignity in use from the late 10th to early 12th centuries. The term means 'master of the ', another group of high court dignitaries. Etymologically, these terms are related to the , the imperial wardrobe, bu ...

'' *Nicholas Xiphilinos (), ''

protovestes ( was a Byzantine court title used in the 10th and 11th centuries. The term is etymologically connected to the , the imperial wardrobe, but despite earlier attempts to connect the and the related title of , the head of the class of the , with t ...

'' *Niketas Xiphilinos (/9), ''

apographeus ''Apographeus'' () was a fiscal office in the last centuries of the Byzantine Empire. The office first appears in the Komnenian period, either under Alexios I Komnenos () or at any rate by the third quarter of the 12th century, and apparently repl ...

'' of

Boleron Boleron () was the name of a region and a Byzantine province in southwestern Thrace during the Middle Ages. The region is first mentioned in the mid-9th century ''Life of Saint Gregory of Dekapolis'', and designated the area enclosed between the ...

*Euthymios Xiphilinos (), monk and copyist *Niketas Xiphilinos (), judge and

quaestor A quaestor ( , ; ; "investigator") was a public official in ancient Rome. There were various types of quaestors, with the title used to describe greatly different offices at different times. In the Roman Republic, quaestors were elected officia ...

*Donatos Xiphilinos (), judge *George Xiphilinos (died 1198), became Patriarch

George II of Constantinople George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

*Theodore Xiphilinos (), ''

chartophylax A ''chartophylax'' (, from χάρτα, "document" and φύλαξ, "guard, keeper"), sometimes also referred to as a ''chartoularios'', was an ecclesiastical officer in charge of official documents and records in the Greek Orthodox Church in Byzant ...

'' of the

Great Church The term "Great Church" () is used in the historiography of early Christianity to mean the period of about 180 to 313, between that of primitive Christianity and that of the legalization of the Christian religion in the Roman Empire, correspond ...

in exile John VIII was probably a brother of Bardas. He was born in Trebizond and his rise to the patriarchate helped establish the family in Constantinople.. Constantine and John VIII were friends of

Michael Psellos Michael Psellos or Psellus (, ) was a Byzantine Greeks, Byzantine Greek monk, savant, writer, philosopher, imperial courtier, historian and music theorist. He was born in 1017 or 1018, and is believed to have died in 1078, although it has also b ...

. John VIII and his nephew, John the Younger, both left writings.

References

{{reflist Byzantine families