Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-cphqk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-11T00:56:13.206Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 6 - Basil I Kephalas, the Macedonian [867–886]

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2014

John Skylitzes  and
John Wortley
John Wortley
Affiliation:
University of Manitoba, Canada
Get access

Summary

Once Michael was eliminated as we indicated, Basil secured sole rule for himself. Continuing from where it left off, the narrative will now clearly indicate who this man was, where he came from and the reasons why he, who emerged from a humble and obscure background, was able to rise up to be the supreme commander of the empire. He was born in Macedonia but he was an Armenian by race, a scion of the distinguished line of the Arsacids which possessed the exclusive right by law of ruling over Parthians, Medes and Armenians. They had obtained this right by virtue of the fame acquired by the first Arsaces for retrieving for the Parthians their right to autonomy that the Persians had arrogated to themselves. The descendants of Arsaces ruled over the aforementioned peoples for a long time. The last was Artaban who, when he was expelled from his hereditary kingdom, took refuge in Byzantium together with his brother, Cleienes. Leo the Great was ruling the Roman empire at the time; he received them with fitting honour, assigning them a residence in the capital commensurate with their rank. When the Persian king heard of this he sent a letter inviting them back and promising to restore them to their ancestral throne. They received the letter and, while they were discussing what to do about it, one of their attendants revealed all its contents to the emperor, who promptly confiscated it. Now the matter had become known to the emperor and he realised that the wandering foreigners were men of extremely high standing, he housed them, together with their women and children, in a fortified town of Macedonia named Nicaea. Later on, when the Persian royalty had been destroyed by the Saracens, [116] the reigning amermoumnes did something similar: he sent a letter inviting the descendants of the Arsacides living in Macedonia to come back home. This communication was detected by the emperor Heraclius. Knowing that the invitation was by no means issued out of goodwill towards the people in question, but rather, through them, to bring the race of Armenians and Parthians into subjection, he transferred the strangers to Philippi, another city of Macedonia, and from there to Adrianople. They found that place to their liking and multiplied while still preserving their national identity.

Type
Chapter
Information
John Skylitzes: A Synopsis of Byzantine History, 811–1057
Translation and Notes
 , pp. 116 - 164
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Holmes’, Basil II and the governance of empire (976–1025) (Oxford Studies in Byzantium, Oxford, 2005)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vogt, A., Basile 1er empereur de Byzance (867–886) (Paris, 1908)Google Scholar
Tobias, N., ‘Basil I (867–86), the founder of the Macedonian dynasty’ (Rutgers University, 1969)
Adontz, N., ‘L’âge et l’origine de l’empereur Basile Ier (867–86)’, B, 8 (1933), 475–500Google Scholar
Adontz, N., Etudes arméno-byzantines (Lisbon, 1965Google Scholar
Ševčenko, I., La biographie de Basil 1er (Bari, 1987), 91–127Google Scholar
Vlyssidiou, V. N., Politique étrangère et réactions intérieures sous le règne de Basil Ier: recherches pour l’identification des tendances oppositionelles pendant l’époque 867–886 (Athens, 1991)Google Scholar
Moravcsik, G., ‘Sagen und Legenden über Kaiser Basileios I’, DOP, 15 (1961), 61–126Google Scholar
Schminck, A., ‘The beginnings and origins of the “Macedonian” dynasty’, Byzantine Macedonia: identity, image and history, papers from the Melbourne Conference, July 1995, ed. Burke, J. and Scott, R. (Melbourne, 2000), 61–8Google Scholar
Seibt, W., ‘Arsakuni-armenische Aristokraten in byzantinischen Diensten’, JÖB, 44 (1994), 349–59Google Scholar
Markopoulos, A., ‘An anonymous laudatory poem in honour of Basil I’, DOP, 46 (1992), 225–32Google Scholar
Settipani, C., Nos ancêtres de l’antiquité (Paris, 1991), 185–6Google Scholar
Markopoulos, A., ‘Constantine the Great in Macedonian historiography: models and approaches’, New Constantines: the rhythm of imperial renewal in Byzantium, fourth to thirteenth centuries, ed. Magdalino, P. (SPBS, 2, Aldershot, 1994), 159–70Google Scholar
Janin, R., La géographie ecclésiastique de l’empire byzantin, I: Le siège de Constantinople et le patriarcat œcuménique, III: Les églises et les monastères (Paris, 1969), 95–7Google Scholar
George the Monk, Theophanes Continuatus, ed. Bekker, I. (CSHB, Bonn, 1838), 820
Kislinger, E., Regionalgeschichte als Quellenproblem. Die Chronik von Monembasia und das sizilianische Demenna. Eine historisch-topographische Studie (Vienna, 2001), 41–5Google Scholar
Mango, C., ‘Eudocia Ingerina, the Normans and the Macedonian dynasty,’ ZRVI, XIV–XV (1973), 17–27, repr. Byzantium and its image (London, 1984)Google Scholar
Kislinger, E., ‘Eudocie Ingerina, Basileios I und Michael III’, JÖB, 33 (1983), 119–36Google Scholar
Mango, C., The Homilies of Photius, patriarch of Constantinople: English translation, introduction and commentary (Cambridge, MA, 1958), 297–315Google Scholar
Hajjar, J., Le synod permanent (Sunodos endemousa) dans l’Eglise byzantine au XIe siècle (Rome, 1962)Google Scholar
Dagron, G., Histoire du christianisme, IV, Evêques, moines et empereurs (610–1054), ed. Dagron, G., Riché, P. and Vauchez, A. (Paris, 1993), 176–7Google Scholar
Tougher, S., The reign of Leo VI (886–912): politics and people (Leiden, 1997), 42–67Google Scholar
George the Monk, Theophanes Continuatus, ed. Bekker, I. (CSHB, Bonn, 1838), 844
Vasiliev, A. A., Byzance et les Arabes, I: La dynastie d’Amorium, 820–867 (Brussels, 1935)Google Scholar
II: Les relations politiques de Byzance et des arabes à l’époque de la dynastie macédonienne, ed. Canard, M. (CBHB 2, 1, Brussels, 1968), II/1:87Google Scholar
Vasiliev, A. A., Byzance et les Arabes, II: Les relations politiques de Byzance et des Arabes à L’époque de la dynastie macédonienne, ed. Canard, M. (CBHB 2, 1, Brussels, 1968) 102–3Google Scholar
Malamut, E., ‘Les adresses aux princes des pays slaves du sud dans le Livre des cérémonies 2.48: interprétation’, TM, 13 (2000), 595–615Google Scholar
Antoniadis-Bibicou, H., Etudes d’histoire maritime de Byzance: a propos du ‘thème des Caravisiens’ (Paris, 1966), 167–9Google Scholar
Ahrweiler, H., Byzance et la mer: la marine de guerre, la politique et les institutions maritimes de Byzance aux VIIe–XVe siècles (Paris, 1966), 410 and note 8, also 414Google Scholar
Magdalino, P. observes (Constantinople medievale: etudes sur l’evolution des structures urbaines, TM, 9 (Paris, 1996), 27–8Google Scholar
Ousterhout, R., ‘Reconstructing ninth-century Constantinople’, Byzantium in the ninth century: dead or alive, Papers from the Thirteenth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, ed. Brubaker, L. (SPBS, 5, Aldershot, 1998), 115–30Google Scholar
Alexander, P., ‘The strength of empire and capital as seen through Byzantine eyes’, Speculum, 37 (1962), 339–59CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feissel, D., ‘Les édifices de Justinien au témoignage de Procope et de l’épigraphie’, Antiquité tardive, 8 (2000), 89Google Scholar
Talbot, A.-M., ‘Two accounts of miracles at the Pege shrine in Constantinople’, Mélanges Gilbert Dagron, ed. Déroche, V., Feissel, D., Morrisson, C., Zuckerman, C., TM, 14 (2002), 605–15Google Scholar
Jenkins, R. H. J., ‘The chronological accuracy of the Logothete for the years ad 867–913’, DOP, 19 (1965), 91–112Google Scholar
Vlyssidou, B., ‘La conspiration de Kourkouas dans la Vita Basilii’, Symmeikta, 6 (1985), 53–8 (in Greek)Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×