Search

[German version] (Artavasděs, AD 742-743). Armenian, brother-in-law of the emperor of Byzantium, Constantine V, who began his rule on 19 June 741. A. revolted against him some time later, supposedly as the defender of image-worship. He was defeated by Constantine in November 743 and overthrown. Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich) Bibliography ODB 1, 192 I. Rochow, Kaiser Konstantin V., 1994.

(Φώτιος/ Phṓtios). [German version] [1] Byzantine high-ranking military officer Stepson of Belisarius, son of his wife Antonina from an earlier marriage, born around AD 520, died AD 578/585. After AD 535, he accompanied Belisarius on campaigns in Italy, and after AD 541 in Persia . In a novelistic passage from the Historia arcana (1,31-35; 2,1-17; 3,2-5; 3,12f.; 3,21-29) Procopius relates that P. was incarcerated by the empress Theodora on Antonina’s orders because P. tried to thwart her affair with Theodosius, an adoptive son of her husband. How…

[German version] A term used during the Roman Imperial Period and in Late Antiquity to refer to leadership functions in a variety of areas of public service [3], in the 4th-6th cents. AD in the expanded form praepositus sacri cubiculi (Greek praipósitos toû eusebestátou koitônos) to refer to the court position of imperial high chamberlain, which was reserved for eunuchs, under whom the chamberlains (see Cubicularius) served. The office of praepositus is first attested under Constantius [2] II for Eusebius [3]. As a confidant of the emperor, the praepositus often played a key role …

[German version] I. Mesopotamia In contrast with cultic  rituals, the secular ceremonies of Mesopotamia have up to now rarely been the subject of academic research. On the whole, it has to be assumed that individual and communal life in the societies of the Ancient Orient in general and that of the  ruler in particular were dominated by numerous rules, resulting in more or less standardized patterns of behaviour. The reconstruction of such non-cultic ceremonies is largely dependent on secondary refe…

[German version] [1] Guarantor in Roman procedural law A vindex, (probably with the same etymology as vindicta ) was a guarantor in Roman procedural law. He played a role in two parts of the trial--in the summoning and in the execution, each time in the context of the manus iniectio (the physical bringing forward of the defendant). According to the Twelve Tables (tab. 1,1; tabulae duodecim ), the latter was permitted when the defendant did not voluntarily follow the order of the plaintiff to appear in front of the court magistrate ( vocatio in ius ). The defendant co…

[German version] [1] Proclaimed emperor in AD 240 by the Carthaginians Was proclaimed emperor in AD 240 by the inhabitants of Carthage, but was shortly after defeated by the governor of Mauretania and delivered to Gordianus [3] III by his own followers (Zos. 1,17,1; SHA Gord. 23,4). Franke, Thomas (Bochum) Bibliography Kienast 1, 197. [German version] [2] see Vettius Sabinianus See Vettius Sabinianus. Portmann, Werner (Berlin) [German version] [3] Magister equitum per Orientem, 359-360 AD At a great age m agister equitum per Orientem in AD 359-360 under Constantius [2] II. Ac…

[German version] [1] The term dux, which had already appeared in the Republican period with the general meaning of ‘a leader in a military action or of a troop of soldiers’ (cf. e.g. Cic. Dom. 12: seditionis duces), was in the 2nd cent. AD occasionally used in a semi-official way as the title for the commander of a military unit established for a particular purpose and not necessarily subordinate to the governor of a province. Thus Ti. Claudius Candidus was dux exercitus Illyrici in the war waged by Septimius Severus against Pescennius Niger in AD 193-195 (CIL II 4114 = ILS 1140); dux was also u…

[German version] (πρωτοβεστιάριος/ prōtobestiários, Latin protovestiarius). Overseer of the Byzantine emperor's wardrobe, 5th-15th centuries, eunuch office second to the parakoimṓmenos . ODB 3, 1749. Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich)

[German version] [1] E. Aelia Marciana Wife of the emperor Anthemius, AD 467 elevated to Augusta Only daughter of the emperor Marcianus, married Anthemius [2] in c. AD 453 who was later emperor in the west and had four sons and a daughter with him. In 467 she was elevated to Augusta. Her fate after the execution of her husband in 472 is unknown. Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich) Bibliography PLRE 2, 423f. No. 6. P. Grierson, M. Mays, Catalogue of Late Roman Coins, 1992, 260f. [German version] [2] Concubine, later wife of emperor Iustinus I Originally a slave of ‘Barbarian’ origin by the name …

[German version] (Βάραγγοι/ Bárangoi). Scandinavians who from about the early 10th cent. AD arrived in Byzantium by way of the territory of the Kievan Rus (hence also often described as Ῥώς/ Rṓs or Tauroscythae), from the 11th cent. also Anglo-Saxons who served in the Byzantine army (in which they were considered particularly trustworthy), but primarily in the Imperial Guard. Their characteristic weapon was the battle-axe, which earned them the nickname 'axe-bearers' (πελεκυφόροι/ pelekyphóroi). Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich) Bibliography S. Franklin, A. Cutler, s. v. Varangia…

[German version] (Μαυρίκιος; Mauríkios). Flavius M. Tiberius, East Roman emperor (A.D. 582-602), born in 539 in Arabissus (Cappadocia), died on 27th Nov. 602 in Calchedon. M. replaced the caesar and later emperor Tiberius II in 574 as chief of the guard and was given the command in 577 as magister militum per Orientem to continue the Persian war. After victories near Callinicus in 580 and near Constantina in 581, he was given a triumphal reception in 582 in Constantinople. Tiberius, emperor since 578, affianced him to his daughter Constantina and…

[German version] [1] Christian theologian and poet, 2nd cent. Christian theologian, probably from Egypt, taught in c. AD 140-160 in Rome ( cf. Iren. adv. haereses 3,4,3). He wanted, possibly, to become episcopus ( epískopos ), but was turned down (Tert. adv. Valentinianos 4,1 ff.); afterwards, he must have lived in Cyprus (Epiphanius, Panarion 31,7,2). Besides a few extant fragments from sermons and letters, a work entitled 'On the three natures' ( Perì triôn phýseōn) is known to have existed. V. apparently wrote psalms in verse form; a fragment (in Hippolytus, Refutatio omnium haer…

[German version] Silentiarius at the court of Justinian I, Armenian, son of the proconsul of Armenia I Arsacius, who was murdered in AD 539. Participant in campaigns against the Persians, in 542 under  Belisarius, whom he supported through tactical manoeuvres at the conquest of Callinicus on the Euphrates, in 543 under Martinus, after whose defeat at Anglon in Armenia he was killed while fleeing (Proc. Pers. 2,3; 21; 24 f.). Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich) Bibliography Rubin 1, 340-43.

[German version] (λογοθέτης; logothétēs). Byzantine term for an office attested from the 6th cent. AD, initially for more lowly finance officers (tax collectors in the province or pay administrators in the army), and from the 7th/8th cents. for the following high offices: 1) logothetes genikoú (‘general logothetes’, i.e. logothetes of the state treasury), initially still subordinate to the sakellários but soon the highest finance officer in the empire corresponding to the earlier comes sacrarum largitionum ( comes ), 2) logothetes idikoú, successor of the comes rerum privatarum, …

[German version] I Greek (Θεοδόσιος/ Theodósios). [German version] [I 1] Greek mathematician and astronomer, 2nd/1st cent. BC Greek mathematician and astronomer. Folkerts, Menso (Munich) [German version] I. Life and works According to Str. 12,4,9, T. was one of the most important men in Bithynia; the birthplace Tripoli given in the Suda (s. v. Θ.) may relate to another T. As Strabo also names T.’ sons as important mathematicians, T. must belong in the 2nd half of the 2nd cent. BC, or, at the latest, the 1st half of the 1st. …

(Τιμόστρατος/ Timóstratos). [German version] [1] Tragic poet, 4th cent. BC Greek tragedian, successful at the Lenaea in c. 350 BC (TrGF I 83). Zimmermann, Bernhard (Freiburg) [German version] [2] Athenian comedy writer, beginning of the 2nd cent. BC Athenian comedian, who came sixth at the Dionysia in 188 BC with his Λυτρούμενος ( Lytroúmenos, 'The ransomed [prisoner]') [1. test. 1] and fourth in 183 with his Φιλοικεῖος ( Philoikeîos, 'He who loves his relatives') [1. test. 2]; a third place in c. 177 with an Ἀντευεργετῶν ( Anteuergetṓn, 'He who repays good deeds') is uncertain [1…

[German version] [1] I. I Eastern Roman general AD 518-527 (AD 518-527), emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, born a farmer's son around 450 in Bederiana (like  Iustinianus [1] I.), he came to Constantinople with  Leo I and was soon a member of the palace guard; under  Anastasius I he was comes rei militaris and from 515 comes excubitorum. In the dispute over the succession to Anastasius, who died without an heir, a majority in the Senate supported his candidacy and eventually he was also acclaimed by the army and the people, and was crowned on 10 Jul…

[German version] (Ἡρακλωνᾶς; Hēraklōnâs). Son of the emperor  Heraclius [7] and his second wife Martina, born c. AD 626. After his father's death in 641, he was to assume the succession as a minor represented by his mother together with Heraclius' oldest son Constantinus III, but was already deposed and exiled with his mother in Sept. 641 at the instigation of the Senate. Tinnefeld, Franz (Munich) Bibliography PLRE 3, 587f. ODB 2, 918.

[German version] [1] Trajan, Roman Emperor, AD 98-117 Roman emperor, AD 98-117. Eck, Werner (Cologne) [German version] I. Career up to accession T. was probably born in 53, the son of the consular (of the same name), M. Ulpius [12] Traianus, and probably a certain Marcia, perhaps a daughter of Marcius [II 3] Barea. The family came from Italica in Hispania Baetica. Little is known of T.' senatorial career. He served as a tribunus [4] militum under his father in Syria (but certainly not for ten stipendia ('campaigns'), as alleged in Plin. Pan. 15,3). After his praetorship (before 84…

(στρατηγός/ stratēgós, 'army leader'; pl. strategoi). In many Greek states the formal title for a military commander. [German version] I. Classical Greece In Athens, strategoi are occasionally mentioned earlier (e.g. Peisistratus [4] as strategos; Hdt. 1,59,4; [Aristot.] Ath. pol. 17,2), but it was only after the tribal reorganization of Cleisthenes [2], probably first in 501/0 BC, that a regular board of strategoi was appointed: one from each of the 10 phylai, elected annually by the assembly (but candidates may have been pre-selected in the phylai, see [2]), and eligible for …