Portal:Byzantine Empire/DYK

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Did you know...

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...that the founder of Byzantine studies in Germany is considered to be the philologist Hieronymus Wolf, a Renaissance humanist who, approximately 100 years after the final conquest of Byzantium by the Ottomans, began to collect, edit, and translate the writings of Byzantine philosophers?

...that although Anna Komnene was carefully trained in the study of history, mathematics, science, and Greek philosophy, her parents banned her from studying ancient poetry because of its depictions of lustful gods and unchaste women and that despite her parents' attempts to restrict her, Anna furtively studied the forbidden poetry with one of the imperial court’s eunuchs?

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... that the Madaba Map is the oldest surviving original cartographic depiction of the Holy Land and especially Jerusalem?
... that the Chludov Psalter is a marginal Psalter made in the middle of the 9th century containing illuminations that document the Byzantine Iconoclasm?
... that Constantine Stilbes wrote a poem describing a fire in Medieval Constantinople, which contains unique references to the city's urban fabric?

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... that there are many types of porphyry, some more common than others, but what made Imperial Porphyry so special and rare is that it is found in only one place on earth, atop a 1600-meter mountain in the eastern deserts of Egypt?
... that Constantine the Great celebrated the founding of his new capital, Constantinopolis (Constantinople), in the year 330 AD by erecting there a 30-meter (100') column, built of seven porphyry drums, or cylinders, that is still standing today?

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...that the Milion (Greek: Μίλ(λ)ιον), was a monument of Constantinople and it was the origin and start of measurement of distances for all the roads leading to the cities of the Byzantine Empire and that it had the same function which the Milliarium Aureum of Rome still has today?
...that Anna Komnene was born in the purple chamber of the imperial palace of Constantinople and therefore she was a porphyrogenita?

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... that Anna Komnene was a Byzantine princess and scholar who wrote the Alexiad, making her the first female historian of the Western world?

... that the Bureau of Barbarians, or Skrinion Barbaron, was a ministry of the government in the Byzantine Empire which begun as an Office of Protocol and became what is generally considered to be the first centralized foreign intelligence gathering agency (somewhat comparable to the modern Russian SVR or the British MI6) in world history?

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... that the designation Porphyrogennetos, feminine form Porphyrogennete, literally meaning "born in the purple", was given to the children born to a reigning Byzantine emperor?
... that the Hexamilion wall was built under the rule of Theodosius II to protect the Peloponnese peninsula against attacks from the north, and was used as late as the 15th century against the Ottoman Turks?

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... that Isidore of Miletus was the architect who, together with Anthemius of Tralles, designed the cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople?
... that the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros II allegedly insisted for taxes to be paid in the full-weight histamenon gold coin, but only paid back in the lighter tetarteron?
... that the Byzantine writer and diplomat Leo Choirosphaktes was imprisoned on his first embassy to Tsar Symeon of Bulgaria, but continued negotiations from his cell?

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... that Friedrich Heinrich Blume, a former Justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court, single-handedly translated into English Justinian’s Code and the Novels, two parts of the Corpus Juris Civilis?
... that the Hexagram was the first widely circulated silver coin of the Byzantine Empire, so named because it weighed about 6 grams?

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...that Artabanes was an Armenian noble who served both the Sassanid Persians and the Byzantine Empire, and became involved in a plot against Emperor Justinian I?
... that the last name of Empress Zoe Karbonopsina meant literally "the one with the Coal-Black Eyes"?
... that Emperor Basil II was named the Bulgar-slayer by later historians for his blinding of 14,000 Bulgarian prisoners after the Battle of Kleidion?

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... that Greek fire was also deployed by hand-held siphons, the precursors to modern flamethrowers?

... that Byzantium after Byzantium is a 1935 book by the Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga, which deals with the impact of the fall of Byzantine Empire on Eastern European civilization and the legacy and continuation of Byzantine institutions and culture?

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... that in 941, the Byzantine chamberlain Theophanes, commanding only 15 old ships armed with Greek fire, defeated a Rus' fleet of 1,000 ships?
... that when the usurper John Komnenos the Fat tried to sit on the imperial throne, it collapsed under his weight?
... that the title of Despot was the highest dignity in the Byzantine court hierarchy during the last centuries of the Empire, and spread to other courts throughout the Balkans?

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... that the Acritic songs celebrate the exploits of the Akritai, the frontier guards in the wars with the Arabs, and mark the beginnings of modern Greek literature?
... that the brothers Stephen and Constantine Lekapenos overthrew their father, the Byzantine emperor Romanos I Lekapenos, only to be themselves removed from power by Constantine VII after a few weeks?
... that the Chrysotriklinos, the main audience hall of the Great Palace of Constantinople, provided the model for Charlemagne's Palatine Chapel in Aachen?

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... that three Byzantine emperors in the 6th century served as commanders of the imperial guard, known as the Excubitors, prior to assuming the throne?
... that the great cathedral of Hagia Sophia has runic inscriptions left by Vikings who were serving in the Byzantine emperors' Varangian Guard?
... that after the destructive Byzantine civil war of 1341–47, the treasury of the Byzantine Empire contained "nothing but the atoms of Epicurus"?

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... that the Byzantine theme of Lykandos, which played an important role in the Arab–Byzantine wars of the early 10th century, was founded by Melias, an Armenian prince, and settled by Armenians?
... that the Gasmouloi were the descendants of mixed Byzantine Greek and Latin unions, and were employed as marines in the Byzantine navy?
... that although the Byzantine megas doux Alexios Apokaukos owed his rise to the patronage of John VI Kantakouzenos, he instigated the civil war of 1341–1347 against him?

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... that in 878, the Byzantines lost Syracuse in Sicily to the Arabs because the imperial fleet was occupied with transporting marble for the construction of the Nea Ekklesia cathedral?
... that in the Battle of Satala in 530, a Byzantine officer captured the Persian general's flag, causing the Persian army to panic and retreat?
... that before beginning his revolt in 803, Bardanes Tourkos, with his three principal associates, Thomas, Leo the Armenian and Michael the Amorian, allegedly visited a monk who foretold their fates?

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... that the Anatolic, Armeniac, Opsician, and Thracesian themes, the first four Byzantine themes to be established, descended from the field armies of the East Roman army?
... that the Byzantine general John Kourkouas, supreme commander of the Byzantine armies in the East for 22 years, was hailed by his contemporaries as "another Trajan or Belisarius"?
... that the Byzantine emperor Justin II had his cousin, the general and former consul Justin, murdered in his sleep as a potential rival to the throne?

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... that the Arab-born eunuch slave Samonas rose to become the parakoimomenos of Byzantine emperor Leo the Wise, and was even made godfather to his son, Constantine VII?
... that the Byzantine court title of protospatharios had such high prestige that an aged cleric once purchased it for over 19 kilograms of gold?
...that Saint Mary of the Mongols is the only Byzantine church in Constantinople to have remained Eastern Orthodox to this day?

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... that during the absence of Byzantine emperor Heraclius from Constantinople in 622–626, the patrician Bonus defended the city from a major Avar siege in July 626?
... that in the Battle of Lalakaon in 863 AD, three Byzantine armies, marching from different directions, converged on time to surround an Arab army?
...that in 1261, Caesar Alexios Strategopoulos reconquered Constantinople from the Latins, thereby restoring the Byzantine Empire?