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Maurice, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)Maurice môrˈĭs [key], c.539–602, Byzantine emperor (582–602). He was a successful general when, on his deathbed, Tiberius II, his father-in-law and the successor of Justin II, proclaimed him em...

Irene, Byzantine empress

(Encyclopedia)Irene īrēˈnē [key], c.750–803, Byzantine empress (797–802). She served (780–90) as regent for her son, Constantine VI, and later was made (792) joint ruler. Devoted to the Orthodox Church, s...

Nicephorus II

(Encyclopedia)Nicephorus II (Nicephorus Phocas) fōˈkəs [key], c.912–969, Byzantine emperor (963–69). He was a successful general under Constantine VII and Romanus II. On Romanus' death (963) he married the e...

Ducas

(Encyclopedia)Ducas dyo͞oˈkəs [key], Greek family and dynasty of Constantinople. Some of its members were Byzantine emperors—Constantine X, Michael VII, Alexius V, and John III. ...

Constantine I, Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Constantine I or Constantine the Great kŏnˈstəntēn, –tīn [key], 288?–337, Roman emperor, b. Naissus (present-day Niš, Serbia). He was the son of Constantius I and Helena and was named in ful...

Constantine II, Roman emperor

(Encyclopedia)Constantine II, 316–40, Roman emperor, son of Constantine I. When the empire was divided at the death (337) of Constantine I, among the brothers Constantius II, Constans I, and Constantine II, Const...

John I, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)John I (John Tzimisces) tsĭmĭsˈēz [key], c.925–976, Byzantine emperor (969–76). With the aid of Emperor Nicephorus II's wife, Theophano, John had Nicephorus murdered and himself proclaimed emp...

John II, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)John II (John Comnenus) kŏmnēˈnəs [key], 1088–1143, Byzantine emperor (1118–43), son and successor of Alexius I. He was crowned despite the intrigues of his sister, Anna Comnena, and of his mo...

John VI, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)John VI (John Cantacuzene) kănˌtəkyo͞ozēnˈ [key], c.1292–1383, Byzantine emperor (1347–54). He was chief minister under Andronicus III, after whose death he proclaimed himself emperor and ma...

Michael I, Byzantine emperor

(Encyclopedia)Michael I (Michael Rangabe), d. c.845, Byzantine emperor (811–13), son-in-law of Nicephorus I. He supported orthodoxy against iconoclasm and recalled Theodore of Studium from exile. He recognized (8...