The Lexikon

Λεξικόν

Alp Arslanpeople
Sultan of the Great Seljuks, 1063–72. The lion of the steppe; victor at Manzikert; murdered the following year by a captive Khwarezmian.
Anatolikonplace
The senior theme of central Asia Minor — its loss in the years after Manzikert was felt at the City as a wound to the body of the empire.
Andronikos Doukaspeople
Son of the Caesar John Doukas, kouropalates. Commander of the reserve at Manzikert, whose departure from the field at the moment of crisis decided the day for the Turks.
Anna Diogenissapeople
First wife of Romanos, dead seventeen years before his elevation. Her plain iron wedding band he wore at his neck under the lorikion to the end; in this chronicle her remembered counsel — that the mark of the man he might yet be was the mark of one who would, at the end, forgive the wrong hand — returns to him in the last hour at Kotyaion.
Anno Munditime
“From the creation of the world.” The Byzantines dated events from the Creation, placed in 5508 B.C. A.M. − 5508 = A.D. (from September onward).
BasileusΒασιλεύς · basileúsoffice
Emperor. The full style was basileus kai autokrator tōn Rhōmaiōn — “emperor and sole ruler of the Romans.”
Bryenniospeople
Nikephoros Bryennios the elder, magnate of Adrianople, general of the western tagmata at Manzikert. Held his line to the river when others did not.
Caesar John Doukaspeople
Brother of the late emperor Constantine X, uncle of his three porphyrogenitos sons. Patient, learned, and the most patient enemy of Romanos IV.
Cappadociaplace
The high central plateau of Asia Minor. Ancestral country of the Diogenes family; by the late 1060s already raided yearly by Turkish bands.
Charsianonplace
A theme of inner Cappadocia centred on the modern Kayseri region. Ancestral country of the Diogenes family.
Chliatplace
Fortress on the western shore of Lake Van. Romanos divided his army on the eve of Manzikert to invest it; the column never returned.
ChrysotriklinosΧρυσοτρίκλινος · chrysotríklinosplace
“The Hall of Gold.” The principal audience chamber of the Great Palace, octagonal, vaulted in gold mosaic.
Diademthing
The imperial crown; the public sign of having taken the throne. To set it aside was a political act in its own right.
Doukaipeople
The reigning house of the 1060s; in-laws of the Komnenoi, rivals of every other faction. Caesar John, the Empress Eudokia, the boy-emperor Michael VII, and his cousin Andronikos all came from it.
Eudokia Makrembolitissapeople
Widow of Constantine X Doukas, regent for her three sons, and — against her sworn promise to the patriarch — wife of Romanos IV from 1068.
Hours of the daytime
The Byzantines reckoned twelve unequal hours from sunrise. The “first” is dawn; the “sixth,” noon; the “twelfth,” sunset.
Indictiontime
A fifteen-year tax-cycle inherited from Diocletian. Chronicles routinely dated events by it.
Kalpakthing
The tall felt cap of the Turkic peoples; the badge of an envoy.
Kotyaionplace
Modern Kütahya. The town near which Romanos IV was blinded in 1072 by order of the new Doukas regime.
Kryapegeplace
A small spring-fed chapel upon the eastern road, named for its cold water. Where the basileus stood a night vigil with the splinter of the True Cross.
KyriakosΚυριακός · Kyriakóspeople
Romanos's secretary. A Cappadocian boy of the upland villages south of the Diogenes house, taken into service at the elevation. Of the basileus's household at Charsianon; of his memory after the night halt on the road home from Manzikert. *Πιστῶς ὑπηρέτει· τὸ λοιπὸν τοῦ Κυρίου.*
Manganaplace
The imperial quarter at the eastern tip of Constantinople, with its great cistern, palace, and the monastery of St George. By the eleventh century a favoured retreat of the imperial household.
Manzikertplace
Modern Malazgirt, north of Lake Van. The battle of 26 August 1071, in which the Seljuk Turks shattered the imperial field army and took the basileus captive.
Michael Psellospeople
The age's most learned man, tutor of three emperors, and the most acid pen ever turned upon a fourth. Hostile to Romanos; survived him to write the Chronographia.
Normanpeople
Descendants of Vikings settled in northern France and southern Italy. The most feared heavy cavalry of the age; many took service in the Roman armies, others (Crispin, Roussel) turned freebooter.
Petrionplace
A convent on the Golden Horn within the walls of Constantinople, by the eleventh century a retreat of imperial widows and unwedded sisters of the porphyrogeniti.
Petsinaplace
A small town in the western themes where, by Doukas writ in the year of Bryennios's birth, his grandfather was blinded. Carried unspoken into every council of the reign and named aloud only once, on the road home from Manzikert.
PorphyrogenitosΠορφυρογέννητος · porphyrogénnētosconcept
“Born in the purple,” i.e. in the porphyry chamber of the palace, while one's father reigned. The strongest dynastic claim the empire knew.
Protiplace
The largest of the Princes' Islands in the Sea of Marmara. A traditional retreat for deposed or abdicating emperors.
Romanos IV Diogenespeople
Basileus 1068–71. Cappadocian general, second husband of Eudokia, commander at Manzikert. Captured by Alp Arslan, released, deposed, blinded, dead within months.
Roussel de Bailleulpeople
Norman captain who fought at Manzikert (or contrived not to), then carved out his own statelet in Anatolia. Eventually taken by the young Alexios Komnenos.
Sebasteiaplace
Modern Sivas. Forward base of Roman operations in north-central Anatolia in the 1060s.
Seljukspeople
The dominant Turkish dynasty of the eleventh century, rulers from Khorasan to the Mediterranean by 1071.
Sourb Hovhannesplace
A small Armenian monastery between the Roman and Seljuk lines, named for St John. The site of the negotiated peace in the road of the quiet frontier.
StrategosΣτρατηγός · stratēgósoffice
“General.” Originally the governor of a theme; by Romanos's day, a senior field commander.
Tagmathing
A standing professional regiment, as distinct from the provincial thematic levies. The western tagmata were the empire's most reliable troops.
The CityἩ Πόλις · Hē Pólisplace
Constantinople. To a Byzantine writer there was only ever one City worth the name.
ThemeΘέμα · thémaconcept
The great military-administrative provinces of Asia Minor, each garrisoned by soldier-farmers. By Romanos's accession the eastern themes were already badly eroded.
Theodore Alyatespeople
Cappadocian commander of the basileus's own country, raised on the same upland horses. In this chronicle he is the dry mouth at the basileus's elbow — the only man at court who jokes about the court, and the one whose silence at the catastrophe is louder than any of his words.
Theodosioupolisplace
Modern Erzurum. A great fortress of the eastern frontier; in this chronicle the proposed site of a meeting between basileus and sultan.
Trebizondplace
The great port of the Black Sea coast, gate to the Pontic hills. The northern road to the eastern frontier ran by it.
Vahram of Sebasteiapeople
Deacon of the Armenian rite, set over a small line of mules out of the Cilician hills. By his road behind the army, water and grain came up to the basileus's column when no Greek logothete could be made to do it.
Zomposplace
Bridge over the river Sangarios in Galatia; site of a near-mutiny of the Norman mercenaries in 1069, settled by Romanos's purse.