Istanbul

200. Cf. Scylitzes (813, p. 650): ‘(Isaac) was a man of fixed habits, fair-minded, sharp-witted, strong, intelligent, a great leader in war, a terror to his foes, kindly to his friends.’201. Xenocrates of Chalcedon,...

176. The Battle of Hades, not far from Nicaea, on 20 August 1057. Cedrenus describes this engagement in some detail (801-2).177. Theodorus Alopus, a senator.178. Constantine Lichudes.179. He later succeeded Cerularius as Patriarch and...

166. The Comneni came originally from Comne, near Hadrianople, and had estates in the Castamon district of Asia Minor. They were destined to play a preeminent role in Byzantium during the next hundred years....

They tell me that you are earnestly striving to thrust me forth from my home, the palace of an emperor, and preparing to win it for yourself and make it your own. I beg...

There were secrets, kept hidden from my brother and my mother, which I disclosed to you alone. And who now has the power to give away or withhold the highest offices in the realm?...

17. He indulges in all kinds of hunting, observing carefully the flight of birds and the tracks followed by wild beasts. He urges on the dogs and chases the dappled hind. He is mad...

Constantine, his Brother**29415. Not very quick-witted, but being wrapt up in himself, he has all the appearance of a thinker. He is generally observant, though, and when words are called for, he is a...

His face is rounded into a perfect circle, the eyes grey, very big, and most serene, with the eyebrows forming an absolutely straight line slightly separated at the base of the nose and gently...

It would be superfluous to praise the empress because of her family, although its wealth and antiquity cannot fail to confer lustre on the highest offices: her own pre-eminence, not only in virtue, but...

Here I must mention something that I feel is beyond praise the most remarkable fact about Michael’s reign. At a time when our affairs, no less in the east than in the west, were...