Theophobe

The main source of information about Theophobe is the chronicle of the Theophanes Successor, in the main points corresponding to the presentation of the earlier chronicle of Genesis . Both of them cite two versions of the origin of Feofob. According to the first of them, he "was born not in a legal, but in a secret marriage from a certain man of the royal family, who arrived in Constantinople with an embassy from Persia and then left the city." In Byzantium, his parents ended up fleeing the Arabs. After some time, the royal lineage of Feofob became known to the emperor , and he was settled in the palace ^[1] . Another version says that “Theophobe was not at all the illegitimate son of a certain ambassador, but his father, either the tsar or a close tsar’s relative, escaped from Persia as a result of the usual vicissitudes of war and appeared in the royal city, where he lived in poverty and served at one of the merchants, with whom later he gave birth to a son in love and legal marriage ” ^[2] . Another version is cited by the “family of Simeon Logofet, ” which does not say anything about the Theophobian origin of Constantinople, and only reports that Theophobes with fourteen thousand Persians passed to Theophilus. The emperor divided this army between thes , and Feofoba married the sister of his wife Theodora ^[3] . According to Theophanes the Successor, 7,000 warriors brought to Byzantium "love for Theophobia and fear of the Hagar" Babek , after which the emperor awarded Theophobus the rank of Patrician and married his sister ^[4] . As the Russian Byzantineist Y. N. Lyubarsky notes, this chronicler’s message is clearly erroneous, since Babek never left the borders of Persia, however Persians conquered by the Arabs really constantly opposed their conquerors in the Arab Caliphate , and a detachment of Persian Khurramites arrived in Byzantium about 833 ^{[ 5]} . A. Vasiliev draws attention to the fact that in an earlier exposition of the Genesis of the Persians, Feofob was discovered at the age of 12 years. However, even if this happened in the first year of Theophilus's reign in 829, by the time of Theophobus’s death in 842, he was only 24 years old. This is unlikely, given that at the beginning of the reign of Theophilus, he acted as a commander. Thus, both versions cannot be considered reliable ^[6] . A later chronicle of Michael the Syrian (XII century) claims that the Khurramite army came from Persia in January 834 under the command of Nasra. Given that Theophobe is not a Persian name, and Nasr further participated in the campaign to Zapetra, A. Gregoire (1934) concluded that these two commanders were identical ^[7] . Additional considerations in favor of this theory were given by A. Vasiliev ^[8] . Currently, this view is shared by most researchers. Ya. N. Lyubarsky considers this identification not too convincing ^[5] , without, however, offering his own version. According to the assumption of J. Sines Codoniere, Nasr was the father of Theophobes ^[9] .

According to Michael the Syrian, Nasr was one of Babek’s commanders who sided with Byzantium and converted to Christianity. The Syrian historian does not indicate the reasons why this happened, but in 833, according to at-Tabari , a major rebellion of the Khurramites began. In August, the provincial governor, Jibal was sent to suppress him. In December 833, he announced his victory, as a result of which 60,000 Khurramites were killed (5000, according to Michael the Syrian ^[10] ), and the rest fled to Byzantium. Further, reporting on the Byzantine campaign on Zapetra, at-Tabari names among its participants the Hurramites who had earlier rebelled in Djibal. The Arab historian calls them the leader Barsisa. According to the assumption of A. Gregoire, the original was supposed to be the name Narses, corresponding to Nasr by Michael the Syrian. At the same time, there are versions of manuscripts of the work of at-Tabari without indicating the name of the leader of the Khurramites ^[11] .

Fleeing from the Arabs, Persian Hurramites arrived in Byzantium in 834. Sources call their various numbers: “many thousands” from the Arab historian al-Masoudi , 14,000 from the successor George Amartol and 30,000 from the Successor Theophanes . At the same time, however, during the battle of Anzen , the Emperor Theophilus was accompanied by 2,000 Persians. Probably, Byzantium adopted Christianity. According to the 9th century Arab geographer Yakubi , among the refugees were residents of various border provinces of the caliphate in the territory of modern Azerbaijan ^[12] . The next report on Nasra dates back to 838 when, according to Masudi, he and his people saved the emperor Theophilus at the battle of Anzen. After the catastrophic fall of Amoria that same year, Caliph al-Mutasim demanded the extradition of "Nasr Khurdanait, his son and Manuel" ( Mikhail Syriyets ). By Manuil here is meant another refugee from the caliphate, , who also became a prominent military leader in Byzantium. The mention in this context of the son of Nasr indicates that he either was already by that time a commander, or had some kind of dynastic rights. A few lines below in the Syrian chronicle, the death of Nasr in battles against the Arab governor of Mesopotamia Abu Saeed is reported. After the caliph saw the severed and salted head, he felt joy when he learned about the death of the destroyer Zetra. In other sources, Nasra’s participation in this campaign of 837 is not reported ^[13] . The battle in which Abu Said defeated the Hurramites is mentioned in the poem of Abu Tammam . According to and A. A. Vasiliev, it was Mikhail Syriyets who spoke of this battle. The poet claims that the last battle of Nasra with Abu Saeed took place in Byzantium near the Akarkas River, but this place is not known from other sources ^[14] .

Additional details about Theophobe are contained in Greek sources. According to Genesis , from the age of 12 he was taken to the imperial palace, where he received a good education. The information of the Successor Theophanes on assigning him the rank of patrician is confirmed by the lead seal of the 9th century. Information about his wife, who was either the sister of Theophilus or Theodora , is not possible to clarify. It is known that Theodora had three sisters, two of whom are known by name, as well as their spouses. Perhaps an unknown sister did indeed marry Theophobia, and then her name was removed by damnatio memoriae after the execution of Theophobus ^[15] . Another problem in connection with the relations of Feofob with the ruling dynasty is the identity of a person who became Caesar in 831 and shared the triumph with Emperor Theophilus. In addition to the son-in-law of the emperor it could be Theophobe ^[16] . Another seal dating back to the 830s calls Theophobes “the eccosiast of Persia” ( Greek έξουσιαστή τῶν Περσῶν ) ^[17] , which is usually used by foreign rulers to refer to the Byzantine emperor . Probably, with reference to Theophobus, he meant either his position as the head of the Persians in the service of Byzantium, or as the ruler of the Persians in their country. J. Sines Codoniere is inclined to the second option ^[18] .

The last period of Feofob's life is usually associated with the defeat of the Byzantine army near Anzen in the summer of 838. Genesis gives two versions of events. According to the first of them, Theophilus was forced to hastily return to the capital, entrusting Theophobes general command. Taking advantage of this, the Persians rebelled, proclaimed their commander as emperor, and captured Sinop or Amastrida . According to the second version, Feofob once proposed to the emperor to launch a night attack, which other advisers called dangerous, and convinced the emperor that Feofob was plotting against him. Realizing this, Feofob with his supporters fled to Amastrida and began to wait for the development of events. A fleet was sent against him. The successor of Theophanes adheres to the second version of Genesia regarding the cause of the emperor's disgrace, giving new details. According to him, the battle took place in the afternoon, and after the flight of the Byzantines began, Theophobe with two thousand Persians ensured the safety of the emperor ^[19] . Comparison with the story of Mikhail the Syrian, who calls the place of events Paflagonia , and the opponent of the Byzantines the Arab commander Afshin , leads to the conclusion that the place and time of these events coincide with the battle of Anzen ^[20] . According to W. Tredgold, the rebellion of the Khurramites against Theophilus lasted until 839. After its suppression, the Persians were scattered on various themes, each of which was sent to 2000 soldiers ^[21] . Feofob survived these events, and was executed only in 842, when Emperor Theophilus, before his death, eliminated all possible rivals of his young son Michael ^{[22] [23]} . By order of Emperor Theophobe, the brother of Empress executed ^[24] .

Sources

• The successor of Theophanes . Biographies of the Byzantine kings / ed. prepared by J. N. Lubarsky . - 2 ed. - SPb. : Aletheia, 2009 .-- 400 p. - (Byzantine library. Sources). - ISBN 978-5-91419-146-4 .

Research

• Signes Codoñer J. The Emperor Theophilos and the East, 829-842. Court abd Frontier in Byzantium during the last Phase of Iconoclasm. - Routledge, 2016 .-- 518 p. - ISBN 9780754664895 .
• Grégoire H. Manuel et Théophobe ou la concurrence de deux monastères // Byzantion. - 1934. - Vol. IX. - P. 183-204.
• The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium : [ eng. ] : in 3 vol. / ed. by Dr. Alexander Kazhdan . - N. Y .; Oxford: Oxford University Press , 1991 .-- 2232 p. - ISBN 0-19-504652-8 .
• Rekaya M. Mise aou point sur Théophobe et l'alliance de Bâbek avec Théophile (833 / 34–839 / 40) // Byzantion. - 1974. - Vol. 44. - P. 43-67.
• Treadgold W. A History of the Byzantine State and Society . - Stanford : Stanford University Press, 1997 .-- 1019 p. - ISBN 0-8047-2630-2 .
• Treadgold W. The Byzantine Revival 780-842. - Stanford University Press, 1988 .-- 504 p.
• Vasiliev AA Byzance et les Arabes / Ėdition française préparée par Henri Grégoire at Marius Canard. - Bruxelles, 1935. - T. I. - 451 p.
• Vasiliev A.A. Byzantium and the Arabs. Political relations of Byzantium and Arabs during the Amor Dynasty. - SPb. , 1900. - 183 p.