Christophoros (Kaisar)

Christophoros ( Middle Greek Χριστόφορος , * around 753 probably in Constantinople ; † after 812 in Aphasia ?) Was a Byzantine prince.

Life

Christophoros was the eldest son of the emperor Constantine V (741-775) and his third wife Eudokia. He was thus a member of the Syrian dynasty , which ruled Byzantium from 717 to 802. Together with his younger brother Nikephoros , Christophoros was appointed Kaisar (Caesar) on April 2, 769 ; his half-brother from his father's first marriage, the future emperor Leo IV , had already been raised to the rank of co-emperor ( Symbasileus ) in 751 . On April 13, 776, Christophorus was present at the proclamation of Constantine VI. to co-emperor Leo IV in the Hagia Sophia , also one day later at the coronation ceremony in the hippodrome . The following May, Christophoros and his four younger brothers, the emperor Nikephoros and the nobilissimi Niketas, Anthimos and Eudokimos, were exiled to Chersonese in the Crimea for alleged conspiracy against Leo IV , and their imperial titles were very likely withdrawn.

40 days after Irene came to power on September 8, 780, a group of conspirators is said to have planned to make Nikephoros emperor. The plot, however, was exposed; Just like Nikephoros, Christophoros was also put into the monastery on Irene's orders . After the heavy defeat of Constantine VI. In the battle of Marcellae against the Bulgarians in 792, Christophoros was involved in another attempted coup by the Tagmata , which is why Constantine had his tongue cut off. After that, Christophoros is no longer mentioned by name in Theophanes , so that it is not certain whether he was still alive in the following events. The brothers are said to have made further attempts to overthrow Irene in October 797 and, afterwards, exiled to Athens , in the spring of 799, which were just as unsuccessful as a final conspiracy in 812. Allegedly, in this context, the brothers were exiled to the island of Aphasia, where theirs Loses track.

swell

• Kedrenos 2, 16-27
• Nikephoros , Historia Syntomos 87, 4 (in the edition by Cyril Mango )
• Theophanes pp. 443, 450, 468, 473 (in the edition by Carl de Boor )
• John Zonaras 15, 7-13

literature

• Ralph-Johannes Lilie , Claudia Ludwig, Thomas Pratsch, Ilse Rochow, Beate Zielke: Prosopography of the Middle Byzantine Period . 1st department: (641−867). Volume 1: Aaron (# 1) - Georgios (# 2182). Created after preliminary work by F. Winkelmann . Published by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. De Gruyter, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-11-015179-0 , pp. 361-362 No. 1101.
• Ilse Rochow: Emperor Constantine V (741–775). Materials on his life and afterlife . With a prosopographical appendix by Claudia Ludwig, Ilse Rochow and Ralph-Johannes Lilie. Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 1994, p. 245 (sv Christophoros, son of Constantine V. ).
• Warren Treadgold : A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford University Press, Stanford 1997, ISBN 0-8047-2630-2 , pp. 367-369, 417-422.