Chrysocheir

Chrysocheir ( Middle Greek Χρυσόχειρ ; † probably 872 ), also Chrysocheres , Chrysocheiros ("golden hand"; real name Johannes ?), Was a Byzantine rebel and leader of the Paulikians .

Life

Chrysocheir was the nephew of the Paulician leader Karbeas and possibly served like him in his youth in the Byzantine army . After the devastating defeat in the Battle of the Lalakaon , he succeeded his uncle. Under his leadership, the Paulikians resumed their raids from their capital Tephrike to Byzantine Anatolia. They plundered as far as Nicaea and conquered Ephesus in 869/870 . The new Byzantine emperor Basil I sent an embassy to Tephrike to negotiate with Chrysocheir. When the negotiations failed, Basil led a campaign against the Paulicians in the spring of 871, but was defeated and was only able to escape with difficulty.

Encouraged by this success, Chrysocheir dared another foray deep into Anatolia, reached Ankyra and devastated southern Galatia . Basil responded and sent his stepbrother Christophoros against them. At the pass of Bathys Ryax there was a decisive battle in 872 (according to some sources 878) , which ended with the annihilation of the Paulikian armed forces. Chrysocheir escaped with a small bodyguard, but was brought in by the Byzantine vanguard at Konstantinu Bunos (probably today's Yildiz Dagı ). In the ensuing battle, he was wounded and fell from his horse. He was captured and beheaded , his head sent to the court of Emperor Basil in Constantinople . Tephrike was destroyed, the surviving Paulikians deported.

swell

• Joseph Genesios 4, 35-37
• Konstantin Porphyrogennetos , De Thematibus 10, 8
• Petros Sikeliotes 184-185
• Johannes Skylitzes , Basileios Kephalas 18-19
• Theophanes Continuatus 5, 41-43
• Johannes Zonaras 16, 8

literature

• Alexander P. Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York NY 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 , pp. 452-453.
• 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. 374-375 No. 1153; 2nd department: (867-1025). Volume 2: Christophoros (# 21279) - Ignatios (# 22712). De Gruyter, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-11-016667-5 , pp. 22-23 No. 21341.
• Warren Treadgold : A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford University Press, Stanford CA 1997, ISBN 0-8047-2630-2 , pp. 453-457, 944.
• Alexander A. Vasiliev : Byzance et les Arabes. Volume 2, part 1: La dynastie macédonienne (867–959). Les relations politiques de Byzance et des Arabes à l′époque de la Macédonienne dynasty. Éditions de l'Institut de Philologie et d'Histoire Orientales, Brussels 1968, pp. 31–36 and passim.