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VOLUME NINE, NUMBER 1-33 SPRING, MARCH, 1956

• FROM THE BYZANTINE ANNALS:

BASIL I. THE ARMENIAN(Emperor of Byzantium 867-886)

PROF. N. ADONTZ

It was a brutal murder which took place0:1 the fourth of September , 867, in themidst of a convivial orgy at the ImperialPalace of S. Mamas, Byzantium. The Palacewas located on the opposite bank of theGolden Horn, the present Galata which atthe time was a suburb of the city. EmperorMichael was wont to break the monotonyof his solitude by staging periodic baccha-nalean orgies.

This was to be the last revelry which thevoluptuous Emperor was destined to enjoy.Intoxicated with wine and utterly exhaust-ed from excessive indulgence, the Emperorretired to his bed chamber. He had plung-ed into his sleep when the murderous con-spirators rushed inside with a resounding'-•rash. They were a company of ArmeniansIt'd by Basil. The Emperor woke up, as ifto witness.the tragic ending of his still tooyoung life. The deathly swords flashed andtjie hapless victim collapsed. He was dead.

While the murdered man's mother, thedethroned Theodora, and his black-cladsisters were weeping over the bloodycorpse, the assassins hurriedly crossed theGolden Horn. It was a dark stormy nightand the furious sea was lashing against thelittle dories which were taking the conspi-rators to the other side of the water wheretheir confederates were waiting for them.From here the joint force raced to theBucoleon, the pier of the Grand Palacewhere, again, confederates were waiting.Then they moved to the great palace andseized it unopposed.

Basil unanimously was proclaimed Em-peror.

The new Emperor owed much to Mich-ael. To kill one's benefactor is an ungrate-ful and serious thing. However, there is adeeply-rooted universal notion that a deedshould be judged by the results. Basil'scrime marked the beginning of a glorious

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era which brought Byzantine civilizationto its pinnacle. No one condemned thebloody hands. The best pages of history,the most illustrious achievements and themost ambitious dreams have almost invari-ably been drenched in blood.

Like many others Basil was innocent.They say he was not responsible for hisdeed, but as he was the obedient servantof Providence, he was doing only the bid-ding of the invisible power. This is the wayBasil has been presented to us by the veryfirst tale in which he appears on the sceneof history for the first time. This is the waythe legend runs.

When still a lad, Basil left his father'shome and took the road to the capitalwhere he hoped to find work with whichto help his mother and his young brothersand sisters. Staff in hand, his knapsack onhis shoulder, he trudged the long roaduntil he reached the walls of the capital.He stopped at the Golden Gate wherestood the Monastery of Saint Diomedius.It was evening and the sun was gatheringits rays. Soon dusk fell. The traveler, wearyof the long journey, lay under the monas-tery wall and fell asleep.

In the middle of the night a divine voiceawakened one of the monks, "Arise and goinvite the Emperor in." According to Con-stantine Porphyrogenitus the monk wasnone other than the Abbot of the Mona-stery and the mysterious voice came fromSaint Diomedius. The monk went out butsaw no emperor there, instead, a dustypeasant wayfarer. He returned and wentto sleep.

The voice repeated the command thesecond time and the monk again rose upand went out to inquire, but again seeingno emperor, he shut the door and wentback to sleep. Before long a powerful blowon the side woke him and it was the samecommand, "Go bring him in who is lyingat the gate. He is the Emperor."

The devout monk went out and invitedthe poor traveler in. The next day he gavehim a bath, dusted off his clothes, attend-ed to his needs with pious solicitude, andconcluded a pact of brotherhood with him.

Thus the chosen of Providence enteredthe city from the Golden Gate with agolden dream, and advanced to imperialheights through the guidance of the samehand.

Who was this mysterious traveler sentby God, whence did he come? It is notdefinitely known. Could it be that his pastwas far from being lustrous, and thus itwas cloaked by the veil of obscurity? Orwas it because Basil ascended the throneso swiftly, without having made a name forhimself either in valor or statesmanship,which left no time nor occasion to be in-terested in his past?

Whatever the reason, the first period ofBasil's life, his birth, his family conditionsand his childhood have remained obscure,or at best under a very hazy light. Thischapter of his life is unknown even to hisgrandson Constantine Porphyrogenitus theEmperor who worshipped his grandfatherand spared no effort to write his completehistory. The unknown and the obscure, hiturn, have given rise to the imagination andvarious tales to satisfy the aroused interest.Such tales, unconfirmed reports and artifi-cial interpretations have been incorporatedin the authentic material which Porphyro-genitus the historian amassed with greatcare, classified it, and wove of it a solid andcompact story, dignifying it with the stampof his authority.

The grandfather's history is written witha definite purpose, "so that, succeedinggenerations shall know the real source andfountain of the Imperial house, the longchian" which is Basil. He "must serve asan example to his heirs, an example ofvalor, a model whom they shall followand emulate."

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Biased writings are never impartial. Driv-en by the urge to present Basil as an idealcharacter, his devoted grandson often re-sorts to artificial means, the varnish of thenovelist. To bring out the real image, onemust remove all the extraneous, superim-posed and spurious painting. Fortunately,we are in possession of sources which en-able us to follow the pen of Porphyrogeni-tus, to correct certain pages and to thrownew light on what has been said.

In this connection, especially memorableis the continuer of the story, Gevorg theMonk. Gevorg brought his story down tothe first years of Theodora's reign in 843.From then on an unknown author hasbrought the story down to 950. It is pre-sumed that this unknown author was Si-meon Metaprastus.

What these authors relate about Basil'sbirth and childhood runs more like a nov-el rather than history. Basil, according tothem, was born in a neighboring villageof the City of Adrianopolis, Macedonia, inth the days of Emperor Michael Rhangabe(811-813). It was in his time that the Bul-Rars under King Krum (Crumm) invadedthe empire and laid siege to the capital.Emperor Michael lost his crown and wassucceeded by Leo the Armenian in 813.The Bulgars were forced to raise the siege;»ml retire.When they reached Adrianopolisthey sacked the city and ipok theircaptives, tens of thousands of men andcountless women and children, to the otherbank of Danube where they settled. Theprisoners, although from Trace, were re-garded as Macedonians and their new set-tlement, likewise, was called Macedonia.

Basil's parents were among the captivesar>d Basil himself was an infant in hisswaddling clothes at the time. Krum's in-vasion took place in 813, therefore, Basilmust have been born either that or thePreceding year, about 812-813. The depor-tees were repatriated in the days of Em-

peror Theophilus, including Basil and hisparents. At that time Basil was 25 whichlocates the date of the repatriation at837-38.

The story of the repatriation is interest-ing, although Basil's crowned biographerhas said nothing about it. The leader ofthe prisoners at the banks of Danube, orthe Macedonian general, in the words ofour author, was a man named Cordylis.He had a son named Yard who was knownfor his proven valor. Relying on his ability,Cordylis left his son Yard in charge whilehe himself through some stratagem sneak-ed into the capital to tell the Emperorthat the deported population wanted toreturn to their former homes. The Em-peror ordered his fleet to transport theprisoners back into the capital.

At that time the king of the Bulgars wasVladimir, the grandson of Krum. When"Michael the Bulgar" marched on Tries-salonika, the captives decided to take ad-vantage of the situation and carry out theirplan. They crossed the Danube and headedfor the shore where the imperial fleet waswaiting for them.

"The Macedonians," or the captives,therefore, had elected Cordylis as theirleader, who, as it appears, after fulfillinghis mission at the capital, had returned tohis people. The Bulgars tried to stop theescape of the captives but were defeatedin the battle. A neighboring people firstcalled Hungarians, the second time Turks,and the third time Huns, came to the as-sistance of the Bulgars but the defendersstaved them off for three days and thefourth day they succeeded in boarding theships. There was one last sally by theenemy but a brave youth named Leo Co-mosd, at the head of a company of fighters,repelled them. Later, this Leo was madeCaptain of a regiment which consistedof "federates", namely, a foreign legion.

As apparent, this story is drawn from

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an authentic source, although the historianhas confused many things. At the time ofTheophilus the Bulgar king was not Vladi-mir but Malamir, the grandson of Krum,whereas Vladimir was Boris' son and suc-cussor.

In all probability Vladimir is the resultof misreading. At the same time mentionis made of Michael the Bulgar, or theking of the Bulgars. Michael is the Chris-tian name of Bocoris (Boris) who wasMalamir's cousin and successor. It is quitepossible Michael was mistaken for Malamirin the reading, if only we are reluctant tosuppose that Michael Bocoris could havebeen the leader of the invasion and notking, a general at the time of Malamir'sreign. Michael Bocoris ascended the throneprobably in 852. Therefore, he could nothave taken part in the events of 837 asking.

The leaders of the captives are Arme-nians. Cordylis is an Armenian, as provedby the name of his son Vard. An Arme-nian is also Tzantzis which sounds like anArmenian word. This man was appointedby Cordylis as his lieutenant and there'sno mention as to what happened to himlater. During the escape the generals whoare mentioned were Cordylis and Tzantz.Could it be that Vard was killed in thebattle? There is no mention of this. It ishighly probable that Tzantz or Djandj wasthis same Vard. Of the double names oneis the real name and the other the surname.

We won't be far from the truth if weassume that Leo Comosd too was an Ar-menian. The foreign legion was made uplargely of Armenians.

In 813 the Bulgars took tens of thousandsprisoners from Adrianopolis. We knowfrom other sources that the following yearthe Bulgars ravaged the country and de-ported a population of 50,000. That notan inconsiderable number of these captiveswere Armenians is apparent from the fact

that their leaders, as we have seen, wereArmenians, and in the booty special men-tion is made of "Armenian textiles, pre-cious rugs, clothing and bronze utensils."

Included among the captives of Adriano-polis was Manuel the Bishop of the city,Basil's parents and the infant Basil him-self. Krum's successor Mutraco, however,antagonized the Bishop, and after a vainattempt to force him to renounce the Chris-tian faith, inflicted upon him a martyr'sdeath. "Many of Basil's relatives, too, weremartyred, thus sharing the immortality ofChrist's witnesses," adds the historian.

There was another man among the cap-tives whose name was Kinamon who atfirst won the favor of Omurdak (thesame Murdak) the Bulgar King, but laterhe was imprisoned for refusing to becomean apostate and later, in the reign of thenext king Malamir he too met a martyr'sdeath. Kinnam (on) is a Parthian word,Kinnama, meaning sulky, surly or spleen-ish, best expressed by the Armenian wordKinakhuntir. It must be supposed that Kin-nam was an Armenian. So probably wasBishop Manuel which, although a Scrip-tural name, in its present form is more likeArmenian, a name which was adopted bythe Mamikonian clan from earliest times.The victims of the captivity, as it appears,were largely Armenians.

When Basil returned to his native coun-try he entered the service of the Mace-donian General who is known to us by thename of Tzantz. From this it follows thatBasil was an Armenian.

In the geneological work of Photiusthe Patriarch Basil's ancestors are repre-sented as having first settled in the Cityof Nice, Macedonia, and then moved to theCity of Philippi, likewise in Macedonia.When Basil became rich through LadyDanelis he bought large estates in Mace-donia, thus insuring the security of hisrelatives. These developments clearly prove

B A S I L I . T H E A R M E N I A N

that Basil's initial residence was in Mace-donia, and this, perhaps, is the reason whythe captives of Adrianopolis have beencalled Macedonians, including Basil's par-ents. It is permissible to suppose that theword Macedonia is used in a broad sense,including Thrace, as proved by the fol-lowing quotation from an ancient ArmenianBible dated 1011: "In the Province ofMacedonia in the City of Antrnabavlis(Adrianopolis) in the reign of Basil."

However, in the Ninth Century Mace-donia and Thrace were separate provinces,excluding the possibility of confusion. Itseems the identification of Adrianopoliswith Macedonia has a connection withthe geneology of Basil. According to Pa-triarch Photius, Basil's mother was a na-tive of Adrianopolis, a Macedonian. Thecontrary theory that the duality of thegeneology might have had a bearing onthe history of the captivity is less accept-able. The priority here does not belongto the Patriarch who, probably, was fa-miliar with the original source from whichour historian drew his passage of the cap-tivity.

The real birthplace of Basil is not clear;however, at all events, Macedonia has agreater claim to the honor than Adriano-polis. To what extent the captivity of hisparents is connected with the events ofAdrianopolis is highly doubtful. Basil couldnot have been born in 812, if that's the aimof the story. As we shall see further on,there is more valid reason to suppose thathe was born during the repatriation fromCaptivity in 836-37.

That Constantine Porphyrogenitus, Ba-sil's Biographer, does not know or has ig-nored the story of the captives' return isindeed noteworthy. He does mention that

asils parents were among the captives in613, including the infant Basil, but heconsiders their return as having takenPlace peace time and not so late. The

Bulgar King, "bowing before the Imperialmight," has permitted the captives to re-turn to their native land.

When the captives were making ready todepart the Bulgar King noticed the infantBasil among the multitude, a healthy ladwith a noble face, and offered him anextraordinarily large apple. The lad, with-out cringing, approached the King, andkneeling down, showed such an ex-quisite delicacy of manner that the Kingmarveled at him, even though his en-tourage frowned upon the whole scene.The conclusion is, Basil was still a lad atthe time of the return from the captivity,and not at the time of the captivity.

The parents returned to their nativehome together with the child. One day,as they went to the fields to join the har-vesters and to watch over them, the motherwove a canopy of bramble to protect thechild from the sun's burning rays. Sud-denly an eagle descended from the skies,and spreading its wings, made an umbrel-la over the child. Fearful that the birdmight hurt the child, the mother chasedit away with rocks, but before long thebird again returned and the mother againdrove it away. The bird returned for thethird time and posed over the child. "Thereare many such prophetic signs," thebiographer says, "but I do not want todwell long upon them."

His childhood scarcely over, Basil losthis father, leaving the burden of caring forthe family upon his shoulders. He hadto provide for his mother and brothers.Seeing there was no money in farming hethought of going to the city. Great cities,observes his biographer, enable the in-dividual to bring to the fore his talents,something which small villages stifle. Atfirst the mother was reluctant to part withher son but a series of dreams forced herto bow to the will of God and to send himinto exile with her blessing.

8THE ARMENIAN REVIEW

One day the mother had a dream. Likethe mother of Cyrus, she saw a full growntree, taller than the house, in full bloomand loaded with fruit. The trunk of thetree was of gold and the branches and theleaves, likewise, looked like gold. A by-stander, who knew how to interpretdreams, told her that the dream meanther son would have a great and illustriousfuture. Another time she saw in a dreaman old man blowing flame from his mouthwho told her plainly and clearly that herbeloved son Basil would some day becomean emperor. When the astonished motherasked who he was, the man said: "I amElijah," and disappeared. After these divineinspirations the mother agreed to let herson go.

Basil's biographer does not mention thathis grandfather, before his coming to thecapital, had served under the MacedonianGeneral Tzantz.

Basil headed for the capital from "Thra-cean Macedonia." Worthy of attention arethe quotes whereby the author wants toresolve the manifest geographical anomaly.

The lad stopped at the Golden Gate ofthe Monastery of Saint Diomedius. Thename of the friar who had the dreamabout him was Nicolaius. This man had aphysician brother who was attending onPrince Theophylis, a relative of Yard andEmpress Theodora, and therefore an Ar-menian. The physician who at the time wasvisiting his friar brother at the monastery,when he saw Basil he marveled at his mag-nificent physique, and curious, wanted toknow who the lad was. His brother toldhim about his dream and asked him tokeep his secret.

One day, as the physician and Theophyliswere at dinner, the latter casually remarkedthat he needed a brave equerry for hisstables, whereupon the physician, withouthesitation, recommended Basil, and thePrince sent for him at once. Theophylis

liked Basil the minute he saw him — atall handsome youth with curly hair anda large head for which reason he calledhim Kephalas, large-headed. He could nothave dreamed of a better stable-man. The-ophylis appointed him Protostrator, hischief equerry.

Michael the young Emperor had just be-come a bridegroom and, on the occasion,the Strategos of the Bukelarian Themehad sent him a present of a thoroughbredfiery stallion. Intending to race the animalat the circus, the Emperor wanted to givea physical check — the teeth, the age,temperament etc. But the animal was sofiery neither the Emperor nor anyone elsecould come close to him. Theophylis whowas a spectator said to the Emperor thatthere was a youth in his service, a brave

. and trained horseman, who alone couldsubdue the animal. Michael ordered hisSeneshal to repair to the Iron Gate (Sider-aplya — Demir Kapou) and bring Basil onthe instant. Basil approached the horse,held the reins in one hand and started tostroke behind the animal's ear with theother. The furious stallion instantly be-came as tame as a lamb. The Emperor waspleased and took the youth into his ser-vice as his equerry, and at the same timeordered Andreas, the Commander of theForeign Regiment, to take Basil into hisregiment.

II

The sequel writer of Gevorg mentionsthe incident of the stallion for the firsttime after Michael's marriage. The encount-er with the stallion took place soon afterthe marriage. Michael was born in 839and, to marry, he should have beenat least 15, even after making fullprovision for the historian's statement thathe reached maturity at an early age. Ac-cordingly, the marriage must have takenplace not before 854-855. Let us suppose

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that the stallion incident took place in855.

Theophylis, in recommending Basil tothe Emperor, calls him ncothcron, whichmeans a young lad. If Basil was born in812 he should have been 43 at the time,something which makes the qualification ofneotheron presposterous. It is not likelythat the 15 year old young Emperor hireda man of 43 as his equerry. It is obviousthat Basil could not have been born in 812.If we place the date of Basil's birth at836, the year of the return from captivityas I have affirmed before, Basil would beMichael's senior only by three years, a ladof 19, of the same age with Michael, andtruthfully a neotheron. When Michael pre-sented his new equerry to his EmpressMother, he said, "See, Mother, I havebrought you a brave lad — Agouron. Agour-on means young, newly-sprouting. It wason this occasion that the Empress Mother,as the historian would have us believe,prophesised saying: "This lad, my son, willdestroy our home."

Constantine Porpbyrogenitus, too, is fa-miliar with the stallion incident but hisversion is different. Emperor Michael hada horse which was beautiful but exceed-ingly headstrong. In all other aspects theanimal was perfect — tall, lovely, a racer

. and a thoroughbred. It had only one fault.Once he was stripped of his reins he wasincontrollable, no one could come close tohim.

Once the Emperor mounted this steedand went hunting. During the race theanimal stepped on a rabbit and killed it,and as the Emperor dismounted to retrievethe rabbit the horse ran away. Men chasedhim but could not catch him. Enraged,Michael ordered the animal's hind legs cut°ff the minute they caught him, but CaesarYard importuned the Emperor not to de-stroy such a wonderful animal for such atrifling cause. Just then Basil whispered to

his master Theophylis if the Emperorwould be angry if he were to racehis horse to the animal and mount himon the flight, without dismounting fromhis horse. The Emperor assented and Basilcaught the animal. The amazed Emperorthen asked Theophylis to lend him thisbrave youth to be his Imperial Strator,stableman. Basil won the Emperor's favorand was appointed Protostrator — ImperialEquerry.

This is a sample of how Porphyrogenitusthe historian alters and decorates with in-ventive details a simple and artless inci-dent, thus endangering the historical truth.A common and realistic incident of sub-duing a horse has been so disfigured byConstantine's pen that it has lost its truecolors. No mention is made here that theincident took place after Michael's mar-riage. The question which interests us is:when die1 Basil enter Michael's service asequerry?

The M chael who went on hunting ex-peditions must have been at least 14-15year old, therefore, approximately at theage when he married. On the other hand,if it is tiue that Yard accompanied himon these expeditions, it must have beennot before 856 when Michael and Yardseized the power following the assassina-tion of the Eunuch Teotist. We knowthat in 858, when an attempt was madeon Yard's life, Basil already was made Pro-tostrator. It is quite probable that Basil wasmade Strator in 856 as a result of a greatpalace revolution, when Basil was nearly20.

Basil continued in the service of Theo-phylis for several years. He came intoprominence the first time as a result ofhis wrestling prowess in Imperial circles.Emperor Constantine recounts this featbefore the incident of the stallion.

Yard's son Antigon had received invita-tions to the Imperial Palace for a recep-

10 T H E A R M E N I A N R E V I E W

tion in honor of his father. Yard attendedthe affair, accompanied by senators, closefriends, and among others, some Bulgar-ians who were at the capital as ambassa-dors. Included among the invited guestswas Basil's master Theophylos or Theo-phylis as H relative. Another guest wasConstantine the Patrician, the father ofthe historian Genesius. As the Bulgars be-came inebriated with the wine they wax-ed arrogant and started to brag that theyhad a wrestler among them whose shoul-ders had never been pinned to the mat.Just then Theophylis approached CaesarYard and warned him that it would be agreat insult and a scandal to be thushumiliated by the Bulgars, that the latterwould return to their land and boast thatthey are invincible. He proposed to sendfor Basil who was a stableman in his ser-vice who alone could silence those haughtyBulgars.

In no time at all Basil was on hand. Con-stantine the Patrician was very solicitous ofBasil as an Armenian, and as a precaution-ary measure, he ordered a bedding of strawon the floor lest his compatriot slipped andfell during the wrestling. The minute thewrestlers came to grips, Basil seized hisantagonost with a crushing grip, hoistedhim high in the air as if he were a sheafof hay or a sack of light wool, and slam-med him to the mat. The spectators wereagape with astonishment and Basil's famerang the rafters.

It must be supposed that there is a grainof truth in this incident, although our sourc-es give an entirely different picture of theaffair, casting doubt even on that smallgrain of truth.

The historian Genesius knows two in-cidents of the wrestling. The first of thesetook place in the presence of Theophylis,and not Antigon. It was Theophylis whoinvited to dinner Antigon, Constantine thePatrician and the historian's grandfather.

Theophylis. as well as Yard and EmperorMichael had their own wrestlers. Thatday Theophylis' wrestlers were defeatedby the wrestlers of Yard and Michael. ThenBasil redeemed the honor of his master.Constantine the Patrician appears in thesame role as recorded by Porphyrogenitus.He covered the ring with a bedding ofstraw to prevent Basil from slipping. TheBulgar could not lift Basil but the latternot only lifted his antagonist but he whirledhim in the air — hata podrczan — andbrought down with a crushing body slam.The Bulgar passed out and had to be re-vided by pouring water on his face.

Antigon reported Basil's victory to hisfather and the latter told it to Michael,whereupon, the Emperor sent for Basiland two other wrestlers. Of the three theEmperor liked Basil best, especially forhis magnificent physique, rewarded himwith gifts and honors and appointed himStrator. It was on this occasion that Em-press Theodora, staring at Basil, exclaimed,"My son, would that I had not seen thisday. This man will ruin our home as yourfather prophesied."

The second incident, according to thesame chronicler, took place when Basilalready was on the throne.

The King of the Bulgars had a famouswrestler who was considered invincible.Emperor Basil could not stand the thoughtof a foreign wrestler staining the Romanname, therefore, he posed as the championin his disguise. The "Scythian," namely theBulgarian tried to lift the Macedonian butcould not. Whereas, Basil hugged him in hispowerful arms, hoisted him up, and broughthim down with an overhead whirl andbody slam with such force that the Bul-gar passed out and they had to revive himwith "much water, drops of wine and rose-water. Blood was dripping from his noseand ears."

The Emperor's wrestling, as such, is in-

B A S I L 1 . T H E A R M E N I A N 11

credible, the whole story being nothingbut the echo of the first incident. The his-torian's grandfather Constantine the Patri-cian v.'as present at the match and con-ceivably the grandson had definite infor-mation as to what actually took place. Itseems, the grandson preferred to be ratherpleasing than truthful. To please Porphyro-genitus, by whose order he recorded thestory, he has exaggerated his zeal in praiseof Basil by inventing new proof of hiswrestling prowess.

It is worthy of note that Theodora'sprophetic apprehension after the wrestlingbout' is attributed by Porphyrogenitus toentirely different circumstances. Accordingto him, the sports-loving Michael one daywent on a hunting expedition at a placecalled Armamentaria where he ordered agreat banquet, inviting his mother, his rela-tives and the senatorial dignitaries. Amongthe invited was Basil who at the time wasProtostrator. As Basil sat at the table theEmpress Theodora fixed her eyes upon him,

__ as if trying to penetrate his innermost soul.Suddenly she was seized with a convulsionand fainted. They revived her with waterand rose-water. The guests retired. Michaelapproached his mother and asked the rea-son for her fainting.

It was at this time that the excited Em-press revealed her premonition in regardto Basil. "It seems to me," she said, "thisis the man who will destroy our home. Ihave heard from your father that someonewill destroy it. All signs indicate that Basilwill be our heir. It seems I see with myown eyes the downfall of our home. Itwas this feeling which disturbed me andcaused me to faint."

The Emperor quieted his Mother saying,*°ur suspicions are groundless, Mother.

i his man is a common churl, endowed onlywith his physical strength like Samson,nothing more. He is an Enoch or a Nimrodborn m our times. You need have no fear."

Thus, by the grace of God, Basil wasspared a disaster, concludes his historiangrandson.

The reference to Theophylis is connect-ed with a prophecy which an Arab fortuneteller woman made to him, that his reignwould be followed by his wife and son, af-ter which the power would pass to theHouse of Martiniak. It is instructive to notethe degree of freedom with which the his-torians treat the same subjects, authenticor unconfirmed. Each has drawn a circleaccording to his taste in which to rear-ran ce all the current hearsay. It is a novel-istic approach, rather than a historian's, andthe reason is not merely the tendency todeify Basil, but the paucity of authentic in-formation.

Nor are we impressed with the legendof Basil's friendship with Lady Danelis, asrelated only by his grandson ConstantinePorphyrogenitus. Once Theophylis journey-ed on a state mission, at the instance ofMichael and Yard, and Basil accompaniedhim. In the Achaeian city of Patras Theo-phylis visited the temple of the ApostleAndreas (Andrew) and prayed there. Be-ing occupied at the time, Basil did not ac-company him but visited the same templesoon after.

The entertaining friar showed no parti-cular interest or respect toward Theophy-lis and his fellow pilgrim, but when Basilappeared he met him and welcomed himlike a king. Those were on the scene mar-veled at this unique homage, and the newsreached a resident wealthy noblewoman,a widow who was called Danelis afterher husband. Knowing the Friar to be aman of prophetic gift, Lady Danelis sum-moned him and asked why he had shownsuch extraodinary courtesy and homage toa stranger while denying the same to eitherher son or grandson? The Friar told herthat the stranger was not an ordinary manand that he had seen in a vision the great

12 T H E A R M E N I A N R E V I E W

.Roman Emperor, the Chosen of God,and such men should be respected.

Having completed his mission Theophy-Ih returned to the city while Basil, owingto illness, could not accompany him andstayed behind for a while.

Meanwhile Lady Danelis was friendlyand respectful of Basil, "as one who sows thegood seed in fertile soil so that he couldreap a rich harvest when the time came."She conferred upon him costly presents,gold, clothing, and 300 servants. In returnfor her generosity she expected nothingbut his troth of spiritual kinship, with herson John. Basil reluctantly acceptedthe gifts and promised to make her heirof certain of his estates when he becameEmperor as the Friar had prohesied. Itwas this unexpected fortune which enabledBasil to purchase his estate in Macedonia,thus insuring the security of his family."He who was rich in virtue thus becamerich in money and possessions," the his-torian comments.

The core of this story consists of the ex-planation it offers of Basil's sudden acquisi-tion of wealth, to which end, Lady Danelis'resources have been magnified to fabulouslimits. The conclusion is that Basil reallywas a rich landowner in Macedonia, givingrise to the Cinderella story of how a poorlad, of his own initiative and toil, workedhis way from poverty to the throne of anempire.

After the stallion incident, as we haveseen, Basil was appointed Imperial Stratoror stableman, approximately in 856. Ac-cording to Genesius this took place after thewrestling incident. After the abortive at-tempt upon Yard's life at the instigation ofTheodora and the active participation ofthe Emperor's Protostrator, the Emperorpunished the latter by replacing him withBasil in 858. The following remarkablefeat is ascribed to this period of Basil'slife.

One day Emperor Michael went huntingat a place called Philopation. According tothe accepted custom, Basil, the Protostrator(Equerry) was leading the party, his in-separable bardoukion hanging from hisbelt. Upon the alarum of the trumpeteersand the barking of the hounds, suddenlythere emerged from the forest a huge wolf,throwing consternation all around. ButBasil calmly hurled his bardoukion at thebeast and cleanly clove its head in two.Caesar Yard who was in the Emperor'sparty turned to his friends and said, "Thisman will put an end to our dynasty."

It is related that Yard, uncertain of hisfuture, often would ask the great philosop-her, Leo who was an Armenian and Chan-cellor of the University, in regard to thefuture. "I see," the philosopher would re-ply, "that your dynasty shall be destroyedby a very young person — neanischos."But when he saw Basil, pointing at himwith his finger he said, "That's the one whowill be your heir."

Thereafter Yard started to plot againstBasil but all to no avail, because, as thehistorian thinks, nothing could changewhat was ordained by higher providence.The tale itself is immaterial; what countsare the words ascribed to the philosopherthat the one who will overthrow Yard willbe a very young man, an additional proofconfirming the fact that Basil was com-paratively young when he ascended theByantine throne, all of which futher con-firm our previous doubt and correction. Inthe light of the preceding calculations, in866 when Yard was assassinated, Basil musthave been 30.

The Protostrator Basil, steadily advanc-ing, finally attained to the high office ofImperial Chamberlian — Parakoimonenos.The Eunuch Damianos who had occupiedthat post had helped Yard in the assassina-tion of the most powerful minister Theo-rist and to take the helm of the government.

B A S I L I . T H E A R M E N I A N

Having been denied his expected reward,Damianos had broken with Yard, was dis-missed from his post by order of the Em-peror, and had retired to the seclusion ofthe monastery. His place was taken byBasil. At the time of Damiano, dismissalYard already was Caesar, having attainedto that honor on April 26, 862. With hispost of Chamberlain, Basil also was pro-moted to the rank of Patrician. He soonwon the Emperor's friendship and favor,and Yard, who was a man of sufficientexperience and perceptive ability, could nothelp but feel what a formidable foe thenew Chamberlain would be. The latter, onthe other hand, could clearly see that thereal power in the Empire was not theEmperor but the powerful Caesar. He alonecould pose as an obstacle to his ambitiousdesigns.

Presently the moot rivalry between thetwo champions is on. Basil succeeded firstin separating Yard from Sembat, a manclose to Yard, his son-in-law, and holderof the post of grand logoteth — Speaker.Sembat was blinded by Basil's promise ofpromotion to the rank of Caesar after theoverthrow of Yard.

Through Sembat Basil poisoned the mindof Michael that the Caesar was secretly plot-ting against him in the hope of seizing thethrone. It was a despicable lie, of course,nevertheless the Emperor succumbed to itsvrnom and naively made common causewith the enemies of his own uncle andstrongest support, ruthlessly destroyed himwithout realizing that he not only wascommitting a crime but a fatal error whichinevitably would lead to his own destruc-tion.

The circumstances of Yard's assassinationare repulsive. In the spring of 866 EmperorMichael marched to the Province of Thracear>d camped at a plain called Kippi nearthe River Meander. It had been announcedhat the Emperor was marching against the

Moslem government of the Island of Crete.

Was this a serious invasion or a mere pre-text for the pre-planned crime? It is notknown. Yard was assassinated here per-fidiously. Suffice it to mention here thatthe author of the sequel to Gevorg attri-butes the crime to Sembat and Basil,Genesim does not mention Basil's name,while Constantine Porphyrogenitus putsthe whole blame on Michael. Genesius as-cribes the same role to Constantine theArmenian. Both historians favor theirgrandfather but not the truth.

Emperor Michael wrote from his campto Patriarch Photius in regard to the mur-der and the farsighted Patriarch advisedthe Emperor at once to return to his capitaLHe no doubt had no faith in Basil and fear-ed that the Emperor would be the nextvictim of his ambition. Michael returnedto the capital. In less than thirty days Basilwas proclaimed Emperor, joint ruler withMichael.

IllYard's son-in-law Sembat III who, for his

complicity in the plot had hoped to berewarded with the rank of Caesar, wasbitterly disillusioned when he saw that hehad been but a plaything in the hands ofBasil and was filled with hatred and bitter-ness. He took counsel with George, • theStratelat who was Bekan's son and ask-ed to be appointed Strategos the next daywhich meant being in charge of a Theme.The "next day" was understood to mean theday which followed the consultation, andnot the coronation.

Sembat's request went unheeded. On thecontrary, he was stripped of his office ofLogothet which went to one Kumer. Ge-orge was offered the Opsikian Theme. Bothwere dissatisfied and rebelled against thegovernment. They started to incite thepeople, burn the fields and the vineyards, mprotest against Basil's promotion. The two/emperors issued orders to the strategi ofthe other themes to suppress the revolt. Thetask of destroying the rebellion was com-

14 T H E A R M E N I A N R E V I E W

mitted to Gener.il Niciphor Maleyin. Thisman moved cautiously, distributed circularletters among the military to work in se-cret, and to crush the revolt more by sub-tle methods rather than by open force, toprevent the movement from spreading and•deteriorating into civil war. Soon GeorgeEekan was arrested, and by orders fromabove, the City Eparchus Constantine My-.ares gouged out his eyes in the publicsquare and forced him to beg alms from thepassersby.

Thirty days later the same Maleyin ar-Tested Sembat in an inn in the Provinceof Yegeghiatz (Erzinka) and presented himto the Emperor in his Palace of St. Mamas.Sembat was subjected to the same indigni-ties, being blinded in one eye and forcedto solicit alms like a common beggar. Threedays later Sembat and Bekan were releasedand sent to their homes under strict sur-veillance.

According to another source, Sembat,refusing to stay in the city any longer, ask-ed for the strategosate of Thrace which hereceived, while Bekan was given the Opsi-kian Theme. Niciphor Maleyin's name isnot mentioned, nor is the Province ofTegeghiatz. Sembat was arrested at a fort-ress called Lainakar (Illateya Petra), aplace which is now unknown, in all proba-bility somewhere in the Province of Thrace,Bekan fled to Katuaion, apparently presentday Keotahia. Constantine Porphyrogeni-tus, the source of this information, wouldhave us believe that Basil pardoned theculprits and even invited them to his Im-perial table. Genesius makes no mention•of the Sembat-Bekan affair.

The joint rule of the two emperors didmot last long. Scarcely one year and a fewmonths had passed when Basil assassinatedMichael and became sole ruler of theempire.

Michael was not a man of good character.TVom early childhood he had surrendered

, liimself to a licentious life. In the days of

Yard he had very little to do with stateaffairs, his mad orgies having takenprecedence over state business. He wasespecially fond of horse races. The Palaceof St. Mamas had a special arena in whichhe personally took part in the races. It isrelated that once, in the midst of the races,fire signals announced that the enemy hadinvaded the empire. The Philosopher Leothe Great had invented a signal systemwhich flashed the news from Cilicia to thecapital that the Arab had invaded the land.The Emperor held back from the pub-lic the news until the race was over.

It is difficult to believe the absurd gos-sip which has been woven around thepleasure loving emperor's pastime. Theyused to play childish pranks and jokes onhim. His closest companion and associatewas his favorite court jester Theophil, hissurname Swine — Ghryllos. Michael calledhim Himerios which in Greek means dear.The pranks sometimes were positively in-decent, almost sacrilegious. Himerios wouldappear in the attire of the Patriarch whileMichael posed as the Archbishop of Co-logne. Eleven others, attired as bishops,would burlesque the ceremonies of ordina-tion or divestiture. They carried their vul-garity to such an extent that they even ridi-culed the mystery of Holy Communionby offering mustard and vinegar as sacra-ments. They did not even spare the Pa-triarch. One day, as Patriarch Ignatius,heading a church procession, was preced-ing toward the nearby suburb, suddenly hecame face to face with a caricature Pa-triarch mounted on a donkey and surround-ed by his retinue, Emperor Michael in theirvery midst. With music and ribald songs,the comedy actors faced the Patriarch asif they were singing psalms, and with theirraucous voices disrupted the real proces-sion.

Michael did not even shrink from in-sulting the devout feelings of his ownmother. Once he fooled his mother by tell-

B A S I L I . T H E A R M E N I A N 15

• ic her the Patriarch was waiting for herin the Palace to give her his blessing. Asi matter of fact the Patriarch was noneother than the Swine Theophil, the CourtJester who in his patriarchal vestments wasseated on a throne beside Michael. TheEmpress really showed up, mistaking thebufoon for the real Patriarch, and bowedbefore him for his blessing. Just then thephony patriarch exposed his derriere tothe Empress, Mortified with shame, theQueen ran away cursing her unworthy son.

They say Michael was wont to repeatthat Himerios was his patriarch, Potiuswas Caesar's (Yard), and Ignatius the Pa-triarch of the Christians.

Constantine Porphyrogenitus has describ-ed Michael in such black colors in orderto justify Basil's crime. The gossip aboutMichael's unseemly behavior he collected,although highly colored, was not withoutbasis. We have the testimony of other in-dependent sources in regard to vulgaritieswhich were perpetrated in the capital.

The author of the sequel of George themonastic, who is wholly immune to the in-lluence of the Imperial house, makes nomention of Michael's bufooneries but givesa detailed description of his assassination.

Michael was staging a horse race at thepalace arena which was attended by Pa-trician Constantine the Armenian, thegrandfather of Genesius the historian, andtwo other persons named Acalia and Crus-ts. The Emperor was a partisan of theWues, Constantine, the Whites, Acalia theGreens, and Crissa the Reds. The Emperorxvas the victor in the races. To celebrate theoccasion he gave a banquet to which were"ivited Basil and his wife Eudocia, a form-<T mistress of the Emperor. During the ban-niiet a patrician named Basiliskian started|» flatter the Emperor for his skill inhorsemanship. Of course, nothing could

ave been more pleasing to the Emperor'sVanity.

Intoxicated with the praise, Michael com-manded Basiliskian to take off his Imperialred shoes — Zangia — and put them on him-self. Basiliskian hesitated, looking in the di-rection of Basil. This angered the Emperorwho barked at him to obey his command.Although Basil gave no sign of approval,Basilikian put on the shoes all the same.Thereupon, the Emperor said to Basil, ''ByHeaven, the shoes suit him better than theydo on you. Have I no right to make anotherEmperor just as I made you one?"

Seeing the Emperor was angry at Basiland was about to do something foolish,Eudocia importuned him tearfully: "TheImperial honor, my Lord, is a sublime thingand we are unworthy of wearing it; never-the less, it is unseemly to degrade the Im-perial honor to this extent."

The Emperor's reply was far from com-forting. "Do not grieve," he said, "I wantto make Basiliskian an emperor."

Basil's anger and chagrin had no bounds.The relations of the two emperors becamestrained with each passing day, destroyingtheir mutual trust. Perhaps this was whatgave rise to the rumor that one day, whenMichael went on a hunting trip, an un-known friar approached him and handedhim a piece of paper which warned theEmperor against Basil's intrigues.

Michael was seized with fear and hatred,and in turn, he resolved to put an end toBasil's life, but the latter acted more swiftly.

On September 24, 867, Michael invitedBasil and his wife Eudocia to dinner at hisPalace of St. Mamas. Michael was fond ofdrinking. When the wine started to take itseffect, Basil left the table, went to the Im-perial bedchamber and with his powerfulhands twisted the latch so that no one couldclose the door. He then returned to his seatat the table.

Michael, now wholly intoxicated, arosefrom the table, and leaning on Basil's arm,headed for his bedchamber. Basil kissed

16 T H E A R M E N I A N R E V I E W

his hand and withdrew. Standing guard atthe sleeping room was Basiliskian in placeof the first chamberlain Rendak. The latterwas on a hunting expedition and had ordersfrom the Emperor to announce the resultto Queen Mother Theodora who had beeninvited to dinner the following day.

Ignatius the chamberlain wanted to se-cure the door but saw that its latch hadbeen tampered with. He was seized withsuspicion, sat upon the bed and startedto tear his hair. Dead drunk, the Em-peror was deep asleep. Suddenly with atumultuous noise, in rushed Basil togetherwith his companions. The door was open.Trembling with fear, Ignatius rushed to thedoor to stop the intruders. Petros the Bui-gar, one of the conspirators, sneaked pastBasil toward the imperial bed but was stop-ped by Ignatius.

The Emperor awakened from the com-motion. One of the conspirators, HovhannesKhald, drew his sword and cut off the Em-peror's hand. The other conspirator, Hagov-pik (lachivitzis) the Persian Apelatiswounded Basiliskian with his sword andrepulsed him. Basil's two brothers, Marianand Sembat, and his cousin Acila (Acila-mus), another man named Yard and Con-stantine Toxar were guarding the main en-trance, as a result of which none ofMichael's servants knew what was goingon in the bedroom.

The conspirators hesitated a moment, notknowing what to do, whether to killthe Emperor or leave him maimed. Acilawas of the opinion that if the Emperorwas spared none of them could hope to stayalive. To please Basil, he rushed to the bed-room where he saw Michael, with hishands cut off, lying on the bed and beggingthem to take pity on him, to have mercy,and to snare him. Acila paid no attention,came close, and with one stroke of thesword ripped open his entrails.

The conspirators now hurried to the pal-

ace to seize it. The sea was stormy. Theydescended to the bank of the Golden Horn,entered the home of Yevlok the Persian,and together made off toward the Pier ofBucoleon and from there entered the pal-ace. Yevlok in his language said to Arta-vazt, the Commander of the foreign regi-ment, that Michael had been slain by thesword, and ordered him to open the gatesto receive the new Emperor. Artavazt ranto the palace guard, grabbed the key, andopened the gate. Basil made his entry un-opposed. His first act was to deliver thekeys to the new Papias, a man namedGrigor Philemon.

Basil immediately sent messengers to hiswife Eudocia, to bring her in with imperialhomage. At the same time, he sent Johnthe Chamberlian to the other Eudocia,Michael's wife, to take her to her parents.He ordered the other chamberlain whosename was Pavlos, to go bury Michael'sbody. When Pavlos entered the palace ofMamas he saw that hapless victim's bodywas wrapped in his beloved horse's blanket,his entrails hanging out. He saw Michael'smother and sisters weeping and wailingover him. He hauled the body to a boatand took it to the Monastery of Christopolon the Asiatic shore where he buried it.

Thus, Basil became sole ruler of theByzantine Empire.

The new Emperor appointed Marian,the son of Petron, Eparchos of the capitaland ordered him to go to the forum andannounce that Basil is the only Emperor.Perron was the brother of Caesar Yardand Empress Theodora. It must be sup-posed that Marian, too, was one of theconspirators.

Our historian would have us believe thatthe conspirators came to a sorry ending,punished, as if, by divine providence. Ha-govpik, the slayer of Basiliskian, duringa hunting expedition with the Emperor,as he was dismounting his horse to retrieve

B A S I L I . T H E A R M E N I A N 17

his s\vord. the horse ran away and he fellto the ground dead. Hovhannes Khald whohad cut off Michael's hinds was appointedstrategos of Khaldik. Having defied theEmperor, at the latter's command, he wasimpaled at the hand of Andreas the Stra-telat. Acila (on) was exiled to a suburb ofthe capital called Khardophilak, fell outwith his servants who killed him one night.Apelat(is) the Persian died with theworms. Constantine Toxar(is) fell by thesword. The Emperor's brother Marian waswounded on the foot and died with worms.

It's important to note that all of Basil'sconspirators were Armenians. Sembat,Vard's son-in-law, was an Armenian prince,probably a scion of the Bagratids. GevorgPekan likewise was an Armenian. Pekan —Pighyanis — is the Persian word Paiganwhich means infantryman, used as a sur-name. Petros the Bulgar and his cousin Leothe Assyrian were likewise Armenians. Theappelations Bulgar and Assyrian have noconnection with their origins. Bulgar's cous-in cannot be an Assyrian. Hovhannes Khaldand Constantine Toxar, in all probability,likewise were Armenians. He is calledKhald for having been born in Khaldikor having served there.

Hovhannes Khald may have been a Chal-dian, namely a Laz, but since his othercompanions are Armenians we presume hetoo was an Armenian. Constantine is call-ed Toxar, precisely Toxara. Lucian theSamostracian mentions a Sythian scient-ist by the name of Toxaris. If this is thesame name, in all probability it was tack-ed on Constantine as a nickname. Withoutdoubt it's an Iranian word, perhaps known°" the Khaldian shores.

The most important among the conspira-tors are Basil's brothers Marian, Sembat,and his cousin Acila. We think h? had athird brother named Vard. According to

le historian, among the assassins of Em-P°ror Michael were "Maranus and Vardas.

the father of Rector Basil, and Sembatius,the borther of Basil, and Acilaion, cous-in of Basil."

Two of the conspirators, Yevlok andApelatis are called Persians, but they are,,ot Persians, but Perso-Armenians. That'sthe way Byzantine Armenians were called.In the Ninth Century, during the Arab dom-ination, it is difficult to imagine a Persianin the service of the Byzantines, having ac-cepted Christianity. Apelatis is not a pro-per name.

Another confederate of Basil was Arta-vazt, the commander of the foreign regi-ment. Basil's brother Marian was the Com-mander of the Imperial cavalry. Thesewere the commanders of the two mostpowerful forces in the Empire, and there-fore, once their support assured, it waseasy to cause a revolution. The above-mentioned persons were friends of Basil,undoubtedly from the time he was servingin the foreign regiment under Andreas. Thepalace revolution was not a chance accidentbut a planned venture which enjoyed theconfidence of the military circles. Enemies,no doubt, were not lacking, who did theirbest to distort the nature of the revolt andto disfigure the image of Basil.

The confused information and the biasedgossip which has come down to us, wovenaround the name of Basil with good orbad intentions, either to praise or to dis-credit him, have clouded his real originand the causes which contributed to hissuccess.

The tales pertaining to this origin areassociated with the name of Patriarch Pho-tius. The first year of Basil's reign Pho-tius lost the patriarchal throne but wasreinstated in 877, after the death of hisantagonist Ignatius. The real cause of Pho-tius' dethronement was Basil's ecclesias-tical policy which, to keep the peace withthe Rome, forced him to sacrifice Photiuswho was an inveterate foe of the Pope and

18 T H E A R M E N I A N R E V I E W

was the principal cause of the schism. Thefallen Patriarch tried hard to retrieve hisloss, but to do this it was first necessaryto rewin the Emperor's favor.

The biographer of Ignatius, Nicitus thePaphlagonian relates, to please the Em-peror, Photius forged a geneology highlyflattering to the Emperor. This was donewhen the former Patriarch was an exile atthe Monastery of Skep. The forged docu-ment traced Basil's origin to King Tiridates,the celebrated collaborator of Gregorythe Illuminator. Photius was an intimatefriend of a monk named Theophanus Sbeno-demon, the librarian of the Imperial Li-brary, a man of vast knowledge and wis-dom. Through him, Photius inserted hisfalse geneology into the Imperial Library.It was a parchment inscribed in Alexand-rian letters which the author had contriv-ed to give it an ancient look. The geneologyreachess down to Basil's father who, itsaid, would have a son, such as Basil, whosename would be BEKLAS.

The word BEKLAS, according to Nicitusthe Paphlagonian, is made of the initialletters of Basil, his wife Eudocia, and theirsons Konstantine, Leo, Alexander andStephan.

One day Theophanus, while searchingfor a book the Emperor wanted, reportedto him that he had accidentally come acrossa book written in ancient letters, very dif-ficult to decipher. Theophanes was referr-ing to Photius' book. While showing thebook, Theophanus added that there wasonly one man who could read it, and thatwas the exiled Patriarch Photius. Seizedwith curiosity, the Emperor summonedPhotius to his palace. Photius read themysterious book as if inspired by an angel,to the Emperor's great satisfaction. Thiswas how Photius rewon Basil's favor.

The only grain of truth in this insipid talewas the fact that Photius made an attemptto trace the Emperor's geneology. The rest

is sheer fabrication. As a man of greatlearning, and as an Armenian himself,being the nephew of Arshavir Kamsarakanand the intimate friend of Yard the Caesar,Photius was familiar with Armenian cir-cles, and naturally, was in a position toverify Basil's geneology. The Patriarch,noted for his erudition, was not so devoidof ingenuity as not to be able to offer theEmperor a more plausible and convincingexplanation than this pitiful play on wordsBEKLAS. On the other hand, Basil wasnot so naive as to swallow the obviousfraud. The tale even lacks the freshnessof originality.

From all appearances Photius neverbroke with the Emperor to have anyneed of a reconciliation. Even after hisdismissal he continued to enjoy the Em-peror's affection and respect as a learnedand virtuous man. By order of the Emperor,Photius was installed at the Palace as pri-vate instructor of his sons.

Basil removed Photius from his patriarch-al throne out of political considerations,unwilling to strain his relations with thePope whose good will he needed for hisplanned conquests. Nor had he any per-sonal enmity, although he had reason tosuspect him as the friend of Yard the Cae-sar.

There have been various legends wovenaround the name of Basil, attempting toprove his royal origin, most of them basedupon the document ascribed to Photius,or at best influenced by that document,but all of which have been rejected byhistorians. Only one Arab chronicler, Tabar,has agreed with Photius that Basil was ascion of a royal dynasty but he traces him toSlavic origin because his mother wasSlavonic. The word Slav, however, doesnot necessarily denote racial origin, butmerely indicates that Basil's mother was anative of Adrianoplis. At that time Thraceand Macedonia were inundated with Slavic

B A S I L I . T H E A R M E N I A N 19

peoples, and consequently, they often arereferred to as Slavonia.

patriarch Eudecius of Alexandria, a con-temporary of Tabar (923) and known bythe name of Sayid-ibnul-Patrick (940)claims that Basil was not a royal scionbecause he was a Slavon. Massoud (950)repeats the same and at the same timeseconds Tabar that Basil was called aSlavon because his mother was a Slav.

The word Slavon, was used, in the samesense that Basil was called a Macedonian.Testimonies of this kind are of no intrinsicvalue since they are mere hypotheses whichexplain why Basil was called a Macedonian.Ft was not merely because his mother wasa Macedonian but there was also the pre-sumption to liken Basil with AlexanderI lie Macedonian. The mother, at all events,was not a Slav by race but, at best, camefrom a Slavic country, namely Adrianopolis.

There is another tradition among Arme-nian circles in regard to Basil's descentwhich has been preserved by Asoghik:"They say of him he came from the villageof Til in Taron." These words need notnecessarily convey the idea that Basil wasa common peasant. The idea that Basil wasof obscure or lowly origin, as Byzantinewriters are inclined to prove, must be dis-missed once and forever. All those Arme-nians who became actors in the Byzantinedrama almost exclusively belonged to theArmenian nobility, most of them beingMamikonians. When in the 8th century theMamikonians ceded the arena to the Bagra-'icls they were forced to retire to Byzan-t»nn. But even before that they had beenattracted to the west by that great Chris-'i;"i state.

Anciently Taron was the property of theMamikonians but later it passed into thehands of the Bagratids. By the 8th century,as a result of political developments, thercgion of Taron was completely under

domination. Here reigned Ashot

Bagratouni, the son of Issac, the same Ashotwho opposed the rebellion. The new capi-tal of Taron was the City of Khlat.

It is quite probable that the last rem-nants of the Mamikonians still lingeredin Til and from there, pressed by the Ba-gratids, withdrew to Byzantium. If the mancalled Humayyak, mentioned by Photius,is not a figment of the imagination, he musthave come from the village of Til in Taron.In the contrary event, if Humayyak is nota historic figure, the family which migratedfrom Til must have been Bagratids.

Thus, the Arshakuni (Arsacid) origin ofBasil is historically indefensible, becausethat house was extinguished long before.There were only two ancient and outstand-ing princely families on the scene, theMamikonians and the Bagratids, one shin-ing in Byzantium and the other in Arme-nia. In all probability Basil's family stem-med from these. The name Humayyak isreminiscent of the Mamikonians, whileSembat, which is the name of Basil'sbrother, inclines toward the Bagratid house.

The Macedonian cities and Adrianopoliswere merely temporary residences of Basil'sparents. In the battles fought in this arenait was customary for the military to sharpentheir swords and carve their way into high-er posts, not even excepting the imperialthrone.

There are scholars who, while rejectingBasil's Arsacid origin, go even farther andindiscreetly deny his Armenian origin. Es-pecially the Slavic historians are inclinedto detect in Basil Slavic blood. Some ofthem have insisted that Basil was apure Slav, or had descended from a Hellen-ized Slavic family.

These biased opinions were given theknife once and for all by a new source,The Life of Eudemius, in which it is said,"Stilianos, Armenian name Zaoudzas, wasa Macedonian but Armenian in origin, thesame as the Emperor himself. This man was

20 T H E A R M E N I A N R E V I E W

the favorite of Basil and his son and suc-cessor Leo, and during the latter's reignattained to a high post, being called Fatherof the Emperor. Besides, his daughter mar-ried Emperor Leo. Some have identifiedStilianos' Armenian name of Zaoutzas withthe (Turkish) word Chavoush but this iswrong. It seems Stilianos is the son or closerelative of Strategos Tzantzis which isfamiliar to us. Zaoudzi should be readTzantzis. We have already seen that hewas a Macedonian Strategos under whomBasil served. The explicit testimony of theLife of Eudemius leaves no doubt as toBasil's origin.

There are ancient rumors also in regardto Basil's family or marital life, to be pre-cise. Basil ascended the throne under cir-cumstances which precluded him from en-joying wide sympathy. The crime he hadcommitted was enormous and its effectstill fresh, a circumstance which provideda fertile soil for enemies. Basil's enemies didnot hesitate to blemish his name and familyhonor with wanton gossip. •

Basil was married when he befriendedMichael. It is related that Michael separat-ed him from his wife whose name wasMariam and married him to Eudocia Ingerwho was his concubine or mistress. It isalso related that Michael made it a con-dition with Basil that this was only a nomi-nal wife, leaving the right to marital inter-course to Michael himself. As a compensa-tion, he put his sister Thecla at the disposalof Basil.

Basil had four sons and four daughters.Evil tongues spread the rumor that thefirst two sons, Constantine and Leo werefathered by Michael and not Basil. Con-stantine was engaged to be married toLouis' daughter Hermingart, and in thisconnection Louis' ambassador already wasin Constantinople. Constantine died in 879while the engagement took place in theyears 870 or 871. At this time Constantine

should have been at least 15 to be eligiblefor marriage, which means he should havebeen born in 855, whereas Basil marriedEudocia shortly before Caesar Yard's as-sassination, about 865. The question iswhat connection could Constantine, bornsome ten years before Basil's and Eudocia'smarriage, have had with that marriage? Itis plain that Constantine was born of thefirst wife Mariam, and not Eudocia, andtherefore, the malicious gossip was withoutfoundation. While recording these rumors,the historians have deemed it more prob-able that Constantine was Basil's son.

Equally groundless is the rumor aboutLeo. If we believe the historians, EmperorMichael had intimate relations with Eu-docia Inger before her legal marriage. Itwas in order to sever this relation thatEmpress Theodora and the Eunuch Theoc-tist decided to marry Michael to anotherEudocia who was more modest, comingfrom the Decapolit family. Theoctist wasassassinated in 856 which places Michael'smarriage at 855 or 854, whereas, Basil mar-ried Eudocia Inger, as was mentioned, in865 or shortly before. Michael lived with hiswife more than ten years and had no chil-dren from her, nor from his legal wife.Eudocia married Basil in 865 and on Sep-tember 1, 866, she gave birth to Leo. There-after she gave him two more sons and fourdaughters. Can there be any doubt thathe was their father, and not Michael? Ofcourse not, if we do not want to sin againstintegrity.

Moreover, this whole story about Eu-docia is pure slander. She suffered becauseshe had tied her fate with Basil. It was tohurt Basil that Eudocia was represented asMichael's mistress. If Emperor Michael wasreally in love with Eudocia, what preventedhim from marrying her instead of deliveringher to another, reserving to himself theritjht of a clandestine and illicit love undersuch an unnatural and more than comicalpretext?

B A S I L I . T H E A R M E N I A N 21

These frivolous tales in the capital hadsnread as far as Alexandria. Patriarch Eu-tvches relates that, when they asked Basil%vhy he killed Michael, the latter gave thefollowing explanation. Michael was pre-sumably in love with a woman and com-manded him to marry her on condition he,Michael would have the sole right of ap-proaching her. He did not want his wifeto know of this illegal tie; on the otherhand he could not marry her while his realwife still lived. Basil carried out the Em-peror's command but later regretted it andkilled him.

This argument is wholly valueless. TheBv/antine Court was not a garden of vir-tue, nor of legal scrupulosity. Michael him-self was a model of the licentious and pro-f l iga te prince. If he really wanted it, hecould easily have deserted his wife andtaken another women, as done by the em-perors before and after him. Neither hiswife nor his mother could have stopped!n's caprice. Even the patriarchs were im-potent to restrain the emperors in suchmatters.

Kutyches' story proves another thing,l l i a t is, according to rumors a political"•volution had taken place because of al"\ affair. In other words, Michael had an'Hin t passion for Basil's wife and was pun-> M i r d by her husband. That circumstance''•"(Is force to our suspicion that Eudociawas never such a frivolous woman as she'•as been represented to us, and that she

never was Michael's mistress. Eudociachose Basil of her own will, and not at thecommand of Michael. Otherwise the latter,after ascending the throne, would neverhave kept her.

Basil's life needs more critical study andimpartial elucidation than it has been givento date. The history which has come to usis an accumulation of gossip, slander anddistortion. It needs critical examination withan unbiased eye to separate the wheat fromthe chaff. The question of Basil's origin andthe likes of him is not a superfluous quib-ble for history, as it may seem to many.Byzantinism, as distinct from its precedingcivilization, was due to the united coopera-tion of various nationalities under onestate. To determine the contribution of eachnationality element means the elucidation,the true understanding of Byzantinism.

Speaking of the Armenians specifically,it is our aim to clarify the role of Armenianstate figures who distinguished themselvesin Byzantine history with such extraordin-ary vigor of mind and arms. Were thesemere blackguards of fate, knight errantswho, persecuted and driven from the father-land, were in quest of adventures on thehigh roads without reckoning the conse-quences, or were they on the contrary, thebearers of the Armenian constructive spirit,dedicated souls who spared no effort to re-build the empire and who rightly becameits true architects?