Byzantine Culture

History · Guide

Byzantine Emperors

Explore the lives and reigns of the Byzantine emperors, from Constantine the Great to Constantine XI. A study of imperial power, succession, ceremony, and the role of women.

For more than a thousand years, the Byzantine Empire was ruled by a single office, that of the basileus, the emperor, who was understood to be the representative of Christ on earth, the autokrator, the sole ruler. The continuity of the office, from Constantine I in the fourth century to Constantine XI in the fifteenth, is one of the most remarkable features of Byzantine civilization. Across this vast span, the office changed profoundly in its powers, its claims, and its ceremonies, but it never lost its claim to be the supreme authority in the Christian Roman state.

This study of Byzantine emperors explores the office, the dynasties, the ceremonies, and the personalities of the rulers. It examines how the imperial office was defined, contested, and transmitted, and how individual emperors shaped the history of the empire.

The Office of the Emperor

The Imperial Idea

The Byzantine conception of the emperor was rooted in late Roman political theory, which itself was a synthesis of Hellenistic kingship, Roman republican tradition, and Christian theology. The emperor was the source of law, the commander of the army, the supreme judge, and the protector of the church. He was, in the words of Eusebius, the “external image” of the divine Logos, the visible counterpart of the heavenly king.

The emperor’s authority was understood to come from God, but it was also limited by the church. The emperor was not a priest, and he could not celebrate the sacraments. He was, however, the protector of the faith and the convener of church councils, and his authority over the church was a defining element of Byzantine caesaropapism.

The emperor’s court was a complex institution. The imperial palace, the Great Palace of Constantinople, was a vast complex of buildings, churches, and gardens, where the emperor lived, worked, and held audiences. The eunuch chamberlains, the protovestiarios, the epi tes trapezes, and many other officials managed the daily life of the court. The court ceremony, codified in the De Ceremoniis of Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos, prescribed every detail of imperial life, from the order in which officials greeted the emperor to the way he cut his meat at meals.

The Dynasties of Byzantium

The Constantinian Dynasty (306–363)

The first dynasty of the Byzantine empire, in a sense, was the family of Constantine the Great. Constantine himself, founder of Constantinople and champion of Christianity, set the pattern for the Byzantine imperial office. His son Constantius II continued his work, and the dynasty lasted through Julian the Apostate, who briefly tried to restore paganism, and Jovian, who returned to Christianity. The dynasty ended with the death of Julian’s successor, Jovian, in 364.

The Theodosian Dynasty (379–457)

The second great dynasty was that of Theodosius I, who made Nicene Christianity the official religion of the empire and who ruled as the last emperor of both East and West. Theodosius’s sons, Arcadius and Honorius, divided the empire between East and West, and the eastern branch of the dynasty, ruling from Constantinople, lasted until 457, with the death of Marcian.

The Justinianic Dynasty (518–602)

The dynasty associated with Justinian I was not technically a family, since most of its members were adopted or appointed. It included Justin I, Justinian I, Justin II, Tiberius I, Maurice, and Phocas. The dynasty produced the great age of Justinian, with its wars of reconquest, legal codification, and architectural program, but it ended in chaos with the usurpation of Phocas and the catastrophic Sassanid war that followed.

The Heraclian Dynasty (610–695)

The dynasty of Heraclius ruled during the great crisis of the seventh century, when the empire lost Syria, Palestine, and Egypt to the Arab conquests. The dynasty produced the great military emperors Heraclius, Constans II, and Constantine IV, but it also produced the disastrous Justinian II, who was eventually overthrown and killed in 695.

The Isaurian Dynasty (717–802)

The Isaurian dynasty, beginning with Leo III, ruled during the second great Arab siege of Constantinople and inaugurated the Iconoclast controversy. The dynasty produced the great legal codifications of the Ecloga and the Isaurian laws, and it laid the foundation for the theme system that would preserve the empire for centuries. The dynasty ended in 802, when Irene of Athens, the first woman to rule the empire in her own right, was overthrown by Nikephoros I.

The Amorian Dynasty (820–867)

The Amorian dynasty, also known as the Phrygian dynasty, ruled during the second wave of Iconoclasm. The most important member was Theophilos, who presided over a brief renaissance of art and learning. The dynasty ended in 867, with the murder of Michael III by Basil I, the founder of the Macedonian dynasty.

The Macedonian Dynasty (867–1056)

The Macedonian dynasty was the longest and most brilliant of the Byzantine dynasties. It produced the great military emperor Basil II, the learned emperor Constantine VII, and a series of capable rulers. The dynasty ended in 1056, with the death of Theodora, the last of the Macedonian line.

The Comnenian Dynasty (1081–1185)

The Comnenian dynasty, founded by Alexios I, ruled during a period of partial recovery, marked by the alliance with the Crusaders. The dynasty produced great military and literary figures, including the historian Anna Komnene, the princess who wrote the Alexiad, the most important Byzantine historical work of the twelfth century. The dynasty ended with the assassination of Andronikos I in 1185.

The Palaiologan Dynasty (1259–1453)

The Palaiologan dynasty, the last of the Byzantine dynasties, ruled from the recapture of Constantinople in 1261 to the fall of the city in 1453. The dynasty produced a number of able rulers, including Michael VIII, Andronikos II, and John V, but the empire was too weak to recover. The dynasty ended with the death of Constantine XI, the last Byzantine emperor.

The Women of the Empire

Empresses and Power

The women of the Byzantine imperial family exercised a power that was often greater than their formal position would suggest. The most famous example is Empress Theodora, wife of Justinian I, who reportedly saved her husband’s throne during the Nika Riots. Other powerful empresses included Irene of Athens, who ruled as emperor in her own right in 797–802; Zoe Karbonopsina, mother of Constantine VII, who dominated politics in the early tenth century; Anna Dalassena, mother of Alexios I, who was a key figure in the founding of the Comnenian dynasty; and Anna of Savoy, who served as regent during the minority of John V.

The role of empress was not limited to politics. The empress was the head of the imperial women’s quarters, the patron of monasteries and churches, and the custodian of imperial piety. The empress’s role in the iconodule triumph of 843 was decisive, since the regent Theodora was responsible for the restoration of icons.

The Succession

Blood, Adoption, and Usurpation

The Byzantine succession was not based on a fixed law. The emperor could choose his successor by adoption, by marriage, by appointment, or by blood. In practice, succession was often a matter of military and political power, and the most able generals often made themselves emperors.

The most common pattern was for the emperor to designate a successor during his lifetime, usually a son, a brother, or a chosen colleague, and to have the successor crowned as co-emperor. This system, known as symbasileia, provided a measure of continuity, but it also produced many civil wars, as rival claimants contested the throne. The most famous usurper was Phocas, who came to the throne in 602 by murdering the emperor Maurice. The most famous case of contested succession was the civil war of 1341–1347, fought between John V and John VI Kantakouzenos.

The End of the Imperial Office

The office of the Byzantine emperor came to an end on 29 May 1453, with the death of Constantine XI in the breach of the walls of Constantinople. The office, which had lasted for more than eleven centuries, did not disappear entirely. The Russian tsars, beginning with Ivan III, claimed the title of Caesar in succession to the Byzantine emperors, and the Holy Roman Emperors of the West also claimed the title. The Ottomans, who conquered the Byzantine state, did not adopt the title, but they did absorb much of the imperial ceremonial, especially the ceremonies of the sultan’s court.

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