BYZANTIN

/g 31 —641). Among his descendants there was notone able prince. He was succeeded by his son Con-stantine III., probably in conjunction with his step-brother Heracleonas (641). The former soon died,and the latter lost his crown in a rebellion, and wasmutilated.

After him, Constans, son of Constantine, obtainedthe throne (642). His sanguinary spirit of persecu-tion, and the murder of his brother Theodosius (650),made him odious to the nation. The Arabians, pur-suing their conquests, took from him part of Africa,Cyprus and Rhodes, and defeated him even at sea(653). Internal disturbances obliged him to makepeace. After this, he left Constantinople (659), and,in the following year, carried on an unsuccessful waragainst the Lombards in Italy, in which he lost hislife, at Syracuse (660).

Constantine IV., Pogonatus, son of Constans, van-quished his Syracusan competitor, Mezizius, and, inthe beginning of his reign, shared the governmentwith his brothers Tiberius and Heraclius. TheArabians inundated all Africa and Sicily, penetratedthrough Asia Minor into Thrace, and attacked Con-stantinople, for several successive years, by sea (669).Nevertheless, he made peace with them on favour-able terms. But, on the other hand, the Bulgariansobliged him to pay a tribute (680). Justinian II., hisson and successor, weakened the power of the Maro-nites (685), but fought without success against theBulgarians (688) and against the Arabians (692).Leonitius dethroned this cruel prince, had him muti-lated and sent to the Tauric Chersonese (695).Leonitius was dethroned by Apsimar, or TiberiusIII. (698), who was himself dethroned by Trebelius,king of the Bulgarians, who restored Justinian to thethrone (705); but l’hilippicus Bardanes rebelledanew against him. With Justinian II. the race ofHeraclius was extinguished. The only care of Phi-lippicus was the spreading of monotheism, whilst theArabians wasted Asia Minor and Thrace.

In opposition to this prince, who was universallyhated, the different armies proclaimed their leadersemperors, among whom Leo the Isaurian obtainedthe superiority (713—714). Leo repelled the Ara-bians Irom Constantinople, which they had attackedfor almost two years, and suppressed the rebellion ex-cited by Basilius and the former emperor Anastasius.From 726, the abolition of the worship of images ab-sorbed his attention, and the Italian provinces wereallowed to become a prey to the Lombards, while theArabians plundered the eastern provinces. Afterhis death (741), his son Constantine V. ascended thethrone—a courageous, active and noble prince. Hevanquished his rebellious brother-in-law Artabasdus,wrested from the Arabians part of Syria and Armenia,and overcame at last the Bulgarians, against whomhe had been long unsuccessful. He died (775), andwas succeeded by his son Leo III., who fought suc-cessfully against the Arabians, and this latter by hisson Constantine VI. (780), whose imperious mother,Irene, his guardian and associate in the government,raised a powerful party by the restoration of theworship of images. He endeavoured, in vain, to freehimself from dependence on her and her favourite,Stauratius, and died in 796, after having had his eyes putout. The war against the Arabians and BulgariansJ'? S con ti nue( l; against the first it w'as -unsuccess-lul. The design of the empress to marry Charlemagneexcited the discontent of the patricians, who placed

LITERATURE. Voi.. I.

E E M P I It E. OS7

one of their own order, Nicephorus, upon the throne(802). Irene died in a monastery.

Nicephorus became tributary to the Arabians, andfell in the war against the Bulgarians (811). Staura-tius, his son, was deprived of the crown by Michael L,and he, in turn, by Leo IV. (813). Leo was de-throned and put to death by Michael II. (826).During the reign of the latter, the Arabians conqueredSicily, Lower Italy, Crete and other countries. Heprohibited the worship of images ; as did also his sonTheophilus. Theodora, guardian of his son Michael

111., put a stop to the dispute about images (841).

During a cruel persecution of the Manichaians, the

Arabians devastated the Asiatic provinces. Thedissolute and extravagant Michael confined his mo-ther in a monastery. The government was adminis-tered, in his name, by Bardas, his uncle, and, afterthe death of Bardas, by Basil, who was put to deathby Michael (867). Basil I., who came to the thronein 867, was not altogether a contemptible monarch.He died 886. The reign of his learned son, Leo V.,was not very happy. He died 911. His son Con-stantine VIII., Porphyrogenitus, a minor when hesucceeded his father, was placed under the guardian-ship of his colleague, Alexander, and, after Alexan-der’s death, in 912, under that of his mother, Zoe.llomanus Lakopenus, his general, obliged him, in919, to share the throne with him and his children.Constantine subsequently took sole possession of itagain, and reigned mildly but weakly. His sonRomanus II. succeeded him in 959, and fought suc-cessfully against the Arabians. To him succeeded,in 963, his general, Nicephorus, who was put to deathby his own general, John Zimisces (970), who carriedon a successful war against the Russians.

Basil II., son of Romanus, succeeded this goodprince. He vanquished the Bulgarians and theArabians. His brother Constantine IX. (1025), wasnot equal to him. Romanus III. became emperor(1028) by a marriage with Zoe, daughter of Constan-tine. This dissolute but able princess caused herhusband to be executed, and successively raised to thethrone Michael IV. (1034), Michael V. (1041) andConstantine X. (1042). The Russians and Arabiansmeanwhile devastated the empire. Her sister Theo-dora succeeded her on the throne (1053). Her suc-cessor, Michael VI. (1056), was dethroned by IsaacComnenus in 1057, who became a monk (1059).His successor, Constantine XI., fought successfullyagainst the Uzes. Eudosia, his wife, guardianof his sons, Michael, Andronicus, and Constantine,W'as intrusted with the administration (1067), marriedRomanus IV., and brought him the crown. Hecarried on an unsuccessful war against the Turks,who kept him for some time prisoner.—Michael VII.,son of Constantine, deprived him of the throne(1071).

Michael was dethroned by Nicephorus III. (1078),and the latter by Alexius I., who was succeeded byComnenus (1081). Under his reign the crusades com-menced. His son, John II., came to the throne (1118),and fought with great success against the Turks. Thereign of his son, Manuel I., who succeeded him(1143), was, also, not unfortunate. His son, Alexius

11., succeeded (1180), and was dethroned by hisguardian, Andronicus, as was the latter by Isaac(1185). After'a reign disturbed from without andwithin, Isaac was dethroned by his brother, AlexiusIII. (1195). The crusaders restored him and his