• the Byzantine writer and diplomat Leo Choirosphaktes was imprisoned on his first embassy to Tsar Symeon of Bulgaria, but continued negotiations from his cell?
• the Anatolic, Armeniac, Opsician, and Thracesian themes, the first four Byzantine themes to be established, descended from the field armies of the East Roman army?
• the Battle of Bapheus in 1302 was the first major Ottoman victory, and led to their gradual conquest of Byzantine-controlled Bithynia?
• the Byzantine regiment of the Vigla, which served as an imperial bodyguard unit in the 8th–11th centuries, had its origin in late Roman cavalry units of the 5th century?
• the Byzantine general Saborios began a revolt against Constans II, but was killed by his horse?
• the Byzantine general Justinian plotted twice to overthrow Emperor Tiberius II, but was pardoned both times when the plot was discovered?
• the Byzantine general Priscus survived the violent depositions of two successive Byzantine emperors and retained high office under their successors?
• the magister officiorum Hermogenes was joint commander with the famous general Belisarius at the Byzantine victory in the Battle of Dara?
• the zoste patrikia was the only Byzantine title reserved specifically for women, and ranked as one of the highest court dignities?
• when St. Andrew's Church in Pasadena was built in the 1920s, it was compared to "a jeweled crown on the head of a Byzantine queen"?
• when the Byzantine usurper John Komnenos the Fat tried to sit on the imperial throne, it broke under his weight?
• while the Crusaders were besieging Nicaea, the Byzantine general Manuel Boutoumites persuaded the Turks to surrender to him instead by playing on their fears of a massacre by the Crusaders?
• the village of Anasartha, located in Western Syria and today known as Khanasser, derived its water supply until 1975 from a 12-kilometre (7.5 mi) long Byzantine-era qanat?
• the powerful Byzantine eunuch official Aetios plotted to have his brother placed as emperor, but was thwarted when Nikephoros I seized the throne?
• the defeat of a joint Byzantine-Genoese fleet by a smaller Venetian fleet at the Battle of Settepozzi caused Byzantine emperor Michael VIII to distance himself from his alliance with Genoa?
• the only damage suffered by the dome of the Hagia Sophia in the 1509 Istanbul earthquake was plaster covering up Byzantine mosaics fell off, revealing Christian images?
• the Byzantine general John Kourkouas, supreme commander of the Byzantine armies in the East for 22 years, was hailed by his contemporaries as "another Trajan or Belisarius"?
• the Byzantine general Constantine Opos led the regiment of the Exkoubitoi, established in the 5th century, in its last battle at Dyrrhachium in 1081?
• Vasilissa ergo gaude, the first known motet by Guillaume Dufay was to celebrate the marriage of princess Cleofa Malatesta to the Byzantine lord of Mistras?
• although as a eunuch the powerful Byzantine official Staurakios was barred from the imperial throne, he nevertheless plotted to become Byzantine Emperor?
• disgruntled at not being rewarded for his capture of Antioch in 969 (pictured), the Byzantine general Michael Bourtzes participated in the assassination of Byzantine emperor Nikephoros II Phokas?
• Theophobos was a Byzantine general who was declared emperor against his will?
• Nikolay Likhachov collected medieval coins and manuscripts, Byzantine seals, Russian icons, and cuneiform tablets?
• Roger II's Palatine Chapel in Palermo combines the Byzantine dome and mosaics with Arabic arches and inscriptions?
• Nikephoros Palaiologos and his son George twice found themselves on opposite sides during rebellions aimed at the Byzantine throne?
• during the siege of Constantinople in 626 AD, 12,000 Byzantine cavalry successfully fought off 80,000 Avars?
• following his defeat at Neopatras, John Palaiologos led the remnants of his army in a 40-mile overnight ride to come to the aid of the Byzantine fleet and win the Battle of Demetrias?
• the Byzantine chapel of the Theotokos of the Pharos at Constantinople housed a huge collection of holy relics, many of which were acquired by Louis IX of France for his Sainte-Chapelle?
• the Byzantine general Constantine Diogenes, who was implicated in a conspiracy against Emperor Romanos III, committed suicide rather than revealing the names of his co-conspirators?
• the Byzantine general Constantine Doukas was proclaimed emperor in the Hippodrome of Constantinople, but was killed on the same day by supporters of the legitimate emperor, Constantine VII?
• the Byzantine megas doux John Doukas was taken hostage as a child, took captive a Serbian king, led a fleet against Chaka Bey and recovered much of western Anatolia from the Seljuks?
• the Byzantine theme of Lykandos, which played an important role in the Byzantine–Arab wars of the early 10th century, was founded by Melias, an Armenian prince, and settled by Armenians?
• in 941 CE, the Byzantine chamberlain Theophanes, commanding only 15 old ships armed with Greek fire, defeated a Rus' fleet of 1,000 ships?
• in the Battle of Neopatras, a Byzantine army of about 30,000 was surprised and defeated by a force of 300–500 Latin knights?
• Byzantine general Peter Phokas was originally born a slave and made a eunuch, but rose to become one of the senior-most commanders of the Byzantine Empire in the 960s and 970s?

Facts on topics related to Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

• Byzantine general Peter Phokas was originally born a slave and made a eunuch, but rose to become one of the senior-most commanders of the Byzantine Empire in the 960s and 970s?
• Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos created the Metropolitanate of Lithuania, which was later regarded as an "anomaly" by the Byzantine authorities?
• Byzantine official Peter the Patrician may have been responsible for the murder of Ostrogothic queen Amalasuntha, despite being instructed to secure her safety by emperor Justinian I?
• Istanbul's Vefa Kilise Mosque (pictured) is an example of a Byzantine church since converted into an Ottoman mosque?
• medieval Bulgarian military leader Ivan the Russian defended Plovdiv in a four-month Byzantine siege only for the citizens to let the Byzantines in while he was away?
• Sviatoslav of Kiev was invited by the Byzantine Empire to attack Bulgaria in order to force them to make concessions, but ended up conquering the country?
• Andronikos Kontostephanos was the leading general of Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos, and that his career took him from Hungary to Egypt?
• Leo the Mathematician, called by some the cleverest man in 9th-century Byzantium, invented a system of beacons to warn of Arab raids and a fabled levitating throne for the emperor?
• New England used to be part of the Roman Empire, and China is still part of Japan?
• Ras Ibn Hani, a small cape located 8 km north of Latakia, Syria, was occupied almost continuously from the late Bronze Age until Byzantine times?

Roman Empire

• archaeological digs have greatly expanded knowledge of the history of Swindon, uncovering artefacts from separate Roman, Bronze and Iron Age settlements in the area?
• sandstone blocks used in the construction of St John's Church, Crosscanonby, Cumbria, England, might originate from a former Roman building?
• Argentoratum was an important military Roman outpost on the Rhine, and was rebuilt six times?
• Byzantium under the Komnenoi was the Medieval continuation of the Roman Empire, and played a key role in the history of the Crusades in the Holy Land?
• Gaius Pontius, the Samnite general and victor at the Battle of the Caudine Forks, is believed to be an ancestor of the Roman governor of Judea Pontius Pilate?
• Gessius Florus became the Roman procurator of Judea due to his wife's friendship with Emperor Nero's wife Poppaea?
• Lucceius Albinus had just been appointed Roman procurator and was still on his way to take office in Judea when the High Priest of Israel took advantage of the lack of imperial oversight to assemble a Sanhedrin and had James, the brother of Jesus stoned without Roman authorization?
• Moduin, a poet of the Carolingian Renaissance, characterises his era as a rebirth of "Golden Rome"?
• Portlethen Moss is an acidic bog that played a role in stopping the Roman advance in Scotland and whose traversal was used in the Bishops' Wars?
• a word square found in Mamucium (pictured), a Roman fort in Manchester, may be one of the earliest examples of Christianity in Britain?

Byzantine art

• German painter Ludwig Thiersch influenced the debate over Byzantine and Western influences in modern Greek art, and painted church frescoes in Greece, Austria, Germany, England, and Russia?
• Ernst Kitzinger, a historian of Byzantine art, was forced to leave Germany in 1934 and England in 1940 because he was Jewish and German respectively?
• semi-domes (pictured) are a typical focus for mosaic or fresco icons in Byzantine art?
• the 6th-century Archangel ivory (pictured), depicting the archangel Michael holding a sceptre and imperial orb, is the largest surviving Byzantine ivory carving?
• the Madaba Map is a large Byzantine mosaic from circa 550 CE that depicts the topography of Jerusalem and surrounding areas in great detail?
  

Byzantines

• Byzantines were skilled at using diplomacy as a weapon of war?
• at the Battle of Bathys Ryax, the Byzantines attacked with only 600 men out of an army of 4,000–5,000, leaving the rest to raise much noise so as to simulate the arrival of a far larger force?
• the relics housed within the chapel near the Church of St. Mary of Blachernae in Istanbul were credited by the Byzantines for victories against the Avars, Arabs, and Rus?