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Byzantine Empire
Theophilus – Senior Augustus: October 2, 829 – January 20, 842 A.D.
Bronze Follis 26mm (7.32 grams) Constantinople mint: 835-842 A.D.
Reference: Sear 1667
ΘЄOFIL’ bASIL’ Three-quarter lenth figure facing, wearing loros and crown surmounted by tufa (which is ornamented with varying numbers of pellets); he holds labarum in right hand and globe cross in left.
+ΘЄO / FILЄ AVG / OVSτЄ SV / nICAS in four lines.
This follis of a new type, minted in large quantities in celebration of Theophilos’ victories against the Arabs from circa 835 on. On the obverse he is represented in triumphal attire, wearing the toupha, and on the reverse the traditional acclamation “Theophilos Augustus, you conquer”.
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 Theophilos (Greek: Θεόφιλος; 813 – 20 January 842) was the Byzantine Emperor from 829 until his death in 842. He was the second emperor of the Amorian dynasty and the last emperor to support iconoclasm. Theophilos personally led the armies in his lifelong war against the Arabs, beginning in 831.
Life
Early
Theophilos was the son of the Byzantine Emperor Michael II and his wife Thekla, and the godson of Emperor Leo V the Armenian. Michael II crowned Theophilos co-emperor in 822, shortly after his own accession. Unlike his father, Theophilos received an extensive education from John Hylilas, the grammarian, and was a great admirer of music and art. On 2 October 829, Theophilos succeeded his father as sole emperor.
Theophilos continued in his predecessors’ iconoclasm, though without his father’s more conciliatory tone, issuing an edict in 832 forbidding the veneration of icons. He also saw himself as the champion of justice, which he served most ostentatiously by executing his father’s co-conspirators against Leo V immediately after his accession. His reputation as a judge endured, and in the literary composition Timarion Theophilos is featured as one of the judges in the Netherworld.
War against the Arabs
The Byzantine embassy of John the Grammarian in 829 to Ma’mun (depicted left) from Theophilos (depicted right)
At the time of his accession, Theophilos was obliged to wage wars against the Arabs on two fronts. Sicily was once again invaded by the Arabs, who took Palermo after a year-long siege in 831, established the Emirate of Sicily, and gradually continued to expand across the island. The invasion of Anatolia by the Abbasid Caliph Al-Ma’mun in 830 was led by the Emperor himself, but the Byzantines were defeated and lost several fortresses. In 831 Theophilos retaliated by leading a large army into Cilicia and capturing Tarsus. The Emperor returned to Constantinople in triumph, but in the autumn he was defeated in Cappadocia. Another defeat in the same province in 833 forced Theophilos to sue for peace (Theophilos offered 100,000 gold dinars and the return of 7,000 prisoners), which he obtained the next year, after the death of Al-Ma’mun.
During the respite from the war against the Abbasids, Theophilos arranged for the abduction of the Byzantine captives settled north of the Danube by Krum of Bulgaria. The rescue operation was carried out with success in c. 836, and the peace between Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire was quickly restored. However, it proved impossible to maintain peace in the East. Theophilos had given asylum to a number of refugees from the east in 834, including Nasr, a Persian. He baptized Theophobos, who married the Emperor’s aunt Irene and became one of his generals. As relations with the Abbasids deteriorated, Theophilos prepared for a new war.
In 837 Theophilos led a vast army of 70,000 men towards Mesopotamia and captured Melitene and Arsamosata. The Emperor also took and destroyed Zapetra (Zibatra, Sozopetra), which some sources claim as the birthplace of Caliph al-Mu’tasim. Theophilos returned to Constantinople in triumph. Eager for revenge, Al-Mu’tasim assembled a vast army and launched a two-pronged invasion of Anatolia in 838. Theophilos decided to strike one division of the caliph’s army before they could combine. On 21 July 838 at the Battle of Anzen in Dazimon, Theophilos personally led a Byzantine army of 25,000 to 40,000 men against the troops commanded by al-Afshin. Afshin withstood the Byzantine attack, counter-attacked, and won the battle. The Byzantine survivors fell back in disorder and did not interfere in the caliph’s continuing campaign.
Al-Mu’tasim took Ancyra, and al-Afshin joined him there. The full Abbasid army advanced against Amorium, the cradle of the dynasty. Initially there was determined resistance. Then a Muslim captive escaped and informed the caliph where there was a section of the wall that had only a front facade. Al-Mu’tasim concentrated his bombardment on this section, and the wall was breached. Having heroically held for fifty-five days, the city now fell to al-Mu’tasim on 12 or 15 August 838.
In 838, in order to impress the Caliph of Baghdad, Theophilus had John the Grammarian distribute 36,000 nomismata to the citizens of Baghdad. Around 841, the Republic of Venice sent a fleet of 60 galleys (each carrying 200 men) to assist the Byzantines in driving the Arabs from Crotone, but it failed.
During this campaign Al-Mu’tasim discovered that some of his top generals were plotting against him. Many of these leading commanders were arrested and some executed before he arrived home. Al-Afshin seems not to have been involved in this, but he was detected in other intrigues and died in prison in the spring of 841. Caliph al-Mu’tasim fell sick in October 841 and died on 5 January 842.
Relations with Bulgaria and Serbia
In 836, following the expiration of the 20-year peace treaty between the Empire and Bulgaria, Theophilos ravaged the Bulgarian frontier. The Bulgarians retaliated, and under the leadership of Isbul they reached Adrianople. At this time, if not earlier, the Bulgarians annexed Philippopolis (Plovdiv) and its environs. Khan Malamir died in 836.
The peace between the Serbs, Byzantine foederati, and the Bulgars lasted until 839. Vlastimir of Serbia united several tribes, and Theophilos granted the Serbs independence; Vlastimir acknowledged nominal overlordship of the Emperor. The annexation of western Macedonia by the Bulgars changed the political situation. Malamir or his successor may have seen a threat in the Serb consolidation and opted to subjugate them in the midst of the conquest of Slav lands. Another cause might have been that the Byzantines wanted to divert attention so that they could cope with the Slavic uprising in the Peloponnese, meaning they sent the Serbs to instigate the war. It is thought that the rapid extension of Bulgars over Slavs prompted the Serbs to unite into a state.
Khan Presian I (r. 836–852) invaded Serbian territory in 839 (see Bulgarian–Serbian Wars). The invasion led to a three-year war, in which Vlastimir was victorious; Presian was heavily defeated, made no territorial gains, and lost many of his men. The Serbs had a tactical advantage in the hills, and the Bulgars were driven out by the army of Vlastimir. The war ended with the death of Theophilos, which released Vlastimir from his obligations to the Byzantine Empire.
Death and legacy
The health of Theophilos gradually failed, and he died on 20 January 842. Theophilos strengthened the Walls of Constantinople and built a hospital, which continued in existence until the twilight of the Byzantine Empire.
Family
By his marriage with Theodora, Theophilos had seven children:
- Constantine, co-emperor from c. 833 until his death in c. 835.
- Michael III, who succeeded as emperor.
- Maria, who married the Caesar Alexios Mousele.
- Thekla, who was a mistress of Emperor Basil I the Macedonian.
- Anna
- Anastasia
- Pulcheria
Byzantium  , later known as Constantinople (“City of Constantine”) and Nova Roma (“New Rome”). Under Theodosius I (r. 379–395), Christianity became the Empire’s official state religion and others such as Roman polytheism were proscribed. And finally, under the reign of Heraclius (r. 610–641), the Empire’s military and administration were restructured and adopted Greek for official use instead of Latin. Thus, although it continued the Roman state and maintained Roman state traditions, modern historians distinguish Byzantium from ancient Rome insofar as it was oriented towards Greek rather than Latin culture, and characterised by Orthodox Christianity rather than Roman polytheism.
The borders of the Empire evolved significantly over its existence, as it went through several cycles of decline and recovery. During the reign of Justinian I (r. 527–565), the Empire reached its greatest extent after reconquering much of the historically Roman western Mediterranean coast, including north Africa, Italy, and Rome itself, which it held for two more centuries. During the reign of Maurice (r. 582–602), the Empire’s eastern frontier was expanded and the north stabilised. However, his assassination caused a two-decade-long war with Sassanid Persia which exhausted the Empire’s resources and contributed to major territorial losses during the Muslim conquests of the 7th century. In a matter of years the Empire lost its richest provinces, Egypt and Syria, to the Arabs.
During the Macedonian dynasty (10th–11th centuries), the Empire again expanded and experienced a two-century long renaissance, which came to an end with the loss of much of Asia Minor to the Seljuk Turks after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. This battle opened the way for the Turks to settle in Anatolia as a homeland.
The final centuries of the Empire exhibited a general trend of decline. It struggled to recover during the 12th century, but was delivered a mortal blow during the Fourth Crusade, when Constantinople was sacked and the Empire dissolved and divided into competing Byzantine Greek and Latin realms. Despite the eventual recovery of Constantinople and re-establishment of the Empire in 1261, Byzantium remained only one of several small rival states in the area for the final two centuries of its existence. Its remaining territories were progressively annexed by the Ottomans over the 15th century. The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 finally ended the Byzantine Empire.
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