23. THE AMORIAN DYNASTY

In the period from the death of Nicephoros I (811) to the fall of Theophilos (842) the Byzantine state again made Iconoclasm the basis of imperial policy. Even more important than this, however, was the growing stability and self-confidence of Byzantium in domestic and foreign affairs alike. For the first time in over two centuries the state could assume an optimistic pose.  The reputation of the Amorian Dynasty (named after the family's origin in the Anatolian city of Amorion) has been thoroughly blackened by the historians of the succeeding Macedonian Dynasty.  In addition, the Amorians were the last of the Iconoclast emperors, and this has also affected their reputation.  Nonetheless, these rulers played an important role in the eventual Byzantine recovery.

A. Michael II the Amorian (820-29)

1. Michael came to the throne as the result of the plot against Leo V.

2. He was himself a moderate Iconoclast, but he did not persecute the Iconophiles.

3. The Revolt of Thomas the Slav.

a. Thomas, an officer in the Byzantine army, gathered together his own army along the eastern frontier, almost certainly with the support of the caliph.

b. The revolt seems to have assumed social overtones, but the importance of this aspect is very difficult to measure.

c. Thomas besieged in Constantinople for over a year (821-23), but was ultimately defeated, in part by help from the Bulgars, who came to the emperor’s aid.

4. Byzantine neglect of the sea now began to have disastrous repercussions, as Arab pirates disturbed Byzantine holdings in the Mediterranean and Aegean.

B. Theophilos (829-42)

1. Theophilos was an important emperor about whom we know all too little; the Iconophile sources condemn him thoroughly, while some modern authorities praise him with the same immoderation.

a. He was the last iconoclast emperor and as such he has been viewed either as a great hero or a great villain.

b. His interests in the arts and in Arab culture have led to a certain romantic judgment about his character.

2. Unlike all previous iconoclast emperors, Theophilos was not particularly successful in war.

a. He had to fight on two fronts, against the caliphate in the East and against African Arabs in Sicily.

b. In neither area was he successful.

c. The fall of Amorion, the home of the dynasty, in 838, was a notorious example of this military weakness.

3. Theophilos was a fierce persecutor of the Iconophiles.

a. Much of his policy was directed by John Grammatikos, an important figure since the days of Leo V, who was now patriarch.

b. The persecution was particularly aimed at the monks.

c. Theodore and Theophanes, Palestinian monks, had iconoclast verses burned into their foreheads (they were known as the γραπτοί --"those who had been written on").

4. Theophilos married Theodora, daughter of the droungarios Marinos of Paphlagonia.

a. A "bride show" was held in Constantinople and the emperor picked his new wife from among the contestants.

b. Theodora was a devout Iconophile and she supposedly continued to venerate ikons in the palace.

c. Theophilos and Theodora had five daughters and two sons.

5. Theophilos died in 842, leaving Theodora as regent for his young son Michael III.

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