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CONSTANTINE VII

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 992 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CONSTANTINE VII . Porphyrogenitus (Gr. Porphyrogennetos, " See also:born in the See also:purple ") (905—959), See also:East See also:Roman See also:emperor, author and See also:patron of literature, was the son of See also:Leo VI. the See also:Wise. Though nominally emperor from 912—959, it was not until 945 that Constantine could really be called See also:sole ruler. During this See also:period he had been practically excluded from all real See also:share in the See also:government by ambitious relatives. Though wanting in strength of will, Constantine possessed intelligence and many other See also:good qualities, and his reign on the whole was not unsatisfactory. He was poisoned by his son See also:Romanus in 959. Constantine was a painter and a patron of See also:art, a See also:literary See also:man and a patron of literature; and herein consists his real importance, since it is to See also:works written by or directly inspired by him that we are indebted for our See also:chief knowledge of his times. He was the author or inspirer of several works of considerable length. (I) De Thematibus, an See also:account of the military districts (Themata) of the See also:empire during the See also:time of Justinian, chiefly borrowed from See also:Hierocles and Stephanus of See also:Byzantium. (2) De administrando imperio, an account of the See also:condition of the empire, and an exposition of the author's view of government, written for the use of his son Romanus; it also contains most valuable See also:information as to the condition and See also:history of various See also:foreign nations with which the See also:Byzantine empire had been brought into contact on the east, See also:west and See also:north. (3) De cerimoniis aulae Byzantinae, which describes the customs of the Eastern See also:Church and See also:court.

(4) A See also:

life of Basilius I., his grandfather, based on the See also:work of Genesius. (5) Two See also:treatises on military subjects are attributed to him; one on See also:tactics, which, as the See also:title shows, was really written by his See also:grandson Constantine VIII., the other a description of the different methods of fighting in See also:fashion amongst different peoples. (6) A speech on the despatch of an See also:image of See also:Christ to See also:Abgar, See also:king of See also:Edessa. Of works under-taken by his instructions the most important were the Encyclopaedic Excerpts from all available treatises on various branches of learning. (I) Historica, in 53 sections, each devoted to a See also:special subject; of these the sections De legationibus, De virtutibus et vitiis, De sententiis, De insidiis, have been wholly or partly preserved. (2) See also:Basilica, a compilation from the different parts of the Justinian Corpus See also:Juris, subsequently the See also:text-See also:book for the study of See also:law. (3) Geoponica, agricultural treatises, for which see See also:GEOPONICI and See also:BASSUS, See also:CASSIANUS. (4) latrica, a medical' handbook compiled by one See also:Theophanes See also:Nonnus, chiefly from Oribasius. (5) Hippiatrica, on veterinary See also:surgery, the connexion of which with Constantine is, however, disputed. (6) Historia animalium, a compilation from the See also:epitome of See also:Aristotle's work on the subject by See also:Aristophanes of Byzantium, with additions from other writers such as See also:Aelian and See also:Timotheus of See also:Gaza. On Constantine VII. generally the most important work is A. See also:Rambaud, L'Empire grec au dixibme sibcle (187o) ; see also See also:Gibbon, Decline and Fall, ch.

53, and G. See also:

Finlay, Hist. of See also:Greece, ii. 294 (1877). Many of his works will be found in See also:Migne, Patrologia Graeca, cix., cxii., exiii.; for See also:editions of the See also:rest, C. See also:Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Literatur (1897), and the See also:article by See also:Cohn in Pauly-Wissowa's Realencyclopadie der classischen Alteriumswissenschaft (1900) should be consulted. The former contains a valuable See also:note on the " See also:Gothic See also:Christmas " described in detail in the De cerimoniis; see also See also:Bury in Eng. Hist. Rev. xxii. (1907).

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