THEOPHILUS

This article appears in Volume V26, Page 787 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: TAV-THE

THEOPHILUS ,

East

EAST
EAST, ALFRED (1849- )

Roman emperor (829842), the second of the " Phrygian " dynasty. Unlike his father Michael II., he declared himself a pronounced iconoclast. In 832 he issued an edict strictly forbidding the

worship

WORSHIP (i.e. " worth-ship," O. Eng. weor8scipe)

of images; but the stories of his cruel treatment of recalcitrants are probably exaggerated. At the time of his accession, the Sicilians were still engaged in hostilities with the Saracens, but Theophilus was obliged to, devote all his energies to the war against the caliphs of Bagdad (see CALIPHATE, especially sect. C., 8). This war was caused by Theophilus, who afforded an asylum to a number of Persian refugees, one of whom, called Theophobus after his conversion to Christianity, married the emperor's sister

Helena

HELENA
HELENA, ST (c. 247-c. 327)

, and became one of his generals. The Roman arms were at first successful; in 837 Samosata and Zapetra (Zibatra, Sozopetra), the

birth

BIRTH (a word common in various forms to Teutonic languages from the root of the verb " to bear ")

-place of Motasim, were taken and destroyed. Eager for revenge, Motasim assembled a vast army, one division of which defeated Theophilus, who commanded in person, at Dasymon, while the other advanced against Amorium, the cradle of the Phrygian dynasty. After a brave resistance of fifty-five days, the city fell into Motasim's hands through treachery (23rd of September 838). Thirty thousand of the inhabitants were slain, the rest sold as slaves, and the city razed to the ground. Theophilus never recovered from the blow, his health gradually failed, and he died at the beginning of 842. His character has been the subject of considerable discussion, some regarding him as one of the ablest of the Byzantine emperors, others as an

ordinary

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

oriental despot, an overrated and insignificant ruler. There is no doubt that he did his best to check corruption and oppression on the part of his officials, and administered justice with strict impartiality, although his punishments did not always fit the crime. In spite of the drain of the war in Asia and the large sums spent by Theophilus on building, commerce, industry, and the finances of the empire were in a most flourishing condition, the credit of which was in

great

GREAT

measure due to the highly efficient administration of the department. Theophilus, who had received an excellent education from John Hylilas, the grammarian, was a

great

GREAT

admirer of music and a lover of art, although his taste was not of the highest. He strengthened the walls of Constantinople, and built a

hospital

,
which continued in existence till the latest times of the Byzantine Empire.
See Zonaras, xv. 2529; Cedrenus, pp. 513533; Theophanes continuatus, iii.; Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chaps. 48 and 52;
F. G. Schlosser, Geschichte der bilderstiirmenden Kaiser (1812) ;
G. Finlay, History of

Greece

GREECE

, ii. (1897) p. 142; G. F.

Hertzberg

HERTZBERG, EWALD
FRIEDRICH
- FRIEDRICH, JOHANN (1836— )
, COUNT VON (1725-1795)

, Geschichte der Byzant'iner and des osmanischen Reiches, bk. i. (Berlin, 1883) ; H. Gelzer, " Abriss der byzantinischen Kaisergeschichte " in C. Krumbacher's Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur (2nd ed.
1897) ; and authorities under ROMAN EMPIRE, LATER. On the early campaigns against the Arabs see J. B. Bury, in Journ. Hell. Stud. xxix., 1909, pt. i.

End of Article: THEOPHILUS

If you wish, you can link directly to this article.

<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/TAV_THE/THEOPHILUS.html">
THEOPHILUS
</a>

(Previous)
THEOPHILE

(Next)
THEOPHRASTUS

JCSM was founded in 1997 and exists to help the community and bring people into a life-changing and productive relationship with Jesus Christ. JCSM offers over 200,000 free web pages, including its weekly inspirational emails that were sent continuously for over a decade.

Jesus Christ Saves Ministries
P.O. Box 9297
San Diego, CA 92169
1-888-887-0417 or Email