Spoke 10: The Biblewheel and The 10th Century - Alexander Exalted Title of Autokrator

Spoke 10: The Biblewheel and The 10th Century

Alexander's Exalted Title of Autokrator


At the dawn of the 10th century Alexander III was the first Byzantine Emperor to be known as autocrator. This new term means an emperor who governs by himself. Although there were conflicts between Saul's house and David's David had ascended to the throne in the beginning of the 10th book 2Samuel:

Alexander (Byzantine emperor)

Alexander
Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans
Byzantine Mosaic portrait of Emperor Alexander in the Hagia Sophia. In his left hand he holds a globus cruciger, and in his right the akakia.
Emperor of the Byzantine Empire
Reign	11 May 912 – 6 June 913
Predecessor	Leo VI
Successor	Constantine VII
Born	November 23, 870
Died	June 6, 913 (aged 42)
Dynasty	House of Macedon
Father	Basil I
Mother	Eudokia Ingerina

Alexander (Greek: Αλέξανδρος, Alexandros, 870 – 6 June 913), sometimes numbered Alexander III,^{[note 1]} ruled as Emperor of the Byzantine Empire in 912–913.

Life

Alexander was the third son of Emperor Basil I and Eudokia Ingerina. Unlike his older brother Leo VI the Wise, his paternity was not disputed between Basil I and Michael III because he was born years after the death of Michael.^[1] As a child, Alexander was crowned as co-emperor by his father around 879.^[2]

Upon the death of his brother Leo on 11 May 912, Alexander succeeded as senior emperor alongside Leo's young son Constantine VII. He was the first Byzantine emperor to use the term "autocrator" (αὐτοκράτωρ πιστὸς εὑσεβὴς βασιλεὺς) on coinage to celebrate the ending of his thirty-three years as co-emperor.^[3] Alexander promptly dismissed most of Leo's advisers and appointees, including the admiral Himerios, the patriarch Euthymios, and the Empress Zoe Karbonopsina, the mother of Constantine VII whom he locked up in a nunnery.^[4] The patriarchate was again conferred on Nicholas Mystikos, who had been removed from this position because he had opposed Leo's fourth marriage. During his short reign, Alexander found himself attacked by the forces of Al-Muqtadir of the Abbasid Caliphate in the East, and provoked a war with Simeon I of Bulgaria by refusing to send the traditional tribute on his accession. Alexander died of exhaustion after a game of tzykanionon June 6, 913, allegedly fulfilling his brother's prophecy that he would reign for 13 months.

The sources are uniformly hostile towards Alexander, who is depicted as lazy, lecherous, drunk, and malignant, including the rumor that he planned to castrate the young Constantine VII in order to exclude him from the succession. At least that charge did not come to pass, but Alexander left his successor a hostile regent (Nicholas Mystikos) and the beginning of a long waragainst Bulgaria. The sources also accused the Emperor of idolatry, including making pagan sacrifices to the golden statue of a boar in the Hippodrome in hope of curing his impotence.^[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_(Byzantine_emperor)

-----

Autokrator

Jump to navigationJump to search

Ivory plaque with Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetosbeing crowned by Christ. The legend reads: "Constantine, in God [faithful], autokratōr and basileus of the Romans.

Autokratōr (Greek: αὐτοκράτωρ, autokrátor, pl. αὐτοκράτορες, autokrátores, Ancient Greek pronunciation [autokrátɔːr], Byzantine pronunciation [aftoˈkrator] lit. "self-ruler", "one who rules by himself", from αὐτός and κράτος) is a Greek epithet applied to an individual who exercises absolute power, unrestrained by superiors. In a historical context, it has been applied to military commanders-in-chief, and to Roman and Byzantine emperors as the translation of the Latin title imperator. Its connection with Byzantine-style absolutism gave rise to the modern terms autocrat and autocracy. In modern Greek, it means "emperor", and the female form of the title is autokrateira (αὐτοκράτειρα, autokráteira, "empress").

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autokrator