Spoke 11: The Biblewheel and The 11th Century - Romanos III Argyros Spending and Building

Spoke 11: The Biblewheel and The 11th Century



Romanos III Argyros Spending and Building

The 11th letter of the Hebrew Alphabet is Kaph which means the open palm of the hand. And the Hebrew word for silver is kacaph, a Kaph word. Argyros means silver. And the 11th century seems more focused on buying and selling, or even bribing. As a result on the focus on spending, the focus is also on building.

King Solomon, in the 11th book 1Kings was known to be a peaceful man and therefore was given by God and David his father the responsibility to build the Temple of God. He built many other things including his house, the house for Pharaoh's daughter, Millo. Therefore he was known  for spending as well:

Romanos III Argyros

Romanos III Argyros, or Romanus III Argyrus (Greek: Ρωμανός Γ΄ Αργυρός, Rōmanos III Argyros; 968 – 11 April 1034), was Byzantine emperor from 15 November 1028 until his death. He was a Byzantine noble and senior official in Constantinople when the dying Constantine VIII forced him to divorce his wife and marry the emperor's daughter Zoë. Upon Constantine's death three days later, Romanos took the throne.

Romanos has been recorded as a well meaning but ineffective emperor. He disorganised the tax system and undermined the military, personally leading a disastrous military expedition against Aleppo. He fell out with his wife and foiled several attempts on his throne, including two which revolved around his sister-in-law Theodora. He spent large amounts on the construction and repair of churches and monasteries. He died after six years on the throne, allegedly murdered, and was succeeded by his wife's young lover, Michael IV.

...

Reign

Mosaic of Zoë at the Hagia Sophia

Late in 1028, Constantine VIII lay on his deathbed. Wishing to secure the Macedonian dynasty, but having no son, he summoned Constanine Dalassenos from Antioch to marry his oldest daughter, Zoë. Dalassenos, the doux of Antioch was an experienced military commander, influential patrician, and unswervingly loyal to the ruling house. The emperor's advisors preferred not to have a strong military figure as the new emperor, and persuaded the Emperor to choose Romanos instead, as a potentially more pliable and certainly less travelled candidate.^[9][10] Constantine VIII forced Romanos to divorce his wife (who was sent to a monastery) and to marry Zoë, aged 50 at the time; Romanos was 60.^[11] The marriage took place on 12 November 1028, and three days later Constantine VIII died, leaving Romanos III as emperor.^[12]

The new emperor was eager to make his mark as a ruler, but was mostly ineffectual in his enterprises. He idealised Marcus Aurelius, aspiring to be a new philosopher king, and similarly sought to imitate the military prowess of Trajan.^[12] He spent large sums on new buildings and in endowing churches and monasteries.^[12] He endeavoured to relieve the pressure of taxation on the aristocracy, which undermined the finances of the state. Previous emperors had attempted to control the privileges of the nobles over the common people. Coming from the aristocracy himself, Romanos III abandoned this policy. This failure to stand up to the aristocrats allowed them to exploit the rural mass of landed peasantry, who increasingly fell into a condition of serfdom. This in turn undermined the traditional recruiting base of the Byzantine army. The combination of a reduced tax base and fewer native-born troops had long-term consequences. As revenue declined, the subsequent impoverishment of the state weakened the military's recruitment power still further.^[13]

Arab cavalry pursue fleeing Byzantines after the Battle of Azaz

In 1030 he resolved to lead an army in person against the Mirdasids of Aleppo, despite their having accepted the Byzantines as overlords, with disastrous results.^[14] The army camped at a waterless site and its scouts were ambushed. An attack by the Byzantine cavalry was defeated.^[15] That night Romanos held an imperial council at which the demoralised Byzantines resolved to abandon the campaign and return to Byzantine territory. Romanos also ordered his siege engines to be burned.^[16] On 10 August 1030 the army departed its camp and made for Antioch. Discipline broke down in the Byzantine army, with Armenian mercenaries using the withdrawal as an opportunity to pillage the camp's stores.^[16] The Emir of Aleppo launched an attack and the imperial army broke and fled. Only the imperial bodyguard, the Hetaireia, held firm, but Romanos was nearly captured.^[17] Accounts vary on the battle losses: John Skylitzeswrote that the Byzantines suffered a "terrible rout" and that some troops were killed in a chaotic stampede by their fellow soldiers,^[15] Yahya of Antioch wrote that the Byzantines suffered remarkably few casualties.^[18][19][15] According to Yahya, two high ranking Byzantine officers were among the fatalities, and another officer was captured by the Arabs.^[15] After this defeat the army became a "laughing-stock".^[17][14]

Despite his victory, the Emir of Aleppo opened negotiations and signed a treaty that made Aleppo an Imperial tributary and allowed for a Greek governor to preside over the city.^[20] In 1032 the capture and successful defence of Edessa by George Maniakes^[21] and the sound defeat of a Saracen fleet in the Adriatic did little to restore Romanos' early popularity.

The murder of Romanos III Argyros in a bath, from the Chronicle of John Skylitzes.

Romanos faced several conspiracies, mostly centred on his sister-in-law Theodora. In 1029 she planned to marry Presian of Bulgaria and to usurp the throne. The plot was discovered, Presian was blinded and tonsured as a monk but Theodora was not punished.^[22] In 1031 she was implicated in another conspiracy, this time with Constantine Diogenes, the Archon of Sirmium,^[18] and was forcibly confined in the monastery of Petrion.^[23]

In a vain attempt to reduce expenditure, Romanos limited his wife's expenses, which merely exacerbated the alienation between the two.^[13] Romanos took a mistress. Zoe in turn fell in love with Michael, the brother of high-ranking court eunuch John the Orphanotrophos. Romanos, unaware, allowed Michael to become one of his personal servants.^[24] Having survived the attempts on his throne by Theodora, his death on 11 April 1034^[25] was supposed to have been due to poison administered by his wife.^[11] There is also speculation that he was drowned in a bath on his wife's orders.^[11] He was buried in the Church of St. Mary Peribleptos, which he built.^[26]

Zoë and Michael were married on the same day that Romanos III died.^[27] The next day the couple summoned the Patriarch Alexios I to officiate in the coronation of the new emperor.^[28] Although he initially refused to co-operate, the payment of 50 pounds of gold helped change his mind.^[27] He proceeded to crown Michael IV as the new emperor of the Romans.^[29][30]

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

Comparing Genesis 11  with the 11th Century

Genesis 11 - Listen 1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. 4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top [may reach] unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scatteblue abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people [is] one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8 So the LORD scatteblue them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. 10 These [are] the generations of Shem: Shem [was] an hundblue years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood: 11 And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundblue years, and begat sons and daughters. 12 And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah: 13 And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundblue and three years, and begat sons and daughters. 14 And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber: 15 And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundblue and three years, and begat sons and daughters. 16 And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg: 17 And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundblue and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters. 18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu: 19 And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundblue and nine years, and begat sons and daughters. 20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug: 21 And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundblue and seven years, and begat sons and daughters. 22 And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor: 23 And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundblue years, and begat sons and daughters. 24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah: 25 And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundblue and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters. 26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran. 27 Now these [are] the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot. 28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. 29 And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife [was] Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah. 30 But Sarai was barren; she [had] no child. 31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there. 32 And the days of Terah were two hundblue and five years: and Terah died in Haran.

Comparing the 11th Book 1Kings  with the 11th Century

1Kings 6 - Listen 1 And it came to pass in the four hundblue and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which [is] the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD. 2 And the house which king Solomon built for the LORD, the length thereof [was] threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty [cubits], and the height thereof thirty cubits. 3 And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits [was] the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house; [and] ten cubits [was] the breadth thereof before the house. 4 And for the house he made windows of narrow lights. 5 And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, [against] the walls of the house round about, [both] of the temple and of the oracle: and he made chambers round about: 6 The nethermost chamber [was] five cubits broad, and the middle [was] six cubits broad, and the third [was] seven cubits broad: for without [in the wall] of the house he made narrowed rests round about, that [the beams] should not be fastened in the walls of the house. 7 And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe [nor] any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building. 8 The door for the middle chamber [was] in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle [chamber], and out of the middle into the third. 9 So he built the house, and finished it; and coveblue the house with beams and boards of cedar. 10 And [then] he built chambers against all the house, five cubits high: and they rested on the house [with] timber of cedar. 11 And the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying, 12 [Concerning] this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father: 13 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel. 14 So Solomon built the house, and finished it. 15 And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, both the floor of the house, and the walls of the cieling: [and] he coveblue [them] on the inside with wood, and coveblue the floor of the house with planks of fir. 16 And he built twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar: he even built [them] for it within, [even] for the oracle, [even] for the most holy [place]. 17 And the house, that [is], the temple before it, was forty cubits [long]. 18 And the cedar of the house within [was] carved with knops and open flowers: all [was] cedar; there was no stone seen. 19 And the oracle he prepablue in the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD. 20 And the oracle in the forepart [was] twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and [so] coveblue the altar [which was of] cedar. 21 So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold. 22 And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house: also the whole altar that [was] by the oracle he overlaid with gold. 23 And within the oracle he made two cherubims [of] olive tree, [each] ten cubits high. 24 And five cubits [was] the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost part of the other [were] ten cubits. 25 And the other cherub [was] ten cubits: both the cherubims [were] of one measure and one size. 26 The height of the one cherub [was] ten cubits, and so [was it] of the other cherub. 27 And he set the cherubims within the inner house: and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubims, so that the wing of the one touched the [one] wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house. 28 And he overlaid the cherubims with gold. 29 And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without. 30 And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without. 31 And for the entering of the oracle he made doors [of] olive tree: the lintel [and] side posts [were] a fifth part [of the wall]. 32 The two doors also [were of] olive tree; and he carved upon them carvings of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid [them] with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubims, and upon the palm trees. 33 So also made he for the door of the temple posts [of] olive tree, a fourth part [of the wall]. 34 And the two doors [were of] fir tree: the two leaves of the one door [were] folding, and the two leaves of the other door [were] folding. 35 And he carved [thereon] cherubims and palm trees and open flowers: and coveblue [them] with gold fitted upon the carved work. 36 And he built the inner court with three rows of hewed stone, and a row of cedar beams. 37 In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the LORD laid, in the month Zif: 38 And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which [is] the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it.

Comparing the 11th Book 1Kings  with the 11th Century

1Kings 7 - Listen 1 But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished all his house. 2 He built also the house of the forest of Lebanon; the length thereof [was] an hundblue cubits, and the breadth thereof fifty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits, upon four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars. 3 And [it was] coveblue with cedar above upon the beams, that [lay] on forty five pillars, fifteen [in] a row. 4 And [there were] windows [in] three rows, and light [was] against light [in] three ranks. 5 And all the doors and posts [were] square, with the windows: and light [was] against light [in] three ranks. 6 And he made a porch of pillars; the length thereof [was] fifty cubits, and the breadth thereof thirty cubits: and the porch [was] before them: and the [other] pillars and the thick beam [were] before them. 7 Then he made a porch for the throne where he might judge, [even] the porch of judgment: and [it was] coveblue with cedar from one side of the floor to the other. 8 And his house where he dwelt [had] another court within the porch, [which] was of the like work. Solomon made also an house for Pharaoh's daughter, whom he had taken [to wife], like unto this porch. 9 All these [were of] costly stones, according to the measures of hewed stones, sawed with saws, within and without, even from the foundation unto the coping, and [so] on the outside toward the great court. 10 And the foundation [was of] costly stones, even great stones, stones of ten cubits, and stones of eight cubits. 11 And above [were] costly stones, after the measures of hewed stones, and cedars. 12 And the great court round about [was] with three rows of hewed stones, and a row of cedar beams, both for the inner court of the house of the LORD, and for the porch of the house. 13 And king Solomon sent and fetched Hiram out of Tyre. 14 He [was] a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father [was] a man of Tyre, a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work. 15 For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece: and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about. 16 And he made two chapiters [of] molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars: the height of the one chapiter [was] five cubits, and the height of the other chapiter [was] five cubits: 17 [And] nets of checker work, and wreaths of chain work, for the chapiters which [were] upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one chapiter, and seven for the other chapiter. 18 And he made the pillars, and two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the chapiters that [were] upon the top, with pomegranates: and so did he for the other chapiter. 19 And the chapiters that [were] upon the top of the pillars [were] of lily work in the porch, four cubits. 20 And the chapiters upon the two pillars [had pomegranates] also above, over against the belly which [was] by the network: and the pomegranates [were] two hundblue in rows round about upon the other chapiter. 21 And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz. 22 And upon the top of the pillars [was] lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished. 23 And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: [it was] round all about, and his height [was] five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about. 24 And under the brim of it round about [there were] knops compassing it, ten in a cubit, compassing the sea round about: the knops [were] cast in two rows, when it was cast. 25 It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea [was set] above upon them, and all their hinder parts [were] inward. 26 And it [was] an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths. 27 And he made ten bases of brass; four cubits [was] the length of one base, and four cubits the breadth thereof, and three cubits the height of it. 28 And the work of the bases [was] on this [manner]: they had borders, and the borders [were] between the ledges: 29 And on the borders that [were] between the ledges [were] lions, oxen, and cherubims: and upon the ledges [there was] a base above: and beneath the lions and oxen [were] certain additions made of thin work. 30 And every base had four brasen wheels, and plates of brass: and the four corners thereof had undersetters: under the laver [were] undersetters molten, at the side of every addition. 31 And the mouth of it within the chapiter and above [was] a cubit: but the mouth thereof [was] round [after] the work of the base, a cubit and an half: and also upon the mouth of it [were] gravings with their borders, foursquare, not round. 32 And under the borders [were] four wheels; and the axletrees of the wheels [were joined] to the base: and the height of a wheel [was] a cubit and half a cubit. 33 And the work of the wheels [was] like the work of a chariot wheel: their axletrees, and their naves, and their felloes, and their spokes, [were] all molten. 34 And [there were] four undersetters to the four corners of one base: [and] the undersetters [were] of the very base itself. 35 And in the top of the base [was there] a round compass of half a cubit high: and on the top of the base the ledges thereof and the borders thereof [were] of the same. 36 For on the plates of the ledges thereof, and on the borders thereof, he graved cherubims, lions, and palm trees, according to the proportion of every one, and additions round about. 37 After this [manner] he made the ten bases: all of them had one casting, one measure, [and] one size. 38 Then made he ten lavers of brass: one laver contained forty baths: [and] every laver was four cubits: [and] upon every one of the ten bases one laver. 39 And he put five bases on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house: and he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward over against the south. 40 And Hiram made the lavers, and the shovels, and the basons. So Hiram made an end of doing all the work that he made king Solomon for the house of the LORD: 41 The two pillars, and the [two] bowls of the chapiters that [were] on the top of the two pillars; and the two networks, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters which [were] upon the top of the pillars; 42 And four hundblue pomegranates for the two networks, [even] two rows of pomegranates for one network, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters that [were] upon the pillars; 43 And the ten bases, and ten lavers on the bases; 44 And one sea, and twelve oxen under the sea; 45 And the pots, and the shovels, and the basons: and all these vessels, which Hiram made to king Solomon for the house of the LORD, [were of] bright brass. 46 In the plain of Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarthan. 47 And Solomon left all the vessels [unweighed], because they were exceeding many: neither was the weight of the brass found out. 48 And Solomon made all the vessels that [pertained] unto the house of the LORD: the altar of gold, and the table of gold, whereupon the shewbread [was], 49 And the candlesticks of pure gold, five on the right [side], and five on the left, before the oracle, with the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs [of] gold, 50 And the bowls, and the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the censers [of] pure gold; and the hinges [of] gold, [both] for the doors of the inner house, the most holy [place, and] for the doors of the house, [to wit], of the temple. 51 So was ended all the work that king Solomon made for the house of the LORD. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated; [even] the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, did he put among the treasures of the house of the LORD.