Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/599

Rh CALO-JOANNES. Calocyrus Sextus. By Jos. Sim. Asscraani, in his extremely rare but very valuable work, BiblioUwca Juris Orientalis Caiionici et Cirilis, 5 vols. 4 to. Rome, 1762—6 (ii. c. 20, p. 403), Calocyrus is supposed to have been posterior to Cyrillus (whom he cites, Basil, vol. v. p. 44), and to have lived after the time of Alexius Comnenus. The passages in Fabrot's edition of the Basilica, where Calocyrus is mentioned, are given as follows in Fabricius, Bifil. Grace, vol. xii. p. 440 : " Calocyrus JCtus, ii. 543 ; Calocynis Sextus, iv. 403, v. 26, 39, 77, 180, 269, 292, 324, 325, 410, 423, 459, 587; Proconsul (Fabroto interpreti Dux), v. 37, 44, 78, 82, 121, 144, 179, 237, 238, 253, 263, 341, 414, 430, 432, 436, 487, 537; Cyrillo Junior, v. 44." Reiz (Excurs. xx. ad Theophilum, p. 1234) se- lects the following passages under the head " Me- morabilia ex Scholiis Basilicorum, quae faciunt ad indagandam aetatem JCtorum, niaxime eorum qui sub Iraperatore Justiniano Magno floruerunt.'' Calocyrus ad Basilica Comment, iv. 403, v. 39, V. 292. Nic. Comnenus Papadopoli {Praenot. Miislag. p. 345) cites an interpretation (Synopsis Scptima) by Calocyrus, of the Novells of Leo, and (p. 371 of the same work) cites the notes of Sixtus or Sextus, JCtus and Noniophylax, on the Novells. In both these passages, Papadopoli (or, as he is usually styled, Nic. Comnenus) probably refers to the same person ; but his gross infidelity (which is exposed by Heimbach, Anecdota, i. pp. 219 — 222) renders his testimony, when unsupported, nearly worthless. (Suarez, Notitia Basilicorum^ ed. Pohl. § 42, p. 136, nn. () et (x) ; Stockmann ad Bachii Hist. Jiu-isp. Rom. p. 675, citing Van VryhoiF, Olserv. Jtir. Civ. c. 26, p. 1 34, Amst. 1747, 8vo. ; Heimbach, de Basilicorum Oric/inc, &c. p. 74, &c.) [J. T. G.] CALO-JOANNES or JOANNES II. COM- NE'NUS {KaAo-lwdyvTis 6 Ko/bLvrjvos), one of the greatest and best emperors of the East, the eldest son and successor of Alexis I. Comnenus, was bom in 1088. His real name was Joannes. His diminutive stature, tawny complexion, and ugly features, distinguished him, not to his advan- tage, from among the other princes of the hand- some Comneniau race; and it would seem that his name Calo-Joannes, or John the Handsome, was a nickname, were we not justified in believing that that name was given him for the beauty of his mind. His virtues were acknowledged by his father, who, when urged on his death-bed to leave the empire to Bryennius, his excellent son-in-law, resisted the persuasion of his wife and his daughter Anna, and appointed Calo-Joannes his successor. The new emperor ascended the throne on the 15th of August, 1118. It is related under Anna Com- NENA and NicEPHORUs Bryennius, that their conspiracy to depose Calo-Joannes and to make Bryennius emperor, proved abortive, and that the property of both was confiscated. The emperor was especially protected by his younger brother, Isaac Sebastocrator, and by his minister, Axuch, a Turk who had been made prisoner during the reign of Alexis I., and who, joining great talents and knowledge with honesty and aflfable manners, ad- vanced from one eminent post to another, till he became magnus domesticus, or prime minister, an office which he held during the whole reign of Calo-Joannes. The conspiracy of Anna and Br)-- ennius was the only event that troubled the reign of Calo-Joannes, who won the hearts of his subjects CALO-JOANNES. 5P1 to such a degree, that he ventured to abolish the punishment of death, and deserved to be called the Byzantine Marcus Aurelius. His relations with his brother Isaac were a model of brotherly affec- tion, and though their friendship was on one occa- sion disturbed by the slander of some courtiers, it was but for a short time. The reign of Calo- Joannes is a series of wars, and each war was a triumph for the Greek arms. But while Nicetas and Cinnamus, the chief sources, dwell with pro- lixity on the description of so many glorious deeds, they have neglected to give us a satisfactory expo- sition of the emperor's administration, and their chronology is very confused. This circumstance has probably induced Gibbon to relate the reign of Calo-Joannes without any chronology except the dates of his accession and his death. Le Beau, in his Histoire du Bas Empire (vol. xix. 1. 86), gives a careful chronology which he has established by comparing the Latin historians, especially Gui- lielmus Tyrensis and Otlio Frisingonsis ; and Du Cange [Familiae Byzaidinae, pp. 178, 179) gives an account of the different statements respecting the year in which Calo-Joannes died. We follow Le Beau and Du Cange. The wars of Calo-Joannes with the different princes of the Turks lasted during his whole reign with scarcely any interruption. In the first cam- paign, in 111 9, he took Laodiceia, and spared the lives of the garrison, and in 1 120 he took Sozopolis. An invasion of the Petchenegues or Patzinacitae, who had crossed the Danube, called him to Thrace, and in 1122 he obtained a complete victory over them in Macedonia, giving the example at once of a general and a soldier. This war was finished to the advantage of the Greeks : the Petchenegues returned into their Scythian steppes, and great numbers of them who had been made prisoners re- ceived lands from the emperor in the very districts which their brethren had laid waste. In 1 123 he took the field against the revolted Servians, who were supported b}' Stephen II., king of Hung^rj-, who took Belgrade and Branizova. But in the following year, 1124, Calo-Joannes advanced with a strong army, took Francochoriura near Simiium, conquered the country between the Save and the Danube, and forced the king to desist from father attempts on the Greek empire. According to the Greek historians, the advantages of tins war were rather on the side of king Stephen ; while, strange enough, the Hungarian annalists attribute both victories and advantages to the (Jreeks. Thence Calo-Joannes turned once more against the Turks of Iconium, and took Castamonia and Gangra, which his garrisons were, however, obliged to sur- render to the Turks a short time afterwards. The emperor was more fortunate, in 1131, against the Armenians of Cilicia, or Annenia Minor, under their prince Livo or Leo, who was vanquished in several engagements ; and in 1 1 37, all his domi- nions were annexed to the Greek empire, and re- ceived the name of the fourth Armenia. This con- quest brought him in contact with Raymond, prince of Antioch, who, according to the treaties made between Alexis I. and prince Boemond I. of An- tioch, was obliged to recognize the Greek emperor as his liege lord, but refused doing so, till Calo- Joannes compelled him, partly by negotiations, partly by threats. The emperor entered Antioch in 1138, and prince Raymond and the count of Edessa held the bridles of his horse, as a token of