Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/260

Rh 24ff GEORGIUS. (a. d. 1035) after that event elevated to the office of Protovestiarius. On the accession of Michael V. Calaphates (a. d. 1041), he was banished to his estate in Paphlagonia. (Cedren. Compend. vol. ii. pp. 504, 512, ed. Bonn.) 6. Distinguished by the title Sebastus, lived in the reign of Alexis II. Comnenus, who reigned from A. D. 1180 to 1183. [Alexis, or Alexius II. Comnenus.] Andronicus, afterwards the emperor Andronicus I. [Andronicus I. Comnenus], had married George's sister, and wished to employ him and another person to make away with the em- press Maria, mother and guardian of Alexis. Both of them refused to embrue their own hands in her blood, but wanted either the power or the will to prevent him from executing his purpose by other instruments. (Nicetas Choniat. Alex. Mamtel. Fil. c. 17.) 7. Branas (Bpavas), with his brother Deme- trius Branas, was engaged, a. d. 1165, in the ex- pedition sent by the emperor Manuel Comnenus against the Hungarians. (Cinnamus, vi. 7 ; Du- cange, Familiae Dyzant^ p. 215, ed. Paris.) 8. Bryennius (Bpnewtos), was governor of the fortresses of Stenimachus and Tzapaena during the reign of the emperor Andronicus Palaeologus the elder. He recovered (a. d. 1322) the town of Philippopolis, which, had fallen into the hands of Terteres, king of the Moesi or Bulgarians. George Bryennius afterwards held the office of Magnus Drungarius. (Cantacuzenus, i. 36,37; Ducange, FamU. Byzant. p. 177.) 9. BuRAPHUS (BoiJ/>a</)os), the patrician, count of the Theraa Obsequium, comprehending the parts of Mysia and Bithynia adjacent to the Propontis. He was in Thrace with his forces, defending that province from the Bulgarians, when he entered into a conspiracy with Theodore Myacius to dethrone the emperor Philippicus, or Bardanes, who was seized and blinded (a. d. 713) by Rufus, an officer sent by George to Constanti- nople with a few soldiers. But George himself and his principal accomplices suffered the same fate very shortly after at the hands of the new emperor Artemius or Anastasius II. (Nicephor. Constantinop. De Rebus post Mauric. Gestis, p. 55, ed. Bonn. ; Theophanes, Chronog. vol. i. p. 587, 588, ed.. Bonn.) 10. Ch'umnus (Xou/Ltvos), one of the officers (o €7ri rT]s TpaiTi^ris) of the court of Joannes I. Palaeologus, during his minority. Having insulted the Magnus Domesticus, Joannes Cantacuzenus, and fearing his vengeance, he was led to join the party of Apocaucus, and took part in the war against Cantacuzenus (a.d. 1341). Having become weary of the war, or of his party, he accused Apo- caucus of mismanagement and was in consequence imprisoned in his own house by him. (Canta- cuzen. Hist. iii. 2, 19, 20, 54, 55.) 11. CocALAS (Kw/coAas), a leader of some note on the side of Palaeologus, in the struggle between Joannes I. Palaeologus and Joannes Cantacuzenus. (Cantacuz. Hist. iii. 93, 94.) 12. Drosus (ApJo-os), secretary of Aaron, go- vernor of Baaspracania, on the Annenian frontier, was sent by the emperor Constantiue X. Monomachus (apparently about a. d. 1049) to the sultan of the Seljukian Turks, to negotiate the release of the Byzantine general, Liparites, who had been taken in «rar. (Cedren. Compend. vol. ii. p. 580, ed. Bonn.) 13. Euphorbenus Catacalon {ZvfpopSrfyds GEORGIUS. KoTa/caXaJv), commanded the fleet of Alexis I. on the Danube, against the Scythians, and was one of the generals in the war against the Comani. Both these wars took place before the first crusade, a. d. 1096. (Anna Comn. Alexius, lib. vii. x. pp. 189, 192, 273, ed. Paris ; Ducange, Fain. Byz. p. 178.) 14. Manganes or Mancanes {^a-yya-v-qs or Ma7K:ai'7js), was one of the secretaries of Alexis I. [Alexis or Alexius I. Comnenus], when he besieged Constantinople ( a. D. 1081 ), in his struggle to wrest the crown from his predecessor, the em- peror Nicephorus III. Botaniates. He was a crafty far-seeing man, apt at finding excuses for the delay of anything which the interest of his master required to be deferred. Anna Comnena formed from his name a verb (ua77aj/euea-0at or /xayKa- j/eveffdai) denoting " to find excuses ;" and a noun (iua77o»'6i;/xa) denoting "a pretext." (Anna Coran. Alea;. ii. 8, 10, pp. 116—122, ed. Bonn.) 15. Maniaces (Fecopyios 6 MaviaKrjs), the patri- cian, the son of Gudelius Maniaces, was governor of the city and thema of Teluch (TeAoux), in or near the Taurus, in the reign of the emperor Ro- manus III. Argyrus, about A. d. 1030. After the defeat of the emperor by the Saracens near Antioch, George defeated the victorious enemy by stratagem near Teluch ; and by this exploit obtained the go- vernorship of the Roman province of Lower Media. He was, apparently after this, protospatharius and governor of the cities on the Euphrates ; and in A. D. 1032 took the town of Edessa, partly by bribing the governor ; and found there the supposed letter of the Lord Jesus Christ to Augarus (or Ab- garus), king of Edessa, which he sent to the em- peror. He was afterwards governor of Upper Media and Aspracania. In the reign of Michael IV. the Paphlagonian (a.d. 1035), he was sent with an army into Southern Italy, then a part of the Byzantine em- pire, to carry on the war against the Saracens, the command of the fleet being entrusted to Stephen, husband of the emperor's sister. One of George's exploits was the conquest of Sicily (a. d. 1038), though the Saracens, who occupied the island, were assisted by 50,000 auxiliaries from Africa. Two years after (a. d. 1040) he gained a great victory over the Saracens of Africa, who had sought to re- cover the island, killing 50,000 of them in one battle. The negligence of Stephen having allowed the Saracen commander to escape, a quarrel ensued between him and George ; and Stephen, embittered by a blow and by the reproaches which he had re- ceived from George, accused him to Joannes, the brother and minister of the emperor, of meditating a revolt. George was consequently sent home a prisoner, but was released by Michael V. Cala- phates, after his accession, A. d. 1041. The dis- asters of the Byzantines in Italy, after his recal, induced Zoe, who succeeded Michael, to send him thither again as general (a. d. 1042). He recovered the province from the power of his own Prankish mercenaries, who had seized it. Meantime, his interests at home were assailed by Romanus Sclerus, whose sister was concubine to the empe- ror Constantine X. Monomachus, who had mar- ried Zoe. Romanus, plundered the Anatolian estates of George, and procured his deprivation of the title " Magister." Provoked by these wrongs, George revolted, gained over the troops under his command, put to death the Byzantine Pardus, who had been sent to succeed hiin in his command, and