Imperial children born in this room were dubbed porphyrogennetos (“purple-born”). Eventually, the emperor built a special room with walls made of the precious purple stone porphyry. The Byzantines had long considered purple the imperial color, with only members of the royal family allowed to wear certain purple dyes. He later became famous for blinding thousands of prisoners and sending them back to Bulgaria, where Tsar Samuel promptly died of horror.

Typically, they soon fell to infighting and Basil successfully secured power. But Phokas, Skleros, and Lekapenos then teamed up against the young Basil the Bulgar-Slayer. Phokas defeated Skleros in single combat and destroyed his forces. Lekapenos countered by releasing Phokas from prison and putting him in command against Skleros. When the eunuch Basil Lekapenos schemed against Skleros, he started his own revolt in self-defense. Similar problems arose in the 10th century when Bardas Phokas’s rebellion was put down by General Bardas Skleros.

Thomas the Slav rose in revolt against Michael, sparking a massive civil war which badly weakened the empire against the Arabs. But when he fell out with Michael, the Amorian’s followers infiltrated the Christmas service and hacked Leo to death. In the ninth century, Michael I was forced to resign by a trio of his generals: Leo the Armenian, Michael the Amorian, and Thomas the Slav.

The secret history byzantium