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84-449: Theophilos ( Greek : Θεόφιλος , romanized :  Theóphilos , sometimes Latinised as Theophilus ; c.  812  – 20 January 842) was Byzantine Emperor from 829 until his death in 842. He was the second emperor of the Amorian dynasty and the last emperor to support iconoclasm . Theophilos was well-educated in the imperial household but upon his accession to

168-570: A basis for coinages: anthropology , photography , telephony , isomer , biomechanics , cinematography , etc. Together with Latin words , they form the foundation of international scientific and technical vocabulary ; for example, all words ending in -logy ('discourse'). There are many English words of Greek origin . Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The ancient language most closely related to it may be ancient Macedonian , which, by most accounts,

252-513: A coup after his death, so he was invited to stay in the Great Palace of Constantinople . Immediately after Theophilos died on 20 January 842, his leading officers executed Theophobos. Theophilos was the last iconoclast emperor of the Byzantine Empire , and his strict insistence on the removal of images and banning of the production of icons as reported by later sources represents a return to

336-552: A fairly stable set of consonantal contrasts . The main phonological changes occurred during the Hellenistic and Roman period (see Koine Greek phonology for details): In all its stages, the morphology of Greek shows an extensive set of productive derivational affixes , a limited but productive system of compounding and a rich inflectional system. Although its morphological categories have been fairly stable over time, morphological changes are present throughout, particularly in

420-556: A faster, more convenient cursive writing style with the use of ink and quill . The Greek alphabet consists of 24 letters, each with an uppercase ( majuscule ) and lowercase ( minuscule ) form. The letter sigma has an additional lowercase form (ς) used in the final position of a word: In addition to the letters, the Greek alphabet features a number of diacritical signs : three different accent marks ( acute , grave , and circumflex ), originally denoting different shapes of pitch accent on

504-531: A foreign language. It is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, " Homeric Greek is probably closer to Demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English ". Greek is spoken today by at least 13 million people, principally in Greece and Cyprus along with a sizable Greek-speaking minority in Albania near

588-620: A home for former prostitutes, as well as of monasteries including the Monastery of Gastria and the St. Panteleimon Monastery . In the palatine precinct of the Great Palace of Constantinople , Theophilos constructed buildings sheathed in marble with bronze and silver doors, fountains, a decorated armoury, mosaics, terraces, porticoes and gardens. In 838, in order to impress the Caliph in Baghdad , Theophilus had John

672-569: A hospital, which continued to exist until the twilight of the Byzantine Empire. In fact, his name is mentioned in inscriptions on the Walls more often than any other emperor. By his marriage with Theodora , Theophilos had seven children: two sons and five daughters: Greek language Greek ( Modern Greek : Ελληνικά , romanized :  Elliniká , [eliniˈka] ; Ancient Greek : Ἑλληνική , romanized :  Hellēnikḗ )

756-453: A just ruler and keen constructor and administrator, partly thanks to a defence by his wife, later Empress regnant Theodora ( r.  842–856 ). Theophilos was the son of Emperor Michael II and his wife Thekla , and the godson of Emperor Leo V the Armenian . Michael II crowned Theophilos co-emperor in 821. The date is almost universally given as 12 May 821 ( Whitsunday ), although this

840-689: A just ruler endured, as can be seen in the composition Timarion , in which Theophilos is featured as one of the judges in the Netherworld . Theophilos was a much more active patron of construction and renovation than Leo V or Michael II. He strengthened the Walls of Constantinople including the sea walls, built the fortress of Sarkel on the Don river in Khazar territories, created the Cherson and Chaldian themes , and built

924-462: A new war. In 837, Theophilos led a vast army of 70,000 men towards Mesopotamia and captured Melitene , Arsamosata and Samosata . The Emperor also took and destroyed Sozopetra , which some sources claim as the birthplace of Caliph al-Mu'tasim . Theophilos returned to Constantinople in triumph. Eager for revenge, al-Mu'tasim assembled a vast army and launched a three-pronged invasion of Anatolia in 838. Theophilos decided to strike one division of

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1008-576: A pardon. He then redistributed the Khurramite troops throughout the themes as garrison soldiers. The persistent warfare had caused a serious manpower shortage, which Theophilos attempted to remedy by resettling defectors from the Caliphate into Asia Minor , and issuing an edict requiring Roman widows to marry barbarian immigrants, which was reported in the Life of Athanasia of Aegina . The discoveries of seals of

1092-712: A peace with Theophilos in 841. He fell sick in October and died on 5 January 842. The Sack of Amorion was the high point of Abbasid incursion past the Taurus Mountains , after which political strife within the Caliphate improved the Byzantine military situation. Despite major defeats at the hands of the Abbasids, the Byzantines consolidated and gained a degree of economic stability, and was no longer facing an existential threat. Theophilos

1176-639: A purely theological endeavour, but there is no reason to doubt that he was sincere in his iconoclastic convictions. In 836, following the expiration of the 20-year peace treaty between the Empire and Bulgaria, Theophilos ravaged the Bulgarian frontier. The Bulgarians retaliated, and under the leadership of Isbul they reached Adrianople . At this time, if not earlier, the Bulgarians annexed Philippopolis and its environs. Khan Malamir died in 836. The peace between

1260-570: A silver coin of ancient Rome , which was first minted about c. 211 BC. The Kushan Empire introduced a gold coin known as the dīnāra in India in the 1st century AD; the Gupta Empire and its successors up to the 6th century adopted the coin. The 8th century English king Offa of Mercia minted copies of Abbasid dinars struck in 774 by Caliph Al-Mansur with "Offa Rex" centred on the reverse. The moneyer likely had no understanding of Arabic as

1344-581: A targeted and methodical way, however it does appear that he was more politically than religiously motivated overall. Euthymius of Sardis and Joseph the Confessor were arrested and beaten for distributing or writing pamphlets foretelling the death of the Emperor. Euthymius was elderly and died from his injuries, Joseph was imprisoned and their associate Theophilos of Ephesos was forced into hiding. The pamphlets were considered defamatory and thus treasonous. Nicetas

1428-506: A three-year war, in which Vlastimir was victorious; Presian was heavily defeated, made no territorial gains, and lost many of his men. The Serbs had a tactical advantage in the hills, and the Bulgars were driven out by the army of Vlastimir . The war ended with the death of Theophilos, which released Vlastimir from his obligations to the Byzantine Empire. As Theophilos' health was gradually failing in 842, he suspected that Theophobos would attempt

1512-503: Is a projected bullion gold coin , and as of 2019 is not issued as an official currency by any state. The modern dinar's historical antecedents are the gold dinar and the silver dirham , the main coin of the medieval Islamic empires , first issued in AH  77 (696–697 AD) ( Late Antiquity ) by Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan . The word "dinar" derives from the Latin word " dēnārius ,"

1596-766: Is also found in Bulgaria near the Greek-Bulgarian border. Greek is also spoken worldwide by the sizable Greek diaspora which has notable communities in the United States , Australia , Canada , South Africa , Chile , Brazil , Argentina , Russia , Ukraine , the United Kingdom , and throughout the European Union , especially in Germany . Historically, significant Greek-speaking communities and regions were found throughout

1680-742: Is an Indo-European language, constituting an independent Hellenic branch within the Indo-European language family. It is native to Greece , Cyprus , Italy (in Calabria and Salento ), southern Albania , and other regions of the Balkans , Caucasus , the Black Sea coast, Asia Minor , and the Eastern Mediterranean . It has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning at least 3,400 years of written records. Its writing system

1764-474: Is an Indo-European language, but also includes a number of borrowings from the languages of the populations that inhabited Greece before the arrival of Proto-Greeks, some documented in Mycenaean texts ; they include a large number of Greek toponyms . The form and meaning of many words have changed. Loanwords (words of foreign origin) have entered the language, mainly from Latin, Venetian , and Turkish . During

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1848-503: Is no contemporary evidence of this. The majority of the clergy did not revolt against imperial policy, including Joannicius the Great , who was criticised for his compliance by Theodore the Stoudite , and Ignatios , later Patriarch of Constantinople . Neither did Theophilos oppose all monasteries, although he used some to confine iconodule clerics, as did Emperor Leo V the Armenian . Due to

1932-441: Is not really corroborated by any source (another possible date is 24 March, Easter ). Unlike his father, Theophilos received an extensive education from John Hylilas , the grammarian, and was a great admirer of music and art. On 2 October 829, Theophilos succeeded his father as sole emperor. Theophilos continued in his predecessors' iconoclasm , though without his father's more conciliatory tone, issuing an edict in 832 forbidding

2016-412: Is now in ruins. Theophanes Continuatus relates John's instructions. [John] persuaded [Theophanes] to build the palace of Bryas in imitation of Arab [palaces] and in no way differing from the latter either in form or decoration. The work was carried out according to John's instructions by a man named Patrikes who happened to be also adorned with the rank of patrikios . The only departure he made [from

2100-510: Is protected and promoted officially as a regional and minority language in Armenia, Hungary , Romania, and Ukraine. It is recognized as a minority language and protected in Turkey by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne . The phonology , morphology , syntax , and vocabulary of the language show both conservative and innovative tendencies across the entire attestation of the language from the ancient to

2184-768: Is sometimes called aljamiado , as when Romance languages are written in the Arabic alphabet. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Greek: Transcription of the example text into Latin alphabet : Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English: Proto-Greek Mycenaean Ancient Koine Medieval Modern Dinars The modern gold dinar

2268-518: Is spoken by at least 13.5 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey , and the many other countries of the Greek diaspora . Greek roots have been widely used for centuries and continue to be widely used to coin new words in other languages; Greek and Latin are the predominant sources of international scientific vocabulary . Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around

2352-758: Is still used internationally for the writing of Ancient Greek . In Greek, the question mark is written as the English semicolon, while the functions of the colon and semicolon are performed by a raised point (•), known as the ano teleia ( άνω τελεία ). In Greek the comma also functions as a silent letter in a handful of Greek words, principally distinguishing ό,τι ( ó,ti , 'whatever') from ότι ( óti , 'that'). Ancient Greek texts often used scriptio continua ('continuous writing'), which means that ancient authors and scribes would write word after word with no spaces or punctuation between words to differentiate or mark boundaries. Boustrophedon , or bi-directional text,

2436-630: Is the Greek alphabet , which has been used for approximately 2,800 years; previously, Greek was recorded in writing systems such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary . The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin , Cyrillic , Coptic , Gothic , and many other writing systems. The Greek language holds a very important place in the history of the Western world. Beginning with

2520-736: The Acts of the Council of Constantinople of 815. In 833, he persecuted iconodules who were not in communion with the Patriarch by ordering the seizing of the property of those who helped or sheltered them. However, the letter of Michael II to Carolingian Emperor Louis the Pious establishes that images that were not readily accessible and suspended high up in churches were permitted and commonplace. Along with his severe iconoclastic policy, Theophilos persecuted numerous individuals for political and religious reasons, in

2604-486: The Eastern Mediterranean , in what are today Southern Italy , Turkey , Cyprus , Syria , Lebanon , Israel , Palestine , Egypt , and Libya ; in the area of the Black Sea , in what are today Turkey, Bulgaria , Romania , Ukraine , Russia , Georgia , Armenia , and Azerbaijan ; and, to a lesser extent, in the Western Mediterranean in and around colonies such as Massalia , Monoikos , and Mainake . It

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2688-628: The Emirate of Sicily , and gradually continued to expand across the island. In 830, Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun ( r.  813–833 ) invaded Cappadocia in response to Theophilos' attack on Mopsuestia and Tarsos , capturing the city of Tyana . He launched a second campaign in 831 and then a third in 832, in which he captured the major border fortress of Loulon , but in 833 failed to seize Amorion . Another defeat in Cappadocia forced Theophilos to sue for peace (a one-off tribute of 100,000 gold dinars and

2772-515: The First Bulgarian Empire . The military defeats to the Arabs inspired a more intensely iconoclastic policy than what Theophilos inherited from his father Michael II and he persecuted many clerics for refusing to submit to the imperial will. As with all iconoclast emperors, Theophilos was viewed critically by subsequent chroniclers however the historical record does witness to his reputation as

2856-510: The Indo-Iranian languages (see Graeco-Aryan ), but little definitive evidence has been found. In addition, Albanian has also been considered somewhat related to Greek and Armenian, and it has been proposed that they all form a higher-order subgroup along with other extinct languages of the ancient Balkans; this higher-order subgroup is usually termed Palaeo-Balkan , and Greek has a central position in it. Linear B , attested as early as

2940-605: The Serbs , Byzantine foederati , and the Bulgars lasted until 839. Vlastimir of Serbia united several tribes, and Theophilos granted the Serbs independence; Vlastimir acknowledged nominal overlordship of the Emperor. The annexation of western Macedonia by the Bulgars changed the political situation. Malamir or his successor may have seen a threat in the Serb consolidation and opted to subjugate them in

3024-492: The nominal and verbal systems. The major change in the nominal morphology since the classical stage was the disuse of the dative case (its functions being largely taken over by the genitive ). The verbal system has lost the infinitive , the synthetically -formed future, and perfect tenses and the optative mood . Many have been replaced by periphrastic ( analytical ) forms. Pronouns show distinctions in person (1st, 2nd, and 3rd), number (singular, dual , and plural in

3108-465: The 3rd millennium BC, or possibly earlier. The earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the world's oldest recorded living language . Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now-extinct Anatolian languages . The Greek language is conventionally divided into

3192-628: The Abbasids. When the Abbasids crushed the revolt of Babak Khorramdin in 838, many remaining Khurramite rebels fled to Byzantine territory and were accepted by Theophilos and placed under the command of Theophobos. They were called "Persians" by Byzantine chroniclers and proved valuable for the Empire which was experiencing a shortage of experienced soldiers at the time. However, after the Battle of Anzen, some Azerbaijani Khurramites withdrew to Sinope and proclaimed Theophobos emperor. By 840, Theophilos had threatened Theophobos and persuaded him into accepting

3276-649: The Arab model] was that he built next to the bedchamber a church of our most holy lady, the Mother of God, and in the courtyard of the same palace a triconch church of great beauty and exceptional size, the middle part of which was dedicated to the archangel [Michael], while the lateral parts were dedicated to women martyrs. This passage has been interpreted as either a report of cultural receptivity and Theophilos' taste for Islamic motifs or as an iconodule fabrication to depict Theophanes and Patriarch John as Muslim -sympathisers. However

3360-466: The Armenian , he was viewed as close to the people and eager to defend them against injustices committed by their officials. However, Theophilos' dealings with the Empire's enemies drew criticism, particularly due to the loss of the fortress of Loulon and the city of Tyana in raids led by Caliph al-Ma'mun from 830 to 832, and the Sack of Amorium by Caliph al-Mu'tasim in 838. Nevertheless, his reputation as

3444-701: The Byzantine ambassador to the Franks and Venice in Baltic trading settlements suggests that the Byzantines were attempting to recruit Scandinavians , who had recently appeared in the region of the Black Sea , as another means of addressing the manpower shortage. The capture of Palermo by the Arabs , Theophilos' defeat in Cappadocia in 831 and the discovery of a treasonous plot by iconodules in Constantinople likely pressured

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3528-409: The Byzantines in driving the Arabs from Crotone , but it failed. During the campaign al-Mu'tasim discovered that some of his top generals were plotting against him. Many of these leading commanders were arrested and some executed before he arrived home. Al-Afshin seems not to have been involved in this, but he was detected in other intrigues and died in prison in the spring of 841. Al-Mu'tasim concluded

3612-554: The Emperor into enacting an iconoclastic policy that was more severe than that of his father, which Theophilos had maintained from the beginning of his reign. He was supported by John the Grammarian , patriarchal synkellos (secretary) of Patriarch Antony I of Constantinople . Theophanes Continuatus reports that Theophilos forbade the painting of religious images and removed existing images, replacing them with secular images (e.g., of birds and animals), on similar grounds expressed in

3696-524: The Grammarian distribute 36,000 nomismata to the citizens. In 839 or 840, he initiated diplomatic contact with the Umayyad Emirate of Córdoba . The name of his ambassador is somewhat garbled in the Arabic accounts of Ibn Hayyan , but it seems to have been the admiral Krateros. He was accompanied on his return by the Córdoban poet al-Ghazal , who signed a pact of friendship with Theophilos directed against

3780-486: The Greek alphabet since approximately the 9th century BC. It was created by modifying the Phoenician alphabet , with the innovation of adopting certain letters to represent the vowels. The variant of the alphabet in use today is essentially the late Ionic variant, introduced for writing classical Attic in 403 BC. In classical Greek, as in classical Latin, only upper-case letters existed. The lower-case Greek letters were developed much later by medieval scribes to permit

3864-425: The Greek language are often emphasized. Although Greek has undergone morphological and phonological changes comparable to those seen in other languages, never since classical antiquity has its cultural, literary, and orthographic tradition been interrupted to the extent that one can speak of a new language emerging. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than

3948-491: The Greek language was the Cypriot syllabary (also a descendant of Linear A via the intermediate Cypro-Minoan syllabary ), which is closely related to Linear B but uses somewhat different syllabic conventions to represent phoneme sequences. The Cypriot syllabary is attested in Cyprus from the 11th century BC until its gradual abandonment in the late Classical period, in favor of the standard Greek alphabet. Greek has been written in

4032-629: The Greek verb have likewise remained largely the same over the course of the language's history but with significant changes in the number of distinctions within each category and their morphological expression. Greek verbs have synthetic inflectional forms for: Many aspects of the syntax of Greek have remained constant: verbs agree with their subject only, the use of the surviving cases is largely intact (nominative for subjects and predicates, accusative for objects of most verbs and many prepositions, genitive for possessors), articles precede nouns, adpositions are largely prepositional, relative clauses follow

4116-661: The Greek-Albanian border. A significant percentage of Albania's population has knowledge of the Greek language due in part to the Albanian wave of immigration to Greece in the 1980s and '90s and the Greek community in the country. Prior to the Greco-Turkish War and the resulting population exchange in 1923 a very large population of Greek-speakers also existed in Turkey , though very few remain today. A small Greek-speaking community

4200-548: The Patrician , distant relative of Empress Irene and former stratēgos of Sicily , was banished for refusing to take communion with the Patriarch in 830. The Palestinian monks Theodorus and Theophanes were said to be so defiant that verses describing their crimes were branded on their foreheads. Iconodule monks were forbidden access Much of the persecution of iconodules was in effect punishment for challenging imperial authority rather than iconodulia as such. The abbot Methodios

4284-404: The acute during the late 20th century, and it has only been retained in typography . After the writing reform of 1982, most diacritics are no longer used. Since then, Greek has been written mostly in the simplified monotonic orthography (or monotonic system), which employs only the acute accent and the diaeresis. The traditional system, now called the polytonic orthography (or polytonic system),

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4368-516: The ancestral home of Theophilos' Amorian dynasty . Internal strife within the Caliphate allowed the Byzantines to recover. Theophilos engaged in many construction and renovation projects. One of his closest allies was the learned and cosmopolitan John the Grammarian , and they both improved relations with the Caliph and appreciated Arabic culture . He also secured nominal overlordship over the Principality of Serbia , uniting against their common enemy,

4452-403: The ancestral home of the dynasty. Initially there was determined resistance. Then a Muslim captive escaped and informed the caliph where there was a section of the wall that had only a front façade. Al-Mu'tasim concentrated his bombardment on this section, and the wall was breached. Having heroically held for fifty-five days, the city fell to al-Mu'tasim on 12 or 15 August 838. Although the Caliph

4536-402: The ancient language; singular and plural alone in later stages), and gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter), and decline for case (from six cases in the earliest forms attested to four in the modern language). Nouns, articles, and adjectives show all the distinctions except for a person. Both attributive and predicative adjectives agree with the noun. The inflectional categories of

4620-502: The caliph's army before they could combine. On 21 July 838, at the Battle of Anzen in Dazimon, Theophilos personally led a Byzantine army of 25,000 to 40,000 men against the troops commanded by al-Afshin . Afshin withstood the Byzantine attack, counter-attacked, and won the battle. The Byzantine survivors fell back in disorder and did not interfere in the Caliph's continuing campaign. Al-Mu'tasim took Ancyra , and al-Afshin joined him there. The full Abbasid army advanced against Amorion ,

4704-404: The early 19th century that was used for literary and official purposes in the newly formed Greek state. In 1976, Dimotiki was declared the official language of Greece, after having incorporated features of Katharevousa and thus giving birth to Standard Modern Greek , used today for all official purposes and in education . The historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of

4788-448: The epics of Homer , ancient Greek literature includes many works of lasting importance in the European canon . Greek is also the language in which many of the foundational texts in science and philosophy were originally composed. The New Testament of the Christian Bible was also originally written in Greek. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world , the Greek texts and Greek societies of antiquity constitute

4872-452: The following periods: In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia : the coexistence of vernacular and archaizing written forms of the language. What came to be known as the Greek language question was a polarization between two competing varieties of Modern Greek: Dimotiki , the vernacular form of Modern Greek proper, and Katharevousa , meaning 'purified', a compromise between Dimotiki and Ancient Greek developed in

4956-409: The imperial household. Theophilos' wife Theodora ( r.  842–856 ) defended him, which mitigated the damnatio memoriae against him and his father Michael, nevertheless the later iconodule sources were highly critical of them. Theophilos was successful in establishing his reputation as a just ruler, and even hostile anti- Amorian chronicles retain accounts of his justice. Like Emperor Leo V

5040-439: The infinitive entirely (employing a raft of new periphrastic constructions instead) and uses participles more restrictively. The loss of the dative led to a rise of prepositional indirect objects (and the use of the genitive to directly mark these as well). Ancient Greek tended to be verb-final, but neutral word order in the modern language is VSO or SVO. Modern Greek inherits most of its vocabulary from Ancient Greek, which in turn

5124-414: The late 15th century BC, was the first script used to write Greek. It is basically a syllabary , which was finally deciphered by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick in the 1950s (its precursor, Linear A , has not been deciphered and most likely encodes a non-Greek language). The language of the Linear B texts, Mycenaean Greek , is the earliest known form of Greek. Another similar system used to write

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5208-458: The membership of Greece and Cyprus in the European Union, Greek is one of the organization's 24 official languages . Greek is recognized as a minority language in Albania, and used co-officially in some of its municipalities, in the districts of Gjirokastër and Sarandë . It is also an official minority language in the regions of Apulia and Calabria in Italy. In the framework of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , Greek

5292-460: The midst of the conquest of Slav lands. Another cause might have been that the Byzantines wanted to divert attention so that they could cope with the Slavic uprising in the Peloponnese , meaning they sent the Serbs to instigate the war. It is thought that the rapid extension of Bulgars over Slavs prompted the Serbs to unite into a state. Khan Presian I (r. 836–852) invaded Serbian territory in 839 (see Bulgarian–Serbian Wars ). The invasion led to

5376-441: The modern period. The division into conventional periods is, as with all such periodizations, relatively arbitrary, especially because, in all periods, Ancient Greek has enjoyed high prestige, and the literate borrowed heavily from it. Across its history, the syllabic structure of Greek has varied little: Greek shows a mixed syllable structure, permitting complex syllabic onsets but very restricted codas. It has only oral vowels and

5460-399: The noun they modify and relative pronouns are clause-initial. However, the morphological changes also have their counterparts in the syntax, and there are also significant differences between the syntax of the ancient and that of the modern form of the language . Ancient Greek made great use of participial constructions and of constructions involving the infinitive, and the modern variety lacks

5544-408: The objects of study of the discipline of Classics . During antiquity , Greek was by far the most widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world . It eventually became the official language of the Byzantine Empire and developed into Medieval Greek . In its modern form , Greek is the official language of Greece and Cyprus and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union . It

5628-706: The older periods of Greek, loanwords into Greek acquired Greek inflections, thus leaving only a foreign root word. Modern borrowings (from the 20th century on), especially from French and English, are typically not inflected; other modern borrowings are derived from Albanian , South Slavic ( Macedonian / Bulgarian ) and Eastern Romance languages ( Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian ). Greek words have been widely borrowed into other languages, including English. Example words include: mathematics , physics , astronomy , democracy , philosophy , athletics , theatre, rhetoric , baptism , evangelist , etc. Moreover, Greek words and word elements continue to be productive as

5712-403: The overall account is not particularly polemical. Theophilos also restructured and embellished sections of the Hagia Sophia and continued repairs of the urban fabric of Constantinople begun under Constantine V. The Hagia Sophia at Vize, Thrace  [ el ] is dated to his reign, and resembles the Hagia Irene of Constantinople. Theophanes Continuatus reports his construction of

5796-426: The peace between Bulgaria and the Byzantine Empire was quickly restored. However, it proved impossible to maintain peace in the East. Theophilos had given asylum to a number of refugees from the east in 834, including Nasr, a Persian . He baptized one of the refugees, Theophobos , who married the Emperor's aunt Irene and became one of his generals. As relations with the Abbasids deteriorated, Theophilos prepared for

5880-416: The reception hall of the Magnaura with a throne and automata of lions and birds. Theophilos also repaired the Walls of Constantinople near the Blachernae district as well as large sections of the sea walls. In 837, John the Grammarian returned from an embassy to Baghdad impressed by the architecture, and persuaded Theophilos to construct an "Abbasid"-style palace in Bryas near Chalcedon , which

5964-428: The return of 7,000 prisoners), which he secured the next year, after the death of al-Ma'mun in 833. He was succeeded by his brother al-Mu'tasim ( r.  833–842 ) who abandoned Tyana. During the respite from the war against the Abbasids, Theophilos arranged for the abduction of the Byzantine captives settled north of the Danube by Krum of Bulgaria . The rescue operation was carried out with success in c. 836, and

6048-463: The spirit of Constantine V 's Council of Hieria of 754. Theophilos was a more committed iconoclast than his father, Michael II , and so their relationship resembles that between Leo III the Isaurian and Constantine V, the renowned iconoclast emperors of the eighth century. In both cases, the father was a soldier of humble origins and the son brought up in the intellectually sophisticated environment of

6132-437: The stressed vowel; the so-called breathing marks ( rough and smooth breathing ), originally used to signal presence or absence of word-initial /h/; and the diaeresis , used to mark the full syllabic value of a vowel that would otherwise be read as part of a diphthong. These marks were introduced during the course of the Hellenistic period. Actual usage of the grave in handwriting saw a rapid decline in favor of uniform usage of

6216-626: The throne was met with the dual threat of the Abbasid Caliphate in Asia Minor and the Aghlabids in Sicily . He personally led the armies in his long war against both the Abbasid Caliphate and the Aghlabids in Sicily , beginning in 831. He won fleeting victories but the retaliation of Caliph al-Mu'tasim ( r.  833–842 ) was devastating, as was most humiliating in the Sack of Amorion in 838,

6300-479: The unanimous iconodule sympathies of contemporary sources, it is difficult to determine the existence and extent of a popular iconoclast or iconodule tradition. It is likely that the changes in imperial policy in 787 and 815 only affected a small number of individuals and did not alter the religious practices of the whole population to a great degree. Theophilos' enforcement of iconoclasm may have served as an opportunistic means of asserting imperial authority, rather than

6384-411: The veneration of icons . He also saw himself as the champion of justice, which he served most ostentatiously by executing his father's co-conspirators against Leo V immediately after his accession. At the time of his accession, Theophilos was obliged to wage wars against the Arabs on two fronts. Sicily was once again invaded by the Arabs, who took Palermo after a year-long siege in 831, established

6468-568: Was a distinct dialect of Greek itself. Aside from the Macedonian question, current consensus regards Phrygian as the closest relative of Greek, since they share a number of phonological, morphological and lexical isoglosses , with some being exclusive between them. Scholars have proposed a Graeco-Phrygian subgroup out of which Greek and Phrygian originated. Among living languages, some Indo-Europeanists suggest that Greek may be most closely related to Armenian (see Graeco-Armenian ) or

6552-529: Was a keen builder and administrator; through the construction of lavish palaces and exchange of precious goods and manuscripts, he intended to rival the court at Baghdad , which was itself seeing a revival of Hellenic thought. Even as far as the streets of Guangzhou during the era of the Tang dynasty , the Arab-style kaftan was in fashion. In the tenth century, Liudprand of Cremona reported that Theophilos decorated

6636-549: Was also used as the official language of government and religion in the Christian Nubian kingdoms , for most of their history. Greek, in its modern form, is the official language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population. It is also the official language of Cyprus (nominally alongside Turkish ) and the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (alongside English ). Because of

6720-498: Was also used in Ancient Greek. Greek has occasionally been written in the Latin script , especially in areas under Venetian rule or by Greek Catholics . The term Frankolevantinika / Φραγκολεβαντίνικα applies when the Latin script is used to write Greek in the cultural ambit of Catholicism (because Frankos / Φράγκος is an older Greek term for West-European dating to when most of (Roman Catholic Christian) West Europe

6804-408: Was publicly and provocatively opposed to the imperial policy, and was imprisoned and beaten for his disobedience. However perhaps through his connections to the imperial household or his alleged prophetic powers that may have awed Theophilos, Methodios became an associate of the Emperor. Tenth-century sources report that Theophilos' own wife, Theodora and her mother maintained iconodulia, however there

6888-463: Was soon forced to retreat to Abbasid territory to suppress an insurgency, the defeat was a major blow to Theophilos' resources and prestige, and numerous Byzantine prisoners were executed. The weakness of the Byzantine military was exposed, in particular by elite Turkish archers that the Caliph had recruited. Around 841, the Republic of Venice sent a fleet of 60 galleys (each carrying 200 men) to assist

6972-566: Was under the control of the Frankish Empire ). Frankochiotika / Φραγκοχιώτικα (meaning 'Catholic Chiot') alludes to the significant presence of Catholic missionaries based on the island of Chios . Additionally, the term Greeklish is often used when the Greek language is written in a Latin script in online communications. The Latin script is nowadays used by the Greek-speaking communities of Southern Italy . The Yevanic dialect

7056-653: Was written by Romaniote and Constantinopolitan Karaite Jews using the Hebrew Alphabet . In a tradition, that in modern time, has come to be known as Greek Aljamiado , some Greek Muslims from Crete wrote their Cretan Greek in the Arabic alphabet . The same happened among Epirote Muslims in Ioannina . This also happened among Arabic-speaking Byzantine rite Christians in the Levant ( Lebanon , Palestine, and Syria ). This usage

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