The Dalassenes: On the Origin of a Byzantine Noble Family

Nicholas Adontz'

The Dalassenes: On the Origin of a Byzantine Noble Family

Translated from the French by Robert Bedrosian

–

A Greek inscription, which was discovered and published long ago, has escaped the attention of Byzantinists. It was recorded by Father N. Sargissian during his stay in Armenia, from 1843 to 1853, but was not published until ten years later, in 1864.[1]

The inscription, found in Erzurum (ancient Theodosiopolis), is engraved on the interior face of the wall of the so-called Georgian gate, one of the four gates of the city. Two inscriptions are visible there, one of which is completely damaged; only a few traces of it remain, including, fortunately, the date:

Below this inscription some figures are visible: a horseman holding a spear, an angel, the Virgin and, in front of them, a leopard. Next to these figures is the inscription that interests us:

The inscription, therefore, belongs to a certain Romanos Dalasinos. To identify him further, it is necessary to trace the history of his family.

The Dalasenes or Dalassenes occupy a respectable place among the great feudal families which appeared on the stage of history at the time of Basil II. We must consider as their ancestor Damianos Dalassenos, whom Basil II named duke of Antioch in 995, in place of Michael Bourtzes, who had just compromised his military reputation by the defeat suffered on September 15th, 994.[2] Damianos was fortunate in his military enterprises, especially during the first two years of his tenure when he conducted raids as far as Arka and Tripolis. On July 19th, 998, he faced the emir of Damascus, Jaysh ibn Shamsham near Apamea and had the upper hand, but a blow from a spear left him dead on the battlefield. His two sons, taken prisoner, were sent to the city of Cairo, and only regained their freedom after ten years.[3] According to the Armenian historian Asoghik, Damianos perished "with his brother and his son".[4] Cedrenus knows that Δαμιανόν τε τον πατρίκιον δς ήρχεν Αντιοχείας πολεμώ συμβαλόντα τού τοις άνεΐλον ["And the patrician Damianos who came (to participate) in the battle at Antioch they killed when they clashed with them"],[5] but he does not mention his sons, who fell into the hands of the enemy, nor his brother and his son, killed with him. Is there some confusion in Asoghik, or are those who were killed distinct from his two sons who were taken prisoner? This last hypothesis seems the most likely.

Damianos' sons were named Theophylact and Constantine. Theophylact played a role in the revolt against Basil II in 1022, provoked by Nicephorus Phocas Barytrachelos ("heavy neck") and Nicephorus Xiphias. We know that Xiphias cleverly had his ally, Nicephorus Phocas, assassinated. At this news, πέμπεται Θεοφύλακτος ό Δαμιανού τού Δαλασσηνοΰ νίός, και Ξιφίαν σνλλαβ ὼν ἐκπέμπει δέσμιον πρὸς τὴν βασιλίδα ["Theophylactos, son of Damianos Dalasenos, was sent who captured Xiphias and sent him to the capital in fetters"], where he was relegated to a monastery.[6]

The mission with which Theophylact was charged, according to Yahya of Antioch, had a more thankless character: he had to try by all possible means to sow discord between the two rebels and to disunite them, to make them easier to eliminate. In place of Xiphias as strategos of the Anatolic theme, the emperor Basil appointed Theophylact, who was a protospatharius and a droungarius. The two rebels fell out before Theophylact had time to intervene.

Xiphias, jealous of Phocas' popularity and the sympathies shown to him, began to regard him as his rival, and no longer as a comrade-in-arms. He invited him to his home and had him killed on August 15th, 1022. It was then that Theophylact attacked him and took him prisoner.[7]

Constantine Dalassene, brother of Theophylact, was more renowned. He is mentioned for the first time as catepan of Antioch at the end of the reign of Basil II, in 1025.[8] It is not known how long he held this position. In 1012, the governor of Antioch was a certain patrician Michael nicknamed al-Kṭānyus, unknown to Byzantine chroniclers. Yahya of Antioch, to whom we owe this information, mentions a catepan from Antioch in 1016, but without naming him.[9] Perhaps it is Constantine Dalassene. When Basil died, his brother and successor Constantine VIII deposed Constantine and his work was entrusted to a eunuch named Michael Spondyles, in 1026.[10]

Despite this disgrace, the dying Emperor Constantine wanted to bring Constantine Dalassene from his lands in the Armeniac theme to designate him as his heir. The courtier Symeon, droungarios of the East, succeeded in dissuading the Emperor from this project, in favor of Romanos Argyros, who was his great friend. Constantine [Dalassenos] appears to have held a grudge against his rival Romanos. In 1030, Romanos undertook an expedition to Syria, which ended in disaster, and he almost lost his life. Matthew of Edessa accuses some perfidious lords of plotting against the Emperor and seeking to overthrow him. The Arab historian Ibn al-Athir attributes Romanos' defeat to the bad faith of "the duke's son," who aspired to the throne and wanted to destroy the emperor. Baron Rosen has clearly shown that this is Damianos' son, Constantine Dalassene, since the Arab historian, in another passage, calls Damianos simply duke, without giving his name.[11]

Cedrenus notes Dalassene's participation in Romanos' campaign, but makes no allusion to any intrigue on his part.[12]

When, after the death of Romanos, the famous cubicularius John succeeded in winning the throne for his brother Michael in 1034, his first concern was to eliminate those who had the ambition or the ability to dispute the crown with his brother. Constantine Dalassene had expressed his indignation at the accession of Michael, "this vile man and this rascal," χυδαῖος καὶ τριωβολιμαῖος, while there were others truly worthy of the throne due to their services and their illustrious origins. Through trickery, John sent him to the capital and then stymied his activity by exiling him to an island in August, 1034. Shortly after, he was imprisoned in a tower, along with his son-in-law, Constantine Doukas, and many others.[13]

In 1038-1039 (= VII indiction) John, motivated less by hatred than by fear, resolved to put an end to the entire family of Dalassene: he banished Constantine's two brothers, the patricians Theophanes and Romanos, as well as his nephew Adrianos, and all his other close associates: ἐπιτείνων τὸ πρὸς τὸν Δαλασσηνὸν ἔχθος ὁ 'Ιωάννης ὑπερορίζει καὶ Θεοφάνην πατρίκιον τὸν αδελφὸν αὐτοῦ, και τὸν ετερον αδελφόν αὐτοῦ τὸν πατρίκιον 'Ρωμανόν, καὶ Άδριανὸν τὸν ἀνεψιὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς τοὺς κατὰ γένος αὐτῷ έγγίζοντας · ἔσπευδε γὰρ ἄρδην άφανίσαι τὸ γένος αὐτοῦ ["Motivated by the growing hostility toward Dalasenos, John exiled both the patrician Theophanes, his brother, his other brother the patrician Romanos, and his relation Adrianos and those close to him who were relatives. He hastened to destroy his clan fully."].[14]

The first Dalassene, Damianos, therefore had four sons: Theophylact, Constantine, Theophanes, and Romanos. Constantine's nephew, Adrianos, was the son of his brother Theophylact. Adrianos' daughter was given in marriage to Alexis Charon, who had a daughter —the famous Anna called Dalassene, who became the wife of John Comnenus and the mother of Alexis Comnenus: τούτου (Χάρωνος ᾿Αλεξίου) τὴν θυγατέρα γήμας ὁ ᾿Ιωάννης ῎Aνναν εἰς Δαλασηνοὺς τὸ γένος μητρόθεν άνέλκονσαν τοὺς ᾿Αδριανούς εκείνους και τοὺς Θεοφυλάκτους "[John took to wife his (Alexis Charon's) daughter, Anna who, on her mother's side, descended from the Adrianoses and Theophylactes]." That is, Anna's mother was the daughter of Adrianos, who was Theophylact's son.[15]

Constantin Dalassene had a daughter, married to Constantin Doukas, ὁ ἑπὶ θυγατρὶ γαμβρὸς αὐτοῦ.[16]

Psellos, who knew Constantine Dalassene well, did not speak of his candidacy for the throne upon Constantine's death. He praises him, and believes him destined for the crown by nature. However, the fact remains that access to the palace was barred to him: Michael the Paphlagonian locked him up in a fortified castle and his successor, Michael Calaphate, made him assume the monastic habit. However, after the death of Calaphate (1042), Zoe cast her eyes on Constantine Dalassene, as did her father. Called to the palace, Dalassene used such firm and harsh language in front of the empress that she gave up the idea of taking him as her husband. Psellos says, among other things: οὔπω γὰρ όεκαέτης ἐγεγόνει καὶ ἡ φήμη τοῦτον εἰς τὴν κρείττω ἦρεν ὑπόληψιν; according to the translation of É. Renauld, this would mean that he had not yet reached the age of ten, when the public clamor had elevated him to the highest of destinies.[17]

But we have seen that Constantine Dalassene was born before the year 998, his father Damianos having been killed in that year; his youth, therefore, occurred during the reign of Basil II. Now, at that time, there could have been no question of any movement to bring Dalassene to the throne. The public clamor of which Psellos speaks has something real about it and certainly does concern an actual incident which took place in 1034. In that year, according to Cedrenus, the emperor Michael the Paphlagonian, sent his brother, Nicetas, to Antioch as duke. The inhabitants closed the city gates to him, because they had just killed the tax agent, Salibas, due to his abuses, and were afraid of punishment. Nicetas promised them complete amnesty and welcomed them into the city. But he betrayed his promise and treated the people with severity; several notables were killed, others were sent to the capital in shackles. Nicetas, at the same time, informed his brother, John, the powerful minister and brother of the emperor, that the sedition of the Antiochians had as its cause, not the vexations caused by Salibas, but simply the popular sympathy for Dalassene: γράψας τῷ ἀδελφῷ ᾿Ιωάννη μὴ διὰ τὸν τοῦ Σαλίβα φόνον κωλυθῆναι αὐτῷ τὴν εἰς τὴν πόλιν εἴσοδον, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὴν εἰς τὸν Δαλασσηνὸν εὔνοιαν ["he wrote to his brother John that his entry into the city had been prevented, not by the killing of Salibas, but rather because of sympathy toward Dalassenos"].[18]

John, who was only waiting for an opportunity to destroy Dalassene, took advantage of this and exiled him on August 3, 1034. Now, it is quite obvious that Psellos' allusion relates, in this case, to "the public outcry" in Antioch—whether it was real or invented by Nicetas to please his brother, John. Consequently, the printed text of Psellos must be corrected, if we want to find in it a reference to very real facts, and not a rather childish hyperbole, which would hardly suit our author. I had first thought of reading, instead of δεκαέτης, δεκαετία or δεκαετηρίς, "period of ten years". But it is simpler to correct it to δέκα ἔτη. The author means that it had not yet been ten years since the voice of the public had been calling him to the throne. In fact, from the incident at Antioch to the moment when fortune smiled on Dalassene for the second time, only eight years had passed.

Later, we meet two other members of the same family, Damianos II and Constantine II. The first was one of Michael Parapinakes' generals. Around 1073, the Serbs invaded Bulgaria and their king, Michael, crowned his son Constantine, nicknamed Bodinos, king of the Bulgarians; he began to reign under the name of Peter. The Duke of Bulgaria, Nicetas Karantenos, who governed the country for the Emperor, was preparing to expel him, when he saw a successor arrive in the person of Damianos Dalassenos: ἐν ὅσῳ δὲ οὗτος τὰ πρὸς τὸν πόλεμον ἐξήρτυεν, ἐπικατέλαβε διάδοχος αὐτοῦ Δαμιανὸς ὁ Δαλασσηνός ["As he was preparing for war, his successor Damian Dalassenos took over."]. Damianos immediately engaged the Serbs in combat, but was beaten and captured along with several officers.[19]

The other Dalassenos, who bears the name of Constantine, and who should not be confused with the renowned Constantine, appears during the reign of Alexius Comnenus. We first see him in Sinope as governor, around 1086. Sinope was at that time under the rule of a Turk, Kharatikes/Charatices, appointed governor by the sultan of the Seljuks. The sultan had sent to the emperor a certain Siavus (Σιαούς) to ask for the hand of his daughter, promising to turn over to him all the coastal regions since taken by the Turks. The sultan's envoy, who was born of an Iberian [Georgian] mother, was easily seduced by the Emperor's beautiful promises; he converted to Christianity and, taking advantage of the sultan's written order with which he was provided, he chased the Turkish emirs from the coasts—and, among them, the emir of Sinope, Kharatikes—and subordinated these territories to imperial authority. Alexis appointed Constantine Dalassene to succeed Kharatikes at Sinope.[20]

This Dalassene rendered great services to the Empire through the war he led against the usurping Turk Tzachas (Τζαχᾶς). On the death of Suleiman, master of Nicaea, Tzachas had occupied the regions of Smyrna and Mytilene, proclaimed himself king, and began to wreak havoc on all the islands of the Archipelago. The struggle was stubborn; Constantine Dalassene undertook many naval expeditions against him, but without being able to subdue him. Finally, Alexis managed to arm against him Suleiman's son and successor, Kilij-Arslan (Κλιτζιασθλάν), who assassinated Tzachas, his son-in-law, around 1092.[21]

Byzantine sigillography knows a Nicephorus Dalassene, dishypatos and strategos, who is not mentioned in literary documents. Three other seals belonging to the same family have also been preserved. One bears the name of Theophylact Dalassene, protospatharius and strategos, who is undoubtedly identical to the son of the same name of the first Damianos, the magister. The seal whose holder is said to be Damianos Dalassene, anthypatos and strategos, certainly belongs to this Damianos who lived under Michael Parapinakes, and not to the first Damianos, who had a much higher position, that of magister.

A fourth seal bears a double name: Constantine Dalassene Doukas (ΓΡΑΦας ΣΦΡΑ ΓΙΖΩ (ΚΩΝ(σταvτίνου) ΔΑΛΑΣΗΝΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΔΟΥΚΑ)). Schlumberger wanted to identify this Constantine with his homonymous relation who lived in the time of Alexius Comnenus and became noteworthy during the war against Tzachas.[22] We know that a daughter of Zoe's presumed fiancé, Constantine Dalassene, had married Constantine Doukas and that she had died before the accession of Doukas (1059-1067). She seems to have left a son named Constantine. The seal belongs to this Constantine, who kept, like Anna Dalassene, Charon's daughter, the name of his mother, alongside that of his father, hence Dalassene Doukas.

Let us now return to the Romanos Dalasinos of the inscription cited at the beginning of this article. The chroniclers, as we have just seen, know of only one member in the Dalassene family bearing the name Romanos. It can therefore be identified with almost absolute certainty with the holder of the inscription. But at what time could Romanos exercise the catepanate of Iberia? Does the date that is preserved in the damaged inscription—6500, corresponding to the year 992 CE—have any connection with the inscription of Romanos, as the editor believes? Probably not, because even if it is true that in 990-991 the curopalate David had undertaken to leave his holdings to the Empire after his death, it is no less certain that there could be no question at that time of imperial governors under David, and indeed there were none. The curopalate died in 1000 and Basil hastened to take possession of his inheritance; according to one account, once the matter was settled, the Emperor appointed Greek governors for the newly acquired country.[23] However, subsequent events were not likely to favor the regular functioning of imperial power in this new district. Barely had the Emperor left Iberia when King Gourgen took up arms again to claim the curopalate's inheritance. The magister Nicephorus Ouranos (the Kanikln of Asoghik), commander of the troops, had great difficulty restoring peace.[24] It was to Nicephorus, it seems, that the emperor had entrusted the government of the country. However, the contentious question remained; the emperor being occupied with the Bulgarian war, King Gourgen and his son and successor Bagrat effectively made themselves masters of the lands in question, during the following years.

In 1018, Basil subjugated the Bulgarians and hurried to the East. The war began anew with the Georgians. The situation became complicated following the revolt of Nicephorus Phocas Barytrachelos and Nicephorus Xiphias. The Emperor finally triumphed and successfully returned to the capital in 414 A.H. = May 26, 1023 - May 14, 1024. From this moment, there would be a new district called Iberia, but consisting of the Armenian regions surrounding the city of Theodosiopolis, namely the areas of Basean, Karin, Derjan and Tayk'. Above, we have seen the role that Theophylact Dalassene played in the supression of the revolt of the two Nicephoruses. Basil appointed him strategos of the Anatolic theme.[25] His older brother, Constantine, was at the same time duke of Antioch.[26] However, there is every reason to believe that Theophylact was not alone and that his third brother, Romanos, had also assisted the Emperor, either against the Georgians or against the rebel strategos. It would be at this time that the Emperor would have entrusted Romanos with the government of the new district of Iberia, in the year 1023. After the death of Basil, on December 15, 1025, his brother and successor Constantine made no changes in the administration, as confirmed by Aristakes. However, after the revolt of Nicephorus Comnenus, governor of Vaspourakan—who, having come to an agreement with King Georgi of Georgia, sought to carve out an independent state in the East—the Emperor was obliged to change the administrative personnel. Thus, in the second year of his reign, therefore in 1027, "he sent to the East, as catepan (վերակացու), a certain Nicetas the eunuch, who arrived in the region of the Georgians and, thanks to false promises, convinced several members of the nobility to leave their domains to go to the court of the Emperor".[27] Cedrenus is even more severe with regard to the policy of the Emperor who, according to him, excluded people of merit and entrusted important positions to his valets, such as Nicholas, Simeon, and Eustathius. It was then that Constantine named the eunuch Michael Spondyle duke of Antioch, and Nicetas of Pisidia, duke of Iberia: προεβάλετο δὲ καὶ δοῦκα ᾿Αντιοχείας εὐνοῦχόν τινα Σπονδύλην λεγόμενον, καὶ Ίβηρίας Νικήταν τὸν ἐκ Πισιδίας.[28] The first was therefore designated to replace Constantine Dalassene, duke of Antioch, the second, his brother Romanos, presumed duke of Iberia. From this moment, the Dalassene family fell into disgrace; under Constantine's successors, the court showed itself even more hostile towards the family; the Dalassenes could no longer count on administrative positions. They were reduced to living in their provincial domains, away from political life. All this justifies the thesis according to which the government or the catepanate of Romanos in Iberia is necessarily placed during the years 1023-1026. The inscription which mentions it, therefore, dates from this period.

Psellos twice attests to the fact that Constantine Dalassene was a native of Dalassa, a celebrated locality: ᾧ πατρὶς μὲν ή Δάλασσα, χωρίον ἐπισημότατον. Another time, speaking of the emperor Constantine Doukas, he says that his wife was the daughter of Dalassene, Κωνσταντίνου γὰρ ἦν παῖς ἐκείνου, ὂν τὸ μὲν χωρίον ἡ Δάλασσα ἤνεγκεν, ή δὲ ῥώμη πανταχοῦ τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐκήρυξε ["he is the son of that Constantine, born in the locality of Dalasa, whose power is renowned throughout the entire world"].[29]

Unfortunately, the historian has left us in almost complete uncertainty as to the location of this famous Dalassa. It is called famous, no doubt, because it gave birth to a family "renowned throughout the world".

Modern scholars believe that it is the current village of Talas, located near Caesarea—or Thalassa, as G. Schlumberger writes it, to bring out more clearly the resemblance with Dalassa.

However, this identification seems very questionable to us. Certainly, Talas has no connection with the word θάλασσα, and we hope that the Thalassa "spelling" is not inspired by this connection. Talas presents an altered form of the ancient Μουταλάσκη;[30] Mutalaska >Mutalassa and then Talasse or Talas. The alteration of the name cannot go back to the time of Psellos, and not in any way in the form of Dalassa. The initial d for t would be inexplicable, Byzantine pronunciation having a general tendency towards the transformation of voiced to voiceless, rather than the opposite phenomenon. Besides, Mutalaska was called Mutar'asou(n) in the 11th century. It was to Mutar'asou(n) that the Catholicos Gregory, according to Matthew of Edessa, retired in 1072 joining Prince Gagik, son of Gurgen, brother of Senekerim. Therefore the Talas form has no claim to antiquity.

It is more reasonable to recognize in Dalassa the locality which is called Dalash (or Dalasa) and which is mentioned in the colophon of an Armenian Gospel, copied in 1018. It follows:

The Claudia region is well known. It is the mountainous corner formed by the Euphrates opposite Hanzith and east of Melitene. It owes its name to the city of Κλαύδια, known to Ptolemy, and which still existed in the Byzantine era, as we see in the De Velitatione bellica, where it is mentioned as Καλούδια, next to Γερμανίκεια, ᾿Αδατᾶ, Καησοῦν, Δαουθᾶ.[32] Michael the Syrian knows the country of Claudia and Goubbos well. The latter touches the Claudia region to the south and occupies the high plateau of Mount Kop (Kopli dagh of the Turks), which has retained the old name. The two regions are separated by the river valley currently called Marnas, after the Kurdish clan that lives there, and also Shiro-su. In 752, Emperor Constantine Copronymus besieged the city of Melitene and took into captivity the population of Claudia and all the villages of Armenia IV.[33] In 1065-1066, a group of Armenians invaded the land of Claudia and Goubbos, and plundered the Syrian monasteries. The chiefs of Melitene entered into negotiations with the invaders and agreed to cede to them a portion of the country of Goubbos and Claudia. They even requested a chrysobull from the emperor who ceded four villages in the region to them, in order to be at peace with them.[34] These "brigands and thieves," as the Syrian historian describes them, are none other than the troops of the renowned Philaretes, who would create through his conquests a vast state, from Melitene to Antioch, including, of course, Claudia and Goubbos. Philaretes installed Armenian princes everywhere, several of whom survived his fall.

Dalash(a) is therefore in the district of Claudia. Michael the Syrian, listing the Syrian monasteries of this country, plundered by Armenian "brigands," cites Mādiq, Marcus, Mar-Asya, Beit Shahde, Sergisyeh, without mentioning the monastery of Dalasha. From this it must be concluded that Dalash(a) was an Armenian center, an important locality which had a monastery and churches dedicated to the Mother of God and to Saint George. Our manuscript was copied in Dalasha in 467 of the Armenian Era = 1018, therefore long before the incursion of the "Armenian brigands." It would obviously be wrong to believe that the Armenian elements of Claudia date only from the time of the conquest of Philaretes. Michael the Syrian himself attests that the emigration of Armenians to countries beyond the Euphrates began in the time of Basil. This in no way means that there were not Armenians there before. The Claudia and Goubbos plateau, due to its location away from the major Arab-Byzantine military roads, constituted a fairly safe refuge for those Armenian feudal lords who held firm to their freedom and independence.

The Dalassene family was settled in Dalash(a). In our document, this name is written Talash(a), according to the phonetics particular to Western Armenian dialects, including those of the Euphrates valley. Claudia is also written Clautia. The exact transcription would therefore be Dalasha and Claudia.[35]

The Byzantines rendered the name of Dalasha by the forms Δάλασσα, Δαλασσηνοί. Only the holders of the seals mentioned above have engraved their name with a single -σ- Δαλασηνός, or Δαλασινός, except for the kouropalatissa Anna Dalassene, who maintains the spelling with two -σ- on her seals. The double -σ- undoubtedly serves to render the -sh- sound of the original; formerly it often was rendered by -ξ-.

The origin of the Dalassenes, as it has just been presented, offers nothing surprising. The great Byzantine families which made their first appearance at the time of Basil II, as before this period, were largely from the Euphratian districts. It is sufficient to name the Bourtzes, the Maniakes, the Vrachamios, the Kourtikios, the Lecapenes and many others. We see a branch of the Kekaumenos family come to settle in Degisene or Tekes, in this district which the reigning prince Manuel had abandoned, under Leo the Wise, in order to move on to imperial land, with his four sons.

It seems that the first Dalassene, lord of Dalassa, left this locality to move into the Armeniac theme, just like Kourtikios, Manuel, Bassakes and others. When the Emperor Constantine sent for Constantine Dalassene, he was found "at his home in the Armeniac theme" κατὰ τὸν ᾿Aρμενίακὸν ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ οἴκῳ σχολάζοντα.[36]

Basil II had designated Damianos duke of Antioch after Bourtzes, because he was known in the country as a large landowner in Dalassa. For the same reason, the inhabitants of Antioch showed marked sympathy for his son, Constantine Dalassene. Damianos had acquired the dignity of magister without moving up the hierarchical ladder of military service; he had been rewarded with it by entering the service of the Empire, just like Gregory of Taron or King Senekerim, according to the testimony of Kekaumenos, the author of the Strategikon. What Psellos says about the advancement of Maniakes is also applicable to Damianos, namely that he had not completed any military training, not having left the ranks of army servants, οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν σκευοφόρων, and not having known the trumpet's sound, οὐδὲ τῆ σάλπιγγι χρώμενος; rather, he had reached the top of the military hierarchy in a single leap. This means that Maniakes was a feudal lord at Teloukh, before being named strategos. Such is also the case with Damianos, as was the case with Gregory of Taron and many others.

Moreover, the Dalassenes also appear to belong to the number of Byzantine families of Armenian origin. An Armenian author, the priest Mesrob, inserted in his work, written in 967, a rather enlarged version of the ancient document known as the gahnamak, "book of seats." It is a list of Armenian families from the feudal era, where they are arranged according to their seat, that is to say according to the rank determined by the place which was assigned to each of them at the time at the royal court. Now, we find in Mesrob the names of the Lykandians and the Claudians: Լիկանդեանք եւ կղունդիք [Likandeank' ew kghundik'].[37] Mesrob's work has reached us in a manuscript copied in the year 1131. The only family known in Claudia around the 10th century is that of the Dalassenes. Mesrob considered it an Armenian family. And the mention of the Lykandians, from the family of the famous Melias, shows that Mesrob, indeed, was well informed.

Footnotes

[1] N. Sargisean, Տեղագրութիւնք ի Փոքր եւ ի Մեծ Հայս [Itineraries in Greater and Lesser Armenia] (Venice, 1864), p. 74.

[2] Yahya d'Antioche, in V. Rosen, L'empereur Basile Bulgaroctone, pp. 31-33. [The Arabic text with French and multilingual translations of Yahya (or John) of Antioch—an underutilized source for the 10th-11th centuries—are available here. The Arabic text and French translation by I. Kratchkovsky and Alexander A. Vasiliev, first was published in the serial Patrologia Orientalis, volumes 18 (1924) and 23 (1932). The Arabic text, prepared by Kratchkovsky, was based on only a few manuscripts. Kratchkovsky also made a critical edition of the Arabic text, which was published much later, in 1997, and is fuller. The French translation of this, published by Françoise Micheau and Gérard Troupeau in PO volume 47 (1997), is appended to the pdf, and a multilingual HTML version of the French translation is attached.] Histoire de Yahya-ibn-Sa'id d'Antioche, PO 23.3, pp. 443-444.

[3] Ibid., p. 39 [Histoire de Yahya-ibn-Sa'id d'Antioche, PO 23.3, pp. 455-456].

[4] Asoghik III, ch. 37. [Two editions of the Armenian text (1854 and 2010) are available here: Ստեփանոս Տարաւնեցի Ասողիկ Պատմութիւն տիեզերական [The Universal History of Step'anos Tarawnets'i Asoghik. From the critical edition of 2010: Asoghik III.37, p. 815

[5] Cedrenus, II, p. 448.

[6] Ibid., pp. 477-478.

[7] Yahya, in V. Rosen, op. cit., pp. 63-64 [Histoire de Yahya-ibn-Sa'id d'Antioche, PO 47.4, pp. 465, 467]

[8] Ibid., p. 66 [Histoire de Yahya-ibn-Sa'id d'Antioche, PO 47.4, p. 47]

[9] Ibid., p. 49 and p. 56 [Histoire de Yahya-ibn Sa'id d'Antioche, PO 47.4, p.401; PO 47.4, p.493]

[10] Cedrenus, II, pp. 481 and 488.

[11] V. Rosen, op. cit., p. 314.

[12] Cedrenus, II, pp. 492-493.

[13] Ibid., pp. 506-512.

[14] Ibid., p. 521.

[15] Bryen., p. 19; Anna Comn., I, p. 163: πρὸς ᾿Aδριανοὺς ἐκείνους τοὺς Δαλασσηνούς [Adrianos of those Dalassenes]. [See also Anna Comnena, Alexiad, III. VIII, p. 61].

[16] Cedrenus, II, p. 511.

[17] Psellos, Chronographie, éd. E. Renauld, t. I, pp. 122-123 [Michael Psellos, Chronographia, Book 6. 12, pp. 117-118].

[18] Cedrenus, II, p. 510.

[19] Skylitzes, p. 716.

[20] Anna Comn., VI, 9, p. 303.

[21] Ibid., IX, 1 et 3, pp. 425 et 433.

[22] Anna Comn., VII, 8, p. 362, says that Alexis ἕτερον έξοπλίζει στόλον, πιστήσας δοῦκα τούτῳ Κωνσταντίνον τὸν Δαλασσηνόν, ἄνδρα μαχιμώτατον καὶ μητρόθεν τούτῳ προσήκοντα ["equipping a second fleet, he named as duke Costantine Dalassenos, [a man] very experienced in military afffairs and his relation on his mother's side"].

[23] Yahya (from Rosen), p. 41 [Histoire de Yahya-ibn-Sa'id d'Antioche, PO 47.4, pp. 459 ff.].

[24] Ibid. the magister Nicephorus bears a title in Yahya which reads: [Arabic], al-F-t-'-ls, or [Arabic] al-K-i-k-l-s, and which Baron Rosen believed to be a distortion of βέστης. Asoghik refers to "Կանիկլն մաժիստռոս, [magistros Kanikln]" which compels one to read the Arabic word al-k-n-i-k-l-s, as κανίκλειος. Nicephorus was therefore secretary of the kanikleion [archive]; moreover, Yahya himself describes him as the emperor's secretary in the passage where his mission to Baghdad is discussed.

[25] Ibid., p. 64.

[26] Ibid. p. 66.

[27] Aristakes Lastiverts'i's History, chapter 5. Nikitom, Նիկիտոմ ներքինի [Nikitom the eunuch], of the printed text must be corrected to Նիկիտ ոմն ներքինի [a certain Nikit, a eunuch]. A similar mistake is found in Asoghik, where, instead of որ կոչի Դլիվեկն եւ մանուկն Աբաս it is necessary to read: որ կոչի Դլիվ, եկն եւ մանուկն Աբաս. Dliv is a known locality (see Brosset, I, p. 296). Brosset left this error in his translation, as did Macler in his translation of Asoghik, III, ch. 28.

[28] Cedrenus, II, p. 481.

[29] Psellos, t. I, p. 122 and II, p. 141, ed. Renauld [Michael Psellos, Chronographia, Book 6. 12; Book 7. 6; See also Book 2. 10, note 27].

[30] On the origin of this name, cf. H. Grégoire, Bulletin of the Class of Letters of the Royal Academy of Belgium, 5th series, XXI (1935), p. 43. Editor’s note.

[31] E. Lalayan, Catalogue des manuscrits arméniens du Vaspourakan (Tiflis, 1915), no. 43, p. 76.

[32] De Velitatione bellica, éd. Bonn, p. 250 [Cf. E. Honigmann, Die Ostgrenze des byzantinischen Reiches von 363 bis 1071, Bruxelles, 1935, pp. 80-92. N. d. l. R; pp. 80-92].

[33] Michel le Syrien, éd. Chabot, t. II, p. 518 [Michael Rabo, Chronicle p. 510].

[34] Ibid., t. III, p. 164 [Michael Rabo, Chronicle pages 606-607]. The famous Abulfarag Bar Hebraeus (d. 1268) was bishop of Goubbos, Lakabin and Aleppo.

[35] In the Armenian text, the name in question being in the genitive case: Talasay, the nominative case can be Talash or Talasha.

[36] Cedrenus, II, p. 484.

[37] Mesropay Erits'u Vayots'dzorets'woy Patmut'iwn Srboyn Nersisi Hayots' hayrapeti [History of Saint Nerse's, Patriarch of the Armenians], by Mesrop the Priest from Vayots'dzor, in volume 11 of the series Matenagirk' hayots' [Armenian Classical Authors] (Antelias, 2010), p. 684.