John I Tzimiskes

John I Tzimiskes
Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans
Detail of the Gunthertuch, a Byzantine silk tapestry depicting John Tzimiskes being greeted by the Blues and Greens at a triumph.
Byzantine emperor
Reign11 December 969 –
10 January 976
Coronation19 December 969[1]
PredecessorNikephoros II Phokas
SuccessorBasil II
Born925
(now Çemişgezek,[2] Tunceli Province, Turkey)
Died10 January 976(976-01-10) (aged 50–51)
Constantinople
(now Istanbul, Turkey)
SpouseMaria Skleraina
Theodora
DynastyMacedonian

John I Tzimiskes (Greek: Ἰωάννης ὁ Τζιμισκής, romanizedIōánnēs ho Tzimiskēs; c. 925 – 10 January 976) was the senior Byzantine emperor from 969 to 976. An intuitive and successful general who married into the influential Skleros family, he strengthened and expanded the Byzantine Empire to include Thrace and Syria by warring with the Rus' under Sviatoslav I and the Fatimids respectively.

  1. ^ Leo the Deacon, pp. 143–147 (VI, 1–4).
  2. ^ "Çemişgezek" in The Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names, 2005, by John Everett-Heath, Oxford University Press.

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