Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus°

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CONSTANTINE VII PORPHYROGENITUS°

CONSTANTINE VII PORPHYROGENITUS °, Byzantine emperor, 913–959. He was known for his learning, as evidenced by his great treatises on ceremonial, administrative, and army organization. According to some scholars, in response to a letter of protest addressed to Constantine's wife Helena by *Ḥisdai ibn Shaprut, he stopped the persecutions and forced conversions of Jews initiated in the empire by his co-emperor, *Romanus i Lecapenus. He also ceased attempts to force Christianity on the *Khazars. During his reign the condition of the Jews generally improved, earning him praises in the Hebrew apocalypse, "Vision of *Daniel."

bibliography:

Baron, Social 2, 3 (1957), 182–3; J. Starr, Jews in the Byzantine Empire (1939), 7–8, 153–6; Mann, Texts, 1 (1931), 10–16; 23–25.

[Andrew Sharf]

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