Arab-Byzantine border in Anatolia (author: CPlakidas at Wikipedia)
We focus on Theophilus’ record on the eastern front. The last gasp of true Caliphal power sees the Emperor harshly punished for his support of the Khurramite rebellion.
Period: 829-838
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The History of Byzantium 
Having read Gibbon, I was expecting Theophilus to be portrayed as somewhat of a tyrant. It’s interesting that you have depicted him quite positively. I suppose this contrast is because the sources Gibbon drew from were biased against Theophilus because of his iconoclasm?
Gibbon is largely bias towards the Icon Emperors. i have a vastly different impression of Theophilus so drastically different it surprises me that tyrant is anywhere near is name.
http://www.amazon.com/History-Eastern-Roman-Empire-Accession-ebook/dp/B00QMU5444?ie=UTF8&redirect=true&ref_=kinw_myk_ro_title
is a great read for this time period. If you havent read it yet it’ll blow your mind
Yes Gibbon/Bury/JJNorwich all follow the line that the Iconoclasts were actively persecuting people on a wide scale. Until there is more evidence of that though I will go with modern historians who suggest that is mostly hyperbole.
Finally caught up with the new releases after starting a month ago. Thanks for doing these. Keep up the good work.
Greetings from Alexandretta (Iskenderun).
This is pretty random, but could you go into detail about the chariot races of Constantinople? What do we know about how the races actually proceeded? How long did they go for? I just became very curious about them.
I hope to do a special episode on this topic
One question I had. Did Theophilus’s victories like that at Sozopetra lead to some strengthening of iconoclasm prior to the disaster at Amorium?
Unfortunately there’s no way to know. The chronicles go straight from one campaign to the next. Plus as they are written by Iconophiles they never mention pro-Iconoclast sentiment from the public.
I also hear claims that Caliph Mut’asim was from Sozopetra.
Yes that is reported in some places. But there’s a sense of that being too convenient. The Caliph responding by aiming to sack Thophilus’ birthplace (Amorium – which again may not be where he was born either).
I’m surprised that Gibbon would side with the iconophiles on Theophilus due to his biased against Christianity, considering he claimed that it was Christianity that destroyed the Roman Empire
Like one of the other commenters, I also finally caught up with the podcast after taking a long break (since Leo III). I tend to do this after I catch up so I can binge listen to your podcast. The series gets better and better every time I do this. I feel like this period is now my favorite, but maybe I just think that because I’ve been listening so attentively to your narrative. Anyway I definitely now think someone should produce a movie about Nicepherous, who for some reason I’m totally fascinated with. He had interesting clashes with some of the period’s most famous people – Irene, Charlamagne, and Al-Rashid, and ultimately died in an ambush that would look great on a big screen and had his head turned into a drinking cup. Get on the phone with Hollywood, Robin, and get this movie made!
I love this podcast. You do a terrific job. I love the History of Rome Podcast too, and without taking anything away from that incredible series, I honestly feel you do a much better job with this one.
Sadly for me, now that I’m caught up, this is the point in which I have to take another break. I hope you continue doing the great job you’re doing, because I look forward to coming back to trove of great episodes in due time.
Thanks for the kind encouragement. I think Nicephorus is definitely a fascinating what if story. Catch up with you in a while then 🙂
Ooh this last 100 years or so has been filled with so much “and then it ALMOST turns out for the Romans, almost but not quite”, and this definitely feels like that again. I really like how as well as the gripping direct narrative you’re also keeping us informed of what’s happening in the Caliphate and other wider spheres, as well as how events have impacts in the future; putting all the pieces together is super interesting! (Also I don’t know if this is helpful for you to know but I listened to this episode over on Patreon for the first time and it worked great, so the back-episode uploading definitely seems to have worked on the Byzantium (Yes) patreon version!)