G

GABALAS FAMILY. See RHODES.

GABRIELOPOULOS FAMILY. See KASTORIA; THESSALY.

GAETA. Seaport in central Italy, between Rome and Naples. After the collapse of Byzantine rule in the Exarchate of Ravenna in 751, Gaeta was isolated, belonging nominally to the Byzantine duchy of Naples. In reality, it was virtually independent like Amalfi. Both were enclaves that found it profitable to maintain allegiance to Byzantium. This situation persisted until the Lombards of Capua conquered Gaeta in 1032. In 1064 the city fell to the Normans. See also GARIGLIANO; LONGOBARDIA.

GAGIK I. King of Armenia from 989 to ca. 1020, whose reign marked the high point of the kingdom of the Bagratids. The disintegration of the kingdom after Gagik I’s death gave Basil II the opportunity to annex Vaspurkan.

GAGIK II. Last Bagratid king (1042–1045) of Armenia; nephew of King John Smbat. Induced to come to Constantinople, he was forced to abdicate in return for estates in Cappadocia, where he retired in 1045 with many distinguished Armenian families. His abdication allowed Byzantium to annex Ani and Smbat’s entire kingdom, ostensibly to defend it (and Asia Minor) against Seljuk aggression. However, Constantine IX Monomachos failed to maintain adequate troops there, and the Seljuks conquered Ani in 1064. See also ETHNIC DIVERSITY.

GAINAS. Gothic general who briefly (399–400) endangered the throne of Arkadios and who seemed to personify the inherent danger of promoting Goths to high military commands. Arkadios (395–408) was a child-emperor, who, after the fall of Rufinus, was dominated by his grand chamberlain Eutropios and by Gainas, who was his commander in chief (magister utrius militiae) of the armies in the East.

A crisis ensued when Gainas went over to the rebel Tribigild, and the two of them forced Arkadios to execute Eutropios. With his main rivals gone, Gainas dominated Constantinople briefly until a spontaneous revolt on 12 July 400 resulted in the deaths of several hundred of his troops, forcing him to flee the capital with the remainder of them. Ironically, he was pursued by another Gothic general named Fravitta, who had remained loyal to Arkadios. The Hunnic chieftain Uldin captured Gainas and sent his head back to Arkadios. See also ARIANISM; ARMY; BARBARIANS; MAGISTER MILITUM; MERCENARIES; STILICHO; ULFILAS.

GAISERIC. King of the Vandals from 428 to 477, and ablest Germanic leader of his time. Under Gaiseric the Vandals crossed from Spain to North Africa, establishing a capital at Carthage. An adherent to Arianism, Gaiseric began a persecution of his Orthodox subjects that his successors continued, which is vividly documented in the history of Victor of Vita. Gaiseric’s craftiness in diplomacy is seen in his negotiations with Attila, but it was as a naval strategist that he displayed brilliance.

Gaiseric created a fleet of small, light vessels, as perfectly suited for piracy as for sustained conquest. This fleet attacked Sicily, occupied Sardinia, Corsica, and the Balearic Islands; it menaced the coasts of Greece and Italy, and even pillaged Rome in 455. Leo I’s great naval expedition against the Vandals in 468, led by Basiliskos, failed, as did earlier attempts in 460 and 461 by the western emperor Majorian. These failures only underscored Gaiseric’s supremacy in the western Mediterranean. See also BARBARIANS; NAVIGATION; NAVY; TRADE AND COMMERCE.

GALATA. Suburb of Constantinople, located directly opposite Constantinople across the Golden Horn. The fort on its shore protected the great harbor chain that could be hoisted to prevent entrance to the Golden Horn. Its Jewish quarter was destroyed by the Fourth Crusade. In 1267 Michael VIII Palaiologos gave Galata to the Genoese, who subsequently turned it into a fortified colony called Pera. By the reign of Andronikos III Palaiologos most incoming merchant ships, and their customs duties, went to Pera. It surrendered to the Ottomans in 1453. See also CRUSADES; KOMMERKIARIOS; TRADE AND COMMERCE.

GALAXEIDI, CHRONICLE OF. See CHRONICLE.

GALEN. Medical theorist born in Pergamon ca. 130 (died ca. 200) whose medical treatises were the foundation of medicine in Byzantium, indeed throughout the entire intellectual world of the Middle Ages. The secret of his success in Byzantium (though he had been a pagan) was his belief that everything in the human body was formed by a creator for a particular purpose. This fit in well with Christian theology.

His theories of four body fluids called “humours” and their alleged relationship to different temperaments and diseases, as well as his physiology of blood ebbing and flowing (not circulating) through the expansion and contraction of the right side of the heart were never challenged. The great Byzantine physicians, Oribasios, Aetios of Amida, Alexander of Tralles, Paul of Aegina, and John Aktouarios only summarized and commented on his ideas. See also ABBASID CALIPHATE; MEDICINE.

GALERIUS. Member of the tetrarchy. Diocletian chose him as caesar in 293, with jurisdiction over the Balkan Peninsula and the Danubian provinces. At Thessalonike are the remains of what may have been his palace, now the church of Hagios Georgios. There is also a triumphal arch depicting Galerius’s victory over the Persians in 297. When Diocletian retired in 305, Galerius became senior augustus of the tetrarchy. He chose Maximinus Daia as his caesar, and Licinius as augustus in the East, but he opposed the self-appointment of Maxentius. Galerius may have been the driving force behind the Great Persecution, which continued until he issued an edict of toleration shortly before his death in 311. The Edict of Milan was probably a reissuance of Galerius’s edict. See also CONSTANTINE I THE GREAT; LACTANTIUS; PAGANISM; SEVERUS.

GALLA PLACIDIA. Daughter of Theodosios I, sister of Honorios, and mother of Valentinian III. The Visigoths took her to Gaul after they sacked Rome in 410. There, in 414, she was married to Ataulf, successor to Alaric, and bore him a son, christened Theodosios, who died shortly after birth.

When Ataulf died soon thereafter, Galla Placidia was allowed to return to Honorios, who married her in 417 to the patrician Constantius against her wishes. She was crowned augusta, and the son born to them was the future Valentinian III. After Constantius’s death in 421, Honorios accused her of treason and she fled to the court of Theodosios II. When Honorios died in 423 she returned to the West, where she was regent for young Valentinian III, her rule uncontested for the first 12 years of his reign. When she died in 450 she was buried in a mausoleum in Ravenna, which bears her name. See also BARBARIANS; WOMEN.

GALLIPOLI. Strategic port on the European shore of the Sea of Marmara at the northern end of the Hellespont that changed hands several times in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, which conquered Constantinople in 1204.

After 1204 Gallipoli was usually controlled by Byzantium’s enemies. Venice held it from 1205 to 1235, when John III Vatatzes recaptured it. Gallipoli fell to the Catalan Grand Company in 1304; they evacuated it in 1307. It was captured by the Ottomans under Orhan in 1354, retaken for Byzantium by Amadeo VI of Savoy in 1366, but returned to Murad I in 1376 by Andronikos IV Palaiologos to ensure Murad I’s continued support of his usurpation of the throne. See also CITIES; EMPIRE OF NICAEA; JOHN V PALAIOLOGOS; LATIN EMPIRE; NAVIGATION; TRADE AND COMMERCE.

GALLUS. Half-brother of Julian “The Apostate,” caesar under Constantius II, who executed him in 354. He and Julian grew up on an isolated imperial estate in Cappadocia, where he was taken after Constantius II massacred most of their family members in 337. In 351 Constantius made Gallus caesar in the East, where he prepared to attack the Persians while Constantius II was in the West suppressing the revolt of Magnentius.

Ammianus Marcellinus paints a picture of Gallus’s cruelty in Antioch, especially in relation to the treason trials of 354, which Ammianus viewed as judicial murder. Whatever the truth of Ammianus’s portrait, Constantius II came to view Gallus with suspicion, as he later did Julian. However, Julian escaped execution, whereas Gallus did not. See also ASIA MINOR; HISTORY.

GANGRA. Metropolis of Paphlagonia, in Asia Minor, site of a local council held around 341 to condemn extremist monks who followed the teachings of Eustathios of Sebasteia. Gangra suffered attacks by Arabs in the eighth century, during the lifetime of Philaretos the Almsgiver, who came from Amneia, a village dependent on Gangra. The Danishmendids conquered Gangra in 1075, but John II Komnenos recaptured it in 1136, along with the Danishmendid castle of Kastamonu, ancestral home of the Komnenoi. However, Gangra soon reverted to the Turks. The local saint was Hypatios, whose sixth-century vita describes how he killed a dragon that was living in the imperial treasury of Constantius II. See also CITIES; GENNADIOS I; MAMAS; METROPOLITAN; TIMOTHEOS AILOUROS.

GANGRA, COUNCIL OF. Local council held ca. 341 to condemn the followers of Eustathios of Sebasteia. Eustathios’s writings have not survived. However, since he became a metropolitan of Sebasteia subsequent to the council, it seems likely that he was more moderate in his beliefs than were his alleged followers.

The Eustathians were condemned by the council for rejecting marriage and family life, rejecting a married priesthood, refusing to eat meat, fasting on the Lord’s day, preaching that the rich would never enter heaven, rejecting church rituals, and allowing women to dress like men. The council records that condemn these extremists provide the earliest information about monasticism in Asia Minor. See also HERESY.

GARIGLIANO. River in southern Italy, within the territory of Gaeta. Around 882, Arabs from northwestern Africa established a colony at a strategic position commanding the right bank of the Garigliano, near its mouth. This was not the only Arab colony in southern Italy, and it was difficult to conquer. Finally in 915 a coalition of papal, Lombard, and Byzantine forces attacked the colony. The Byzantine fleet, which still operated in these waters, sealed off their escape route to the sea, forcing the Arabs to flee to the mountains, where they were hunted down and killed. See also NAVY; PAPACY.

GATTILUSIO. Family from Genoa that ruled Lesbos from 1355 to 1462. Francesco Gattilusio was a Genoese buccaneer who had offered his services to John V Palaiologos and who helped the emperor seize Constantinople in 1354. For this, in the summer of 1355 John V gave him his sister Irene in marriage and made him lord of Lesbos. In 1366 Francesco joined Amadeo VI of Savoy in the recovery of Gallipoli. The family’s position was made secure by further imperial marriages. His son Francesco II (1384–1403) married his daughter Irene to John VII Palaiologos, and Constantine XII Palaiologos’s second wife was the daughter of Dorino Gattilusio. The family acquired other islands in the northern Aegean Sea, including Ainos, Thasos, Samothrace, and Lemnos, as well as Phokaia.

GAUFREDUS MALATERRA. Author of a history of the Normans of Sicily from ca. 1038 to 1099, including an account of the campaign of George Maniakes against the Normans of southern Italy (Calabria), in 1042. See also MICHAEL IV AUTOREANOS.

GAUL. Roman province south and west of the Rhine, comprising what is now France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, and parts of Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. The early career (355–361) of Julian “The Apostate” illustrates the vigorous defense of Gaul in the fourth century. In the fifth century, Gaul was occupied by Visigoths, Burgundians, and Franks. See also BARBARIANS.

GAZA. City in southern Palestine. Prior to its conquest by the Arabs in 635 it was a center of learning with a school of famous rhetoricians and poets. It was also a center of pagan worship until its bishop Porphyrios of Gaza journeyed to Constantinople in 401 and convinced Empress Eudoxia to support the demolition of the temple of Zeus Marnas and the building of a church in Gaza, which was accomplished. Nevertheless, its school continued to flourish under such famous writers as Chorikios of Gaza and Prokopios of Gaza. The monastic writer Dorotheos of Gaza was also a native of the city, as was the church historian Sozomenos. The city’s port of Constantia was the terminus of an important trade in incense and spices from ports on the Indian Ocean through Mecca and Medina in the Arabian Peninsula. See EDUCATION; INDIA; LITERATURE; PAGANISM; RHETORIC; TRADE AND COMMERCE.

GELASIOS OF CAESAREA. Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine from ca. 367. An adherent to the Council of Nicaea, he was ejected from his see during the reign of Valens. His Ecclesiastical History is lost, but it seems to have been an important source for the fifth-century continuators of Eusebios of Caesarea, including Gelasios of Kyzikos, Sokrates, Sozomenos, Theodoret of Cyrrhus, and Rufinus of Aquileia, all of whom projected back onto the fourth century their own image of what the Constantinian church was like. See also CONSTANTINE I THE GREAT; HISTORY.

GELASIOS OF KYZIKOS. Fifth-century church historian who wrote a history of the church during Constantine I the Great’s reign that survives to 335. It bears resemblance to the work of Eusebios of Caesarea, as well as to the work of Eusebios’s fifth-century continuators Sokrates, Sozeomenos, and Theodoret of Cyrrhus, who all relied on the lost church history of Gelasios of Caesarea. He also wrote a Syntagma, a collection of the acts of the Council of Nicaea in 325, to demonstrate how far from the council were the views of the Monophysites.

GELASIUS I. Pope from 492 to 496 who contributed to the idea of papal primacy by defining two powers, imperial and priestly. Priestly authority he considered superior to secular authority since he believed priests were ultimately responsible for the salvation of all men, even emperors.

Gelasius I rejected the Henotikon of Zeno, and he excommunicated Patriarch Akakios for supporting it, an act that inaugurated the first schism in the church, the Akakian Schism. He also rejected canon 28 of the Council of Chalcedon, claiming the right for the papacy to pass final judgment on the canons of all church councils, and he refused to grant Constantinople the status of a metropolitan city. His theory of the two powers was fundamental to the thinking of later papal reformers. See also CAESAROPAPISM; ECUMENICAL COUNCILS; MONOPHYSITISM.

GELIMER. Last king (530–534) of the Vandals whose inept military leadership contributed to the destruction of the Vandal state. His forces were caught by surprise and were ill-equipped to confront the forces of Justinian I, led by Belisarios.

Gelimer’s defeat at the Battle of Ad Decimum (Tenth Milestone) on 13 September 533 allowed Belisarios to enter Carthage unopposed. Belisarios seized Gelimer’s throne and feasted on the food that Gelimer had ordered prepared in anticipation of his victory. Three months later Gelimer’s army was crushed at the Battle of Tricamarum. Gelimer fled, only to surrender in the spring of 534. That summer in Constantinople Gelimer was paraded in a triumph that culminated in the Hippodrome, where he was stripped of his purple garments and forced to prostrate himself before Justinian and Theodora. See also BARBARIANS.

GEMISTUS PLETHON. See PLETHON, GEORGE GEMISTOS.

GENESIOS. Chronicler whose work continues the chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor, covering the years from 813 to 886. Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos commissioned Genesios’s work. Despite various attempts to identify him, little is known about Genesios. What does seem certain is that either he copied from Theophanes Continuatus or they used a mutual source. Both works share the same poor understanding of events and have similar problems of chronology. See also HISTORY; MACEDONIAN RENAISSANCE.

GENIKON. See LOGOTHETES; SEKRETON.

GENNADIOS I. Patriarch of Constantinople from 458 to 471. He was noted for his miracles and for his strict adherence to the doctrines of the Council of Chalcedon, which were promulgated in 451 to combat Monophysitism. Gennadios continued the policies of his predecessor Flavian, opposing Eutyches, and allying himself with Pope Leo I, with whom he worked to depose Timotheos Ailouros, the Monophysite bishop of Alexandria. Emperor Leo I exiled Timotheos to Gangra. Gennadios also obtained a decree of exile against Peter the Fuller, the Monophysite bishop of Antioch. His career must be seen within the larger framework of theological discord that occurred after the Council of Chalcedon. See also CHRIST, THEOLOGY OF; HERESY; ORTHODOXY.

GENNADIOS II SCHOLARIOS. First post-Byzantine patriarch of Constantinople from 1454 to 1456, 1463, and again from 1464 to 1465. Born George Scholarios, he was a scholar who wrote on Aristotle and was versed in western scholasticism, including the works of Thomas Aquinas.

When the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453, he had been living as the monk Gennadios in a kind of exile as leader of the opposition against the union of the churches. In January 1454, Sultan Mehmed II invested him with his insignia of office, as an emperor would have done, giving him complete authority over the millet of Rum, as the Ottomans referred to the Orthodox community now under their dominion. See also PHILOSOPHY.

GENOA. Port city in northwestern Italy that came into Byzantine hands around 540 when Justinian I conquered Italy. It fell into the hands of the Lombards a century later, but by the 10th century, it became a free commune, and its maritime power increased steadily. In the 11th century, aided by Pisa, the Genoese drove the Arabs from Corsica and Sardinia.

The Crusades made Genoa wealthy, and rivalry with Venice and Pisa for access to the lucrative Byzantine markets ensued. In 1155 Genoa was granted a market area and port facilities in Constantinople. The Venetians triumphed in 1204, when the Fourth Crusade captured Constantinople, but the Treaty of Nymphaion in 1261 tied Michael VIII Palaiologos to Genoa in a permanent alliance. Within a month of the signing of the treaty Constantinople was recaptured, and Genoa’s commercial position was preeminent.

Genoa’s defeat of Pisa in 1284 was a turning point; now she had no serious rivals. Her colonies grew in number, and most impressive were the northern ones in the Black Sea, including Vinina and Chilia, Kaffa and Sougdaia in the Crimea, and Trebizond. The alum mines at Phokaia were ceded to the Zaccaria family, who also gained Chios in 1304.

By the mid-14th century the Genoese colony at Galata had become a kind of state within a state, levying duties on all shipping to the Black Sea, with a virtual trade monopoly in the Bosporos and in much of the northern Aegean Sea. However, a series of wars with Venice from 1292 to 1382, including a war over Tenedos, weakened Genoese commercial hegemony, making Genoa vulnerable to the Ottomans in the 15th century. See also CHERSON; EMPIRE OF NICAEA; LATIN EMPIRE; NAVY; TRADE AND COMMERCE.

GEOFFREY I VILLEHARDOUIN. Nephew of historian Geoffrey de Villehardouin who in 1205, in the service of Boniface of Montferrat and with the help of William I Champlitte, inaugurated the Frankish conquest of the Morea. From 1208, when William I returned to France, Geoffrey became sole prince of Achaia, organizing his conquests as a feudal kingdom. He died ca. 1230. See also GREECE; PARTITIO ROMANIAE.

GEOFFREY II VILLEHARDOUIN. Son of Geoffrey I Villehardouin, and prince of Achaia from ca. 1230 to 1246. He was succeeded by his brother, William II Villehardouin. See also GREECE; MOREA; PARTITIO ROMANIAE; WILLIAM I CHAMPLITTE.

GEOFFREY DE VILLEHARDOUIN. Major participant and chief Latin historian of the Fourth Crusade. Marshal of Champagne prior to the Fourth Crusade, his Conquest of Constantinople is a somewhat official history of the Crusade, written from the point of view of someone who helped negotiate with Venice for the transport of the Crusade, and who subsequently participated in the important decisions that diverted the Fourth Crusade to Zara and then to Constantinople.

His bias clearly favors those who worked to keep the army together, including Doge Enrico Dandalo of Venice, who is pictured as a wise and unselfish leader, contrary to Byzantine sources. Above all, Villehardouin values loyalty, living up to one’s word, and fulfilling contractual obligations. Thus, he disdains those Latin knights who promised to sail from Venice but failed to show, and those who left the army as it made its way eastward. In a similar way, the failure of Alexios IV Angelos to fulfill his promises to the Crusaders, and the perfidy of Alexios V Doukas become a perfect rationale for the conquest of Constantinople and destruction of Byzantium in 1204. After the conquest he was made marshal of Romania, in Thrace. He died around 1212. See also SANUDO TORSELLO, MARINO.

GEOGRAPHY. Byzantium preserved and studied the great geographers from antiquity, including Strabo, Pausanius, and Ptolemy. However, nothing was added to the study of theoretical geography. The weight of classical scholarship seems to have been an impediment to fresh research, as indicated by Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos’s De thematibus, which relies on ancient literature.

Travel literature makes for more interesting reading, especially the sixth-century memoir of Kosmas Indikopleustes. However, the expansive geographical curiosity of Kosmas yielded to a more restricted view of the world in subsequent centuries as Byzantium lost territory to foreign invaders and became more restricted in scope.

GEOPONIKA. An anonymous work on agriculture. Its dedication to Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos dates it to 945–959, and its organization (a manual of fragments from ancient Greek writers) is typical of the compilations sponsored by this emperor. Its section on viticulture was translated into Latin by Burgundio of Pisa in the 12th century. See also MACEDONIAN RENAISSANCE.

GEORGE BRANKOVICH. Last ruler (1427–1456) of medieval Serbia. The capture of Bayezid I at the Battle of Ankara in 1402, and the resulting three decades of Ottoman weakness, gave Brankovich the opportunity to restore Serbian independence, symbolized by the new stronghold and capital Smederevo. His territory expanded with the inheritance of his uncle Stefan Lazarevich, who died childless in 1427. While the Ottomans regrouped he found support in alliances with John VIII Palaiologos.

Brankovich was too weak to resist either the Hungarians, who seized Belgrade in 1427, or the renewed vigor of the Ottomans under Murad II. Murad II took Smederevo in 1439, and although it was recaptured with the help of Hunyadi, the stunning victory of Murad II at the Battle of Varna in 1444 brought Brankovich once more into Ottoman vassalage. When Mehmed II demanded troops for the siege of Constantinople in 1453, he complied. Brankovich died in 1456 and did not live to see the Ottoman conquest of Smederevo in 1459, which ended medieval Serbia. See also BALKAN PENINSULA; WALLACHIA.

GEORGE HAMARTOLOS. His world chronicle from Adam to 842 is one of the few contemporary historical sources for the period 813–842. Nothing is known about him, except that he was a monk, referred to as George the Monk. He is also referred to as George Hamartolos (hamartolos means “sinner”).

Certainly his major concerns have to do with issues affecting monasticism and the church, such as Iconoclasm and Islam. His chief sources for Byzantine affairs are Theophanes the Confessor, Malalas, and Symeon Logothete. A continuation of his chronicle, some versions of which extend to 1143, is often attributed to Symeon Logothete. See also HISTORY.

GEORGE OF AMASTRIS. Saint, hermit (eremite), bishop of Amastris in the late eighth century. His vita, attributed to Ignatios the Deacon on stylistic grounds, reports an undated attack of the Rus on Amastris. See also ASCETICISM; MONASTICISM.

GEORGE OF PISIDIA. Poet who wrote three epic eulogies about the wars of Herakleios; he was a deacon at Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. The first eulogy deals with Herakleios’s campaign against the Persians, the second with the attack of the Avars on Constantinople in 626, and the third with the emperor’s final victory over Persian King Chosroes II. In the 11th century, Michael Psellos compared the style of George of Pisidia to that of Euripides. See also CLERGY; LITERATURE.

GEORGE OF TREBIZOND. Humanist; one of the great translators of Greek texts into Latin. His parents were from Trebizond, but he was born in Crete in 1395. He embraced Catholicism and went to Venice in 1415 where he taught Greek and studied Latin. When Pope Nicholas V became his patron he attached himself to the papal academy, headed by Bessarion, translating Greek works into Latin.

George translated 11 major Greek texts, some of them never before translated, in addition to other texts from a variety of authors, including Ptolemy, Aristotle, Plato, and the Greek church fathers. He authored a treatise on rhetoric, which became the chief text on the subject for the Italian humanists, as well as a treatise on logic. He passionately argued the superiority of Aristotle over Plato, criticizing Bessarion, George Gemistos Plethon, and Theodore Gaza for their contrary views. He supported the papacy at the Council of Ferrara-Florence and was an ambassador of Pope Paul II to Mehmed II. See also LITERATURE; PHILOSOPHY; UNION OF THE CHURCHES.

GEORGE THE MONK. See GEORGE HARMATOLOS.

GEORGE THE SYNKELLOS. Author of a world chronicle that extends from the Creation to the reign of Diocletian (to 284). He was synkellos of Tarasios, patriarch of Constantinople from 784 to 806. George’s work is of interest primarily because of its relationship to the more important Chronographia of Theophanes the Confessor, which picks up in 284 where George leaves off and which may rely on notes that George provided to Theophanes the Confessor. See also HISTORY.

GEORGIA. See IBERIA.

GEPIDS. German barbarians related to the Goths who settled in northern Dacia in the fourth century. They were subject to the Huns in the fifth century, until the death of Attila. In the sixth century, the Gepids were the most powerful of the Germanic peoples on the Danube frontier. Justinian I benefited from the hostility between the Gepids and the Lombards by playing one against the other. In 567, two years after Justinian I died, a major war between the two erupted in which the Lombards, supported by the Avars, annihilated the Gepids. After this, the Gepids disappeared from history. See also MUNDUS.

GERASA. City (modern Jarash, in Jordan) noted for its nine ruined churches, each extraordinary in size, dating from the fourth through the early seventh centuries. All are basilicas except for the centrally planned church of St. John the Baptist, and the cross-in-square church dedicated to the apostles, prophets, and martyrs. Gerasa, once part of the province of Arabia, was conquered by the Arabs in 634.

GERMANIKEIA. City situated at the foot of the Anti-Taurus mountain range, facing the plain of Mesopotamia. Its history symbolizes the centuries-long frontier warfare between Byzantium and Islam.

The Arabs conquered it in 637 and made it a base for their raids into Asia Minor. Constantine V captured it in 746, dismantled its fortifications, and evacuated some of the population to Thrace. The Abbasids reoccupied it in 768; Harun al-Rashid strongly fortified it. Theophilos recaptured it in 841, after which the city changed hands a number of times until taken by Nikephoros II Phokas in 963 while on expedition to Aleppo. In the late 11th century it was briefly part of an Armenian principality under Philaretos Brachamios, but soon fell to the Seljuks before returning briefly to Alexios I Komnenos. In 1104 the Crusaders regained it and made it part of the county of Edessa. In 1152, after the fall of Edessa, Germanikeia was occupied by Nur al-Din.

Nestorios was born in Germanikeia, ironically so since it became a stronghold of Monophysitism. Leo III, an Isaurian according to Theophanes the Confessor, actually came from Germanikeia. See also BEACON SYSTEM.

GERMANOS. General and nephew of Justinian I. He replaced Solomon in North Africa in 536 and defeated the rebel Stotzas the following year. In 540 he unsuccessfully defended Antioch against Chosroes I, after which he fell into disfavor. He married Matasuntha (ca. 542), the daughter of Amalasuntha, after the death of Vitiges. At some unknown date he defeated an invasion of Antaes into Thrace. See also BARBARIANS; OSTROGOTHS; PERSIA; THEODORIC THE GREAT.

GERMANOS I. Patriarch of Constantinople from 715 to 730. He opposed the Iconoclasm of Leo III, and when the emperor convened a silentium in 730 to validate Iconoclasm, the patriarch refused and was deposed. His former synkellos Anastasios, who supported Iconoclasm, was made patriarch in his place. See also CAESAROPAPISM.

GERMANOS II. Patriarch of Constantinople from 1223 to 1240, residing in Nicaea. He mounted a vigorous defense of his claim to be Ecumenical Patriarch, and he remained in contact with the citizens of Constantinople, who lived under Latin domination. He also defended the claims of John III Vatatzes to be sole emperor, despite Demetrios Chomatenos’s coronation of rival Theodore Komnenos Doukas as basileus and autokrator of the Romans.

His negotiations with Pope Gregory IX concerning union of the churches resulted in the Council of Nicaea-Nymphaion in 1234, where he defended the Orthodoxy of the Byzantine church against the arguments of papal delegates. In 1232 the church of Epiros came under his control, and three years later he recognized the church of Bulgaria as autocephalous. His active career included being mentor to Nikephoros Blemmydes; in addition, he authored homilies and theological works. See also EMPIRE OF NICAEA; LATIN EMPIRE; NYMPHION, TREATY OF; PAPACY.

GERMANY. The kingdom of the East Franks, which became the nucleus of Germany after the division of Charlemagne’s realm in 843. In 911 when the last of the Carolingian kings of Germany died, Conrad I was elected king, followed in 918 by Henry I of Saxony. In 962 his son Otto I the Great was crowned emperor of what was called the Roman Empire (much later referred to as the Holy Roman Empire). Byzantium eventually recognized Otto I as basileus of the Franks, but not of the Romans.

Relations between the two empires were frequently tense, especially over conflicting territorial claims in Italy. The passage of Frederick I Barbarossa through Byzantium during the Third Crusade was fraught with tension. Frederick I’s son Philip of Swabia played a minor though important role in the diversion of the Fourth Crusade to Constantinople.

GERMIYAN. Turkish emirate established in western Asia Minor amid the ruins of the Sultanate of Rum of the Seljuks. Its center was the former Byzantine city of Kotyaion (Kütahya). For much of the 14th century its power along the Aegean Sea coast of Asia Minor exceeded that of the Ottoman emirate. However, beginning in the late 14th century it came under Ottoman control. Germiyan temporarily regained its independence in 1402 after Timur captured Bayezid I at the Battle of Ankara; the Ottomans regained control of it in 1429.

GESTA FRANCORUM ET ALIORUM HIEROSOLIMITANORUM. (The Deeds of the Franks and Other Jerusalemers.) This major source for the First Crusade was written, perhaps as a diary, by an anonymous Crusader who accompanied Bohemund to Antioch, and continued on to Jerusalem with Tancred. It ends with the Battle of Askalon in 1099. It was the most popular of the contemporary accounts, in part because Bohemund, who the author obviously admired, publicized it. Other accounts of the Crusade, including those of Albert of Aachen, Fulcher of Chartres, Guibert of Nogent, Baldric of Dol, and Robert the Monk, depend heavily on the Gesta Francorum. See also HISTORY; NORMANS; ROBERT GUISCARD.

GHASSANIDS. Arab allies (foederati) of Byzantium who defended the frontier of Syria in the sixth century. Their greatest prince was al-Harith, called Arethas by the Byzantines. Justinian I awarded him the title of phylarch in the wars with Persia, and with their Arab allies, the rival Lakhmids.

The Ghassanids professed Monophysitism, which Justinian I tolerated, and which his empress Theodora supported, but Justinian I’s successors did not. Nevertheless, the Ghassanids continued to be of service to Byzantium. In 580 Alamundarus (al-Mundhir), not to be confused with the Lakhmid ruler Alamundarus (al-Mundhir III), destroyed Hira, capital of the Lakhmids, and the Ghassanids fought valiantly at the Battle of Yarmuk in 636, after which they were resettled in Asia Minor.

GILDO. Moorish rebel whose revolt (397–398) was suppressed by Stilicho. Ironically, Gildo’s rise to power was fueled by the rewards he received from Theodosios I for helping the emperor put down (in 379) a similar revolt by his brother Firmus. Like Firmus, Gildo sought to create a separate African kingdom. He sought to gain the political support of the eastern emperor Arkadios by offering to transfer the diocese of Africa from Honorios to Arkadios. However, when he prevented the grain supply from reaching Rome, Stilicho marched against him. Gildo was defeated in battle and killed. Despite this, the dream of a separate kingdom in Africa persisted among other barbarians, including the Vandals, Visigoths, and Ostrogoths. See also CLAUDIAN; MOORS.

GIUSTINIANI, GIOVANNI LONGO. Genoese commander who led the defense of the land walls during Mehmed II’s siege of Constantinople in 1453. In January of that year he arrived with 700 troops recruited from Genoa, Chios, and Rhodes, placing himself and his soldiers at the service of Constantine XI Palaiologos. Historical accounts of the siege stress his important role in repairing and defending the land walls until, in the final Otttoman assault he was wounded and carried from the scene of battle. He died either at Galata or on Chios. See also JANISSARIES.

GLABAS, ISIDORE. Metropolitan of Thessalonike from 1380 to 1396. He left the city during its siege (1383–1387) by the Ottomans, but he returned in 1393 when it was under Ottoman control. His sermons and letters are an important source of information about the siege, and especially about what it was like under Ottoman administration, which lasted until 1403. In one of his sermons there is mention for the first time of the Ottoman devshirme, the forcible recruitment of Christian boys for service in the sultan’s elite shock troops, the famed Janissaries. See also GREECE; MURAD I.

GLABAS, MICHAEL TARCHANEIOTES. Byzantium’s most able general (died ca. 1305) during the reign of Andronikos II Palaiologos. He campaigned successfully against the forces of Bulgaria, Serbia, and the Angevins, in an effort to preserve what was left of the western possessions of Byzantium. His campaign in northern Epiros briefly recovered Ioannina and Dyrrachion, before he returned to Constantinople in 1293, events reported in the Chronicle of Morea, and later by the poet Manuel Philes. In 1298, he had the wisdom to recommend to Andronikos II that peace be made with Stefan Urosh II Milutin, rather than face a protracted war with Serbia. He is buried in the south parekklesion of the Church of Hagia Maria Pammakaristos in Constantinople.

GLAGOLITIC. The initial alphabet of the literary and liturgical language called Old Church Slavonic, invented by Cyril (Constantine the Philosopher) ca. 863 for his mission to Moravia. It was a new and original alphabet, although some of the letters are derived from the Hebrew alphabet and others from Greek cursive writing (minuscule). It should not be confused with the Cyrillic alphabet, a later invention, created perhaps by Kliment of Ohrid. See also CYRIL AND METHODIOS; MISSIONS.

GLORIOSUS. In the sixth century this title replaced illustris as the highest title for members of the senate. It was given to major administrators, including prefects, the magister militum, the magister officiorum, and the praepositus sacri cubiculi. See also BUREAUCRACY.

GLYKAS, MICHAEL. Poet; author of a world chronicle from the Creation to 1118; imperial grammatikos. The writing style of his poetry was influenced by the vernacular style of contemporary romances and poetry. In his world chronicle, he even enlivens his account of the Creation with animal fables from the ancient Greek bestiary entitled Physiologos. His style contrasts sharply with the more sophisticated chronicler Zonaras. However, both shared a dislike of the Komnenoi. Glykas was blinded and imprisoned for his part in a plot against Manuel I Komnenos. See also HISTORY; LITERATURE.

GOLD. Byzantium was a monetary economy based on the nomisma, the gold coin Constantine I the Great created. Gold coinage was needed by the state for military payments and for other state expenses. The hope was that gold coins would be recycled back to the state in the form of tax payments. To help maintain the loop, gold (like silver), was considered a strategic metal, one whose sale to foreigners was strictly regulated. However, in contradiction to this general rule, the state paid huge sums of gold coins to foreign peoples as gifts and subsidies, as an ingrained part of Byzantine diplomacy. Gold was always in demand, and it is not clear where its sources were located.

Gold was also used to decorate reliquaries and precious ecclesiastical items, for gilding architecture, for jewelry, as foil underlying the glass of mosaic tessarae, for decorating icons, for chrysobulls, as gold thread in clothing and various textiles, on bridles and other horse fittings. It was used in the Great Palace at Constantinople in various ways, including decorative gilding for automata. The interior spaces of the Great Palace, and of churches like Hagia Sophia, literally sparkled with gold. The image of Byzantium was, in its own day, and has been ever since, golden. See also ENAMELS; TAXATION.

GOLDEN GATE. The ceremonial entrance to Constantinople used by the emperor when he returned to the city. Located at the south end of the Theodosian Land Walls of Theodosios II, the gate was built entirely of marble, with three arched entrances between flanking towers. It was gilt in some fashion, hence its name. Prominently displayed were various statues, including a quadriga (typically a four-horse chariot) drawn by elephants. So striking an impression did this gate make on visitors that it was imitated in other cities, most notably in Kiev, which also has a church dedicated to Hagia Sophia. See also ARCHITECTURE; MESE.

GOLDEN HORDE. See MONGOLS.

GOLDEN HORN. See CONSTANTINOPLE.

GÖREME. Valley in Cappadocia renowned for its rock-cut churches and refectories, some of them carved in cones of rock that create a landscape of the strangest beauty. There are no literary texts that survive about this site, but they were most likely once monasteries, probably numerous small ones, since some refectories appear to belong to particular churches. The wall paintings (in fresco technique) date these monuments to the 10th and 11th centuries.

GOTHS. Germanic people whose impact on the empire was profound from the third century through the reign of Justinian I. Their raids across the lower Danube in the third century were a major threat to the Roman state. In the fourth century they split into two groups, the Visigoths and Ostrogoths. Many were settled below the Danube and enrolled in the army as foederati. There, they were promoted, often to the highest commands, especially under Theodosios I.

Both Visigoths and Ostrogoths ultimately founded states on imperial territory, preceded by pillage and conquest, best illustrated by Alaric’s invasions of Greece and Italy before the Visigoths were finally settled in Gaul. Once settled, their Arianism continued to ensure that they would never be fully integrated into the empire, something Synesios of Cyrene argued. However, the massacre of Goths in Constantinople in 400 (including the death of Gainas) solved the problem of the Goths in the East. See also ADRIANOPLE; BARBARIANS; CASSIODORUS; CRETE; JORDANES; MAGISTER MILITUM; ULFILAS; VALENS.

GOUDELES TYRANNOS. Byzantine “capitalist” of the late 13th century. His will of 1294, deeding his estate to a monastery in Constantinople, is an inventory of assets in the region of Smyrna and Nymphaion. Included are textile factories, a bakehouse and bakery, vineyards, cattle and horses, half of a bathhouse, and various other properties. The diversity of his holdings and the obvious wealth they represent illustrate the free enterprise and relative lack of state control over the economy of this period. See also ARTISANS; GUILDS; TRADE AND COMMERCE.

GRAČANICA. Monastery church built by Stefan Urosh II Milutin of Serbia. Its cross-in-square plan is of the late Byzantine type, with five domes. Probably the architect and artisans were from Thessalonike, but the church itself (begun ca. 1311), with its towering five domes and the decorative facade, excels any late Byzantine church in that city. In a larger sense, the church reflects the powerful Byzantine cultural influence on Serbia after Milutin made peace with Andronikos II Palaiologos in 1298, followed by Milutin’s marriage to Andronikos’s daughter Simonis the year after that. See also ARCHITECTURE.

GRAMMATIKOS. A secretary or scribe. In reference to imperial secretaries, the term replaced asekretis during the period of the Komnenoi emperors. More generally, an epithet of respect meaning learned teacher, such as with John VI Grammatikos. See also PRISCIAN.

GRAND CHAMBERLAIN. See PRAEPOSITUS SACRI CUBICULI.

GRAND KOMNENOI. See TREBIZOND.

GRATIAN. Western emperor from 367 to 383; elder son of Valentinian I. He succeeded Valentinian I as western emperor in 375, with half-brother Valentinian II as his nominal colleague. He appointed Theodosios I as eastern emperor in 379, after the death of Valens at the Battle of Adrianople.

With Bishop Ambrose of Milan as an advisor, he attacked paganism, removing the Altar of Victory from the Senate House in Rome in 383. He also seized the revenues of the Vestal Virgins and refused the pagan title of high priest (pontifex maximus). He was assassinated by the followers of Maximus, who was eventually defeated and killed by Theodosios I in 388.

GREAT LAVRA. See ATHANASIOS OF ATHOS; ATHOS, MOUNT; MONASTICISM.

GREAT PALACE. The official imperial residence in Constantinople, situated east of the Hippodrome, to which its residential wing, the Palace of Daphne, was connected. The Augustaion was situated on its north side, where the palace’s main entrance, the Chalke, was situated.

The palace, begun by Constantine I the Great, consisted of groups of reception rooms, audience and banquet halls, chapels, throne rooms, and residences linked by covered corridors and porticos. Among its famous buildings were the Chrysotriklinos (Golden Hall), the Nea Ekklesia, and the triconch of Theophilos. Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos’s De ceremoniis describes the palace in sufficient detail to reconstruct much of its layout, but actual excavations have been insufficient to identify specific buildings.

The Great Palace and adjacent Hippodrome figured prominently in the Nika Revolt of 532. Komnenian emperors, beginning with Alexios I Komnenos, preferred to live in the Blachernai palace. The decline of the Great Palace began in 1204 when it was made the residence of the Latin emperors. It further declined under the Palaiologan Dynasty. See also AUTOMATA; BRYAS PALACE; GYNAIKEION; LATIN EMPIRE; MOSAIC; PORPHYROGENNETOS.

GREAT PERSECUTION. The last empire-wide persecution of Christians by the Roman state. It lasted from 303 to 311, beginning during the reign of Diocletian. However, the moving force behind it was Diocletian’s caesar and fanatical pagan Galerius. This was a serious attempt to destroy the Christian church by arresting clergy, razing church buildings to the ground, burning the Scriptures, and stripping Christians of their right to plead in courts of law.

There were numerous martyrs in Palestine under Maximinus Daia, as reported by Eusebios of Caesarea in his Ecclesiastical History and Martyrs of Palestine. However, outside Palestine decrees were unevenly enforced. In the West, for example, Constantius Chlorus, father of Constantine I the Great, seems to have enforced the decrees hardly at all. In 311 Galerius acknowledged the persecution’s failure in an edict of toleration that became the basis of the Edict of Milan. See also LACTANTIUS; MARTYR; PAGANISM.

GREECE. By Greece (Hellas, in Greek) medieval writers usually refer to central Greece and the Peloponnesos, in other words to regions south of Thermopylae. The territorial extent of the late-seventh-century theme of Hellas is debated, but certainly it included the Peloponnesos and the eastern part of central Greece, which is to say Boeotia, and perhaps Thessaly.

Byzantium twice lost control of much of Greece. The first time was when the Slavs settled throughout much of Greece in the late sixth century. Nikephoros I took the first significant steps toward restoration of Byzantine control. By the 11th century, urban and agricultural prosperity was restored. The second time was in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, when Greece became divided into competing minor states that included the Principality of Achaia, the Despotate of Epiros, and the Despotate of Morea. The last part of Byzantium to fall was not Constantinople in 1453, but Mistra in the Morea, in 1460. See also ALARIC; BARBARIANS; COTRIGURS; DANELIS; LATIN EMPIRE; NAVARRESE COMPANY; OTTOMANS; VISIGOTHS.

GREEK. See LANGUAGE.

GREEK ANTHOLOGY. Modern title of two 10th-century collections of epigrams (short poems): the Anthologia Palatina, containing about 3,700 epigrams, and the Anthologia Planudea (compiled by Maximos Planoudes), which contains about 2,400 epigrams. Included are poems of Paul the Silentarios, Julian the Egyptian, Priscian, and Ignatios the Deacon. The value of these collections is that they preserve poetry that otherwise would not have survived. Beyond this, they exhibit a type of literature that Byzantine readers enjoyed reading, and are also an example of the Macedonian Renaissance.

GREEK CROSS-DOMED OCTAGON CHURCH. A church that makes use of the basic design of the domed-octagon church, but with radiating barrel-vaulted arms emanating from the central bay, all enclosed within an outer square or rectangle. Examples include the katholikon at Daphni, outside Athens.

GREEK FIRE. Napalm-like substance that could be squirted under pressure from specially designed ships, used for the first time with devastating effect on the Arab fleet besieging Constantinople in 678. It is difficult to overestimate the value of this technological advance to the defense of Byzantium, especially its capital. It saved Constantinople in 678, and again in 941, when Igor, Prince of Kiev attacked the city.

Tradition attributes its invention to a Greek architect from Syria named Kallinikos. Though a closely guarded secret, the formula seems to have included crude oil, mixed with sticky resins and sulfur, which was heated and then discharged by a pump through a bronze tube. In effect, it was like a modern flamethrower. From some distance it could cover an enemy ship with an adhesive fire that could not be quenched with water. It could also be used in grenades and in portable pumps to attack or defend land walls during sieges. See also ARABS; CONSTANTINE IV; MESEMBRIA; MUAWIYA; NAVY; RUS; TECHNOLOGY; WAR.

GREEKS. See LATINS.

GREENS. See CIRCUS FACTIONS.

GREGORAS, NIKEPHOROS. If not the most brilliant writer of the 14th century (which he may have been), he was certainly the most versatile of scholars. He wrote on every subject important to the scholarship of his day, including history, logic, rhetoric, philosophy, astronomy, theology, and hagiography.

His letters are important historical sources, and he was a most capable historian. His Roman History, covering the years 1204–1359, is particularly valuable for the events of his lifetime (ca. 1290–ca. 1360). He is biased against Palamism, which he attacked after 1347, but favors John VI Kantakouzenos, who he supported during the civil war of 1341–1347. The Palamite victory at a local council in Constantinople in 1351 included a condemnation of Gregoras, who was confined to his house, then to the Chora Monastery until 1354, when he was freed. He spent his remaining years denouncing his enemy Gregory of Sinai. See also LITERATURE.

GREGORY. Exarch of Carthage whose short-lived rebellion (646–647) against Constans II grew out of the opposition of Maximos the Confessor and the North African bishops to Monotheletism. Gregory, a relative of Herakleios, perhaps sought to imitate the late emperor’s rebellion. In any case, Gregory fell victim not to the forces of Constans II, but to the westward advance of the Arabs in 647.

GREGORY I THE GREAT. Pope from 590 to 604 who is considered the greatest of the early medieval popes; saint. He refused to recognize the title of Ecumenical Patriarch that John IV “Faster,” archbishop of Constantinople proclaimed for himself. John was supported by Maurice, who was overthrown in 602. Maurice’s successor Phokas, although hated in Constantinople, was esteemed by Gregory I, who erected a column in the Roman forum in his honor. Among Gregory’s many achievements are the maintenance of papal independence against the Lombards and the mission of St. Augustine of Canterbury to England to organize its church. See also MISSIONS.

GREGORY II. Pope from 715 to 731 who came into conflict with Leo III over Iconoclasm. Supported by Italy and the entire western church, he courteously rejected Leo III’s order demanding acceptance of Iconoclasm. Leo III reminded the pope that he was both emperor and priest, but Gregory rejected this caesaropapism, replying that church doctrine was reserved for priests alone. At the same time, he tried to avoid a complete breach with the empire, threatened as it was with domination by the Lombards. The conflict was bequeathed to the next pope, Gregory III. See also EUTYCHIOS; EXARCHATE; HERESY; ORTHODOXY; THEOLOGY.

GREGORY III. Pope from 731 to 741 who inherited the dispute with Emperor Leo III over Iconoclasm. At a synod in Rome in 731, he denounced Iconoclasm and excommunicated the subservient Patriarch Anastasios. In response, Leo III sent an armed fleet to Italy, but the fleet was wrecked in a storm.

Unable to enforce compliance, Leo III then diverted revenues from papal properties in Sicily and Calabria to the imperial treasury, effectively ending papal jurisdiction over these papal patrimonies. He may have also transferred these ecclesiastical dioceses, as well as that of Illyricum, from papal authority to the patriarch of Constantinople. In effect, this made it impossible for the papacy to gain Byzantine help against the Lombards. In 739, and again in 740, Gregory III appealed to Charles Martel, leader of the Franks, for help against the Lombards. When Gregory died in 741, the Lombards were at the gates of Rome, and the papal-Byzantine tie seemed stretched to the breaking point. See also EUTYCHIOS; EXARCHATE.

GREGORY VII. Reformist pope from 1073 to 1085 whose vision of the papacy included a great army to save Byzantium and its church from the Seljuks; this vision was later realized by Urban II in the First Crusade. Gregory VII also envisioned a union of the churches, but this did not happen until much later, as a result of the Fourth Crusade. See also CRUSADES.

GREGORY VIII. See THIRD CRUSADE.

GREGORY IX. See GERMANOS II.

GREGORY X. Pope from 1271 to 1276 who presided over the Council of Lyons (1274), which achieved, on paper, the union of the churches. In reality, Gregory X had required this of Michael VIII Palaiologos in return for pressuring Charles I of Anjou to postpone the expedition he was organizing to conquer Constantinople. Gregory further conspired with Michael VIII to organize a Crusade that Charles would lead against the Seljuks in Asia Minor. However, these plans were still in the preliminary stage when the pope died.

GREGORY ABU’L-FARAJ. See BAR-HEBRAEUS, GREGORIUS.

GREGORY OF DEKAPOLIS. Saint (died ca. 841). His vita, written by Ignatios the Deacon, is an interesting historical source. Gregory spent a number of years as a monk before starting out on his travels in the 830s. First he went to Ephesus, then to the Sea of Marmara, Thrace, Thessalonike, Corinth, Syracuse, Naples, and Rome, before returning to Thessalonike, from where he later traveled to Constantinople. Among the information in this vita is a description of a revolt by Slavs near Thessalonike. See also DARK AGES; MONASTICISM.

GREGORY OF NAZIANZOS. Fourth-century writer; saint; one of the “Cappadocian Fathers,” along with Gregory of Nyssa and Basil the Great. Son of the bishop of Nazianzos in Cappadocia, he became bishop of Constantinople in 380–381, and chaired the Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinople in 381, where he opposed the followers of Eunomios. He was bishop of Nazianzos from 382 to 384, before his death ca. 390. His writings are varied, including sermons and polemics against heresy. His chief historical role was that of defender of Orthodoxy at a time when Orthodoxy needed defending. See also ARIANISM; CHRIST, THEOLOGY OF; ECUMENICAL COUNCILS; EVAGRIOS PONTIKOS.

GREGORY OF NYSSA. Theologian; saint; one of the “Cappadocian Fathers,” along with his brother Basil the Great and Gregory of Nazianzos. Appointed bishop of Nyssa in 371, he was removed on false charges for two years (376–378), returning only after the death of Valens. He defended Orthodoxy against Arianism at the Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople in 381, but he is remembered chiefly as a theologian of great originality. He wrote on topics ranging from the Trinity to the Resurrection, in addition to polemics against heretics like those who followed Eunomios. See also CHRIST, THEOLOGY OF; HERESY; THEOLOGY.

GREGORY OF SINAI. Saint; founder of Hesychasm on Mount Athos. Originally a monk at Sinai, he went to Mount Athos, where he introduced the so-called Jesus prayer (“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me”), repeated over and over again as one meditated with controlled breathing. Soon the Athonian monasteries became the center of Hesychasm. He left Athos ca. 1330 and settled at Paroria in Thrace, where he enjoyed the patronage of Ivan Alexander, tsar of Bulgaria. Among his disciples was Kallistos I, twice patriarch of Constantinople. See also DIONYSUS THE AREOPAGITE, PSEUDO-; MONASTICISM; PALAMAS, GREGORY; PALAMISM; PHILOTHEOS KOKKINOS.

GREGORY OF TOURS. Historian of the Franks; bishop of Tours (573–594). His Historia Francorum (History of the Franks) covers the period from the Creation to 591, but it is of value chiefly for the period of his bishopric, which he writes about in detail. Frankish-Byzantine relations receive attention, including the alliance between Clovis and Anastasios I and the participation of Frankish troops in Byzantine resistance to the Lombard invasion of Italy in 568. See also HISTORY.

GREGORY SINAITES. See GREGORY OF SINAI.

GROTTAFERRATA. See NEILOS OF ROSSANO.

GUIBERT OF NOGENT. Latin historian of the First Crusade. It is not clear if he was present at the Council of Clermont, but it is certain that he did not go on the First Crusade. His history of the First Crusade (The History That Is Called Deeds of God Done through the Franks), covering the years 1095–1104, reworks the anonymous Gesta Francorum and Fulcher of Chartres’s work of the same name, adding some material gotten from participants. He knew Peter the Hermit but knew none of the Byzantine participants, including Alexios I Komnenos, who he rails against. See also CRUSADES; HISTORY.

GUILDS. State-controlled corporations of traders and artisans. The Book of the Eparch illustrates how extensive was the guild system in Constantinople in the 10th century. State control of goods and services, including their quality and price, had as its first goal the proper provisioning of the capital. The scope was extensive, encompassing such diverse trades as soap merchants, butchers, silk traders, gold merchants, and notaries. Regulatory oversight was administered through the Eparch of the City. See also BUREAUCRACY; ECONOMY; NIKEPHORITZES; TRADE AND COMMERCE.

GUNTHER OF PAIRIS. Latin historian of the Fourth Crusade. His work, entitled Historia Constantinopolitana, is biased against the Byzantines, and papers over the bloodshed of the sack of Constantinople. Gunther glorifies the role of Martin, his abbot and chief informant, who threatened with death a Greek priest from the Pantokrator Monastery until he was shown a hoard of relics, each doubtless in a beautiful reliquary, which he took as holy booty back to France. See also CRUSADES.

GYNAIKEION. A place where women (gynaiakes) worked, typically a workshop for the weaving of textiles. There were imperial gynaikeia that produced luxury textiles, especially of silk. The term is not to be confused with gynaikonitis, the women’s quarters in the Great Palace.