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KABASILAS, NICHOLAS CHAMETOS. Mystic and Palamite theologian; writer and scholar. Despite being a friend and supporter of John VI Kantakouzenos, he managed to survive the massacres in Thessalonike under Zealot rule. His historical importance lies chiefly in the diversity of his writings and what they reveal about intellectual life in the 14th century. Among his most interesting literary works is a monograph on usury, while another work criticizes the confiscation of monastic lands to finance the military needs of the state. See also LITERATURE; MONASTICISM.

KAFFA. Mongol outpost in the Crimea. It became the key to Genoese control over the Black Sea after the Treaty of Nymphaion in 1261 allowed Genoa to establish a colony there. During the next century, from Kaffa the Genoese competed for the Black Sea trade in grain, fish, furs, and slaves. In 1475 Kaffa was conquered by the Ottomans, by which time the trading outpost had grown into a substantial city. See also VENICE.

KALLIKLES, NICHOLAS. See TIMARION.

KALLINIKOS. See GREEK FIRE.

KALLIPOLIS. See GALLIPOLI.

KALLISTOS I. Patriarch of Constantinople from 1350 to 1353 and again from 1355 to 1363. He was one of three Hesychast monks to occupy the patriarchal throne (the other two were Isidore I Boucheiras and Philotheos Kokkinos), all of whom were friends of Gregory Palamas.

Kallistos was also a disciple of Gregory of Sinai. In 1351 he presided over a local council in Constantinople, convened by John VI Kantakouzenos that condemned anti-Palamites. However, in 1353, he resigned rather than participate in the coronation of Emperor Matthew I Kantakouzenos. He was replaced with Philotheos Kokkinos, but Kallistos was recalled to office when John V Palaiologos regained his throne.

KALOJAN. Tsar of Bulgaria from 1197 to 1207. Until 1204 he was a fierce enemy of Byzantium, along with Ivanko and Dobromir Chrysos. By treaty in 1202 with Alexios III Angelos his territorial gains were ratified, and his position was further supported when Pope Innocent III crowned him king, for which he submitted the Bulgarian church to the papacy.

After 1204, when the Latin Empire threatened Bulgaria, Kalojan became the self-proclaimed restorer of Orthodoxy. In 1205 at Adrianople, with help from his Byzantine and Cuman allies, Kalojan annihilated a Latin army sent against him and captured Latin emperor Baldwin of Flanders, who died in captivity. Kalojan himself was killed in 1207 while besieging Thessalonike. Arguably, Kalojan’s chief legacy was to the Empire of Nicaea in Asia Minor, which he saved by weakening the Latin Empire. See also SECOND BULGARIAN EMPIRE.

KAMINIATES, JOHN. Author of an alleged eyewitness account of the Arab capture of Thessalonike in 904 entitled the Capture of Thessalonike. He was a priest in the city at the time of the three-day Arab siege by Leo of Tripoli. A pillage and bloodbath followed the city’s capture on 31 July 904. However, there are reasons to believe that the work may not be genuine, but rather composed much later, perhaps after the Ottoman sack of Thessalonike in 1430.

KAMISION. See CHITON; LOROS.

KAMYTZES, MANUEL. See IVANKO.

KANANOS, JOHN. Historian who recorded the unsuccessful siege of Constantinople in 1422 by Murad II. Written in a colloquial style, in the form of an essay, the account is surprisingly detailed in its description of events and precise in its chronology. See also HISTORY.

KANDIDATOI. Imperial bodyguards, like the scholae palatinae and the exkoubitores. Kandidatoi were more an ornamental guard, recognizable on ceremonial occasions by the white trappings they wore over gilded armor. During the reign of Justin I, the future Justinian I was a kandidatos.

KANDIDOS. Historian whose lost work, which covered the years 457–491, is summarized in the Bibliotheca of Photios. Kandidos came from Isauria. His work was most certainly written during the reigns of Leo I and Zeno. See also HISTORY.

KANON. See ANDREW OF CRETE; MUSIC; ROMANOS THE MELODE.

KANTARA CASTLE. See CYPRUS.

KAPNIKON. See TAXATION.

KARABISIANOI. See KIBYRRHAIOTAI.

KARAMAN, EMIRATE OF. First of the new emirates to emerge from the ruins of the old Sultanate of Rum. Established ca. 1260 in Cilicia and in the Taurus Mountains, by the early 14th century it had expanded as far as Ikonion, the Seljuk capital. By the end of the 14th century it was the preeminent state in southeastern Anatolia. Its relations with Byzantium were minimal, but not so with the Ottomans, who assaulted it repeatedly before conquering it in 1475.

KARASI, EMIRATE OF. Turkish emirate that in the early 14th century controlled an area from north of Smyrna up to the Hellespont. At first both the Emirate of Karasi and the Emirate of Saruhan seemed more important than the Emirate of Osman, but by the mid-14th century the Ottomans had annexed Karasi; Saruhan they annexed later, in 1410.

KARIYE CAMII. See CONSTANTINOPLE; METOCHITES, THEODORE; parekklesion.

KASSIA. Symeon Logothete mentions her in connection with the bride show of Theophilos in 830, where the emperor questioned her, before deciding on Theodora. Denied the opportunity to be an empress, she continued writing hymns, for which she became famous. See also WOMEN.

KASTORIA. City in western Macedonia founded by Justinian I, situated on a promontory that reaches into Lake Kastoria. Its wealth as a regional commercial center is illustrated by the number of 10th- to 12th-century churches that have survived. Among its citizenry were a significant number of Jews. The city was occupied by Tsar Samuel of Bulgaria from 990 until Basil II recaptured it in 1018. The Normans under Robert Guiscard occupied it briefly in 1093, before Alexios I Komnenos reoccupied it that same year. In the first half of the 13th century it changed hands between the Despotate of Epiros and the Empire of Nicaea, before Michael VIII Palaiologos captured it in 1259 after the Battle of Pelagonia. It changed hands several times in the 14th century: from John II of Neopatras to the Gabrielopoulos family to Stefan Urosh IV Dushan and then to Symeon Urosh, before falling to the Ottomans in 1385. See also TRADE AND COMMERCE.

KASTRON. The Greek term (from Latin castrum, meaning fortress) refers to any fortified citadel, but most often to a fortified hill above a town or city. Beginning in the late sixth century the kastron replaced traditional Greco-Roman cities, which were spacious and included numerous public buildings. From the seventh century onward the term can refer to a provincial city. Asia Minor was defended against Arabs, Normans, Slavs, and Turks by numerous kastra, many of which survive today in various states of ruin. See also DARK AGES; FORTIFICATIONS; MONEMVASIA; NAUPAKTOS.

KATAPHRAKTOI. A kataphraktoi was a coat of mail. The kataphraktoi were cavalry whose horses and riders were heavily protected and capable of doing immense damage in a frontal assault on enemy lines. Riders were completely covered by chain mail, an iron helmet, and leg guards. They fought chiefly with an iron mace or saber. The horses were covered with thick felt or hides, so much so that only their eyes, nostrils, and lower legs were visible. They attacked in a triangular formation, at a steady pace, flanked by two lines of ordinary cavalry.

Such armored cavalry was used by the Sassanians and by Byzantine armies as early as the reigns of Constantine I the Great and Constantius II. They are mentioned in the Strategikon of Maurice and in the Praecepta militaria by Nikephoros II Phokas, who devotes the third and fourth chapters of his work to the use of these mounted knights in battle. See ARMY.

KATEPANO. Title used variously in the ninth and 10th centuries for a number of military and civil officials (e.g., the katepano of the imperial workshops). In the 11th century a katepano was a military governor of a province or district, equivalent to a doux. George Maniakes held the title in Italy in the mid-11th century. A civilian governor was called a praitor. See also BOIOANNES, BASIL.

KATHEDRA. The bishop’s throne in a church, usually situated in the semicircular stepped bench (synthronon) reserved for the clergy along the curved wall of the church’s apse. See also LITURGY.

KATHISMA. See HIPPODROME.

KATHOLIKON. Greek term for the main church in a monastery, customarily dedicated to the monastery’s patron. A famous example is the katholikon of the monastery of Hosios Loukas. See also MONASTICISM.

KAVAD. King of Persia from 488 to 531 and father of the greatest of all Sassanian kings, Chosroes I. Overthrown in 496, he was reinstated in 499 with the aid of the Ephthalites. His support of Mazdak can also be viewed as a means to consolidate his power. He went to war with Anastasios I from 502 to 507 over the emperor’s refusal to pay for the defense of the Caspian Gates, and again from 527 to 531 due to rivalry over Iberia and Lazika. See DARA.

KEDRENOS, GEORGE. Author of a world chronicle from the Creation of the world to 1057. The work is essentially derivative throughout, most obviously after 811, where Kedrenos reproduces the work of John Skylitzes almost word for word. See also HISTORY.

KEKAUMENOS. Author of a diverse collection of advice and stories known as Strategikon. Little is known about the author except that he flourished in the 11th century and was perhaps a member of the military aristocracy (dynatoi). He settled in Thessaly where he became a military governor. His advice, which is tailored to each civil and military office, is based on a profound pessimism about human nature. The information offered includes topics as diverse as Byzantine relations with the Arabs and the Vlachs of Pindos. See also STRATEGIKA; STRATEGIKON OF MAURICE; TAKTIKA; WAR.

KERKYRA. Island in the Ionian Sea, also called Corfu, which commands the entrance to the Adriatic Sea. Its successive rulers during the period of the early Crusades reflected the political instability of the region. The Normans attacked Kerkyra in 1081 and captured it in 1147, probably hoping to make it a base of operations against Byzantium’s possessions in Greece. However, in 1149 it surrendered to Manuel I Komnenos. The Venetians conquered the island in 1204; then it fell to the Despotate of Epiros in 1214. Charles I of Anjou seized it in 1272. In 1386 it reverted again to Venice.

KHAGHAN. Title used by the rulers of Bulgaria, for example, the Avars and the Khazars. It is synonymous with khan, although khan is preferred by modern scholars for the pre-Christian rulers of Bulgaria.

KHALID. Brilliant Arab commander who wrested Syria from Byzantium during the reign of the Caliph Umar. Superior mobility, made possible by forced camel marches through the desert, provided him with the element of surprise, as demonstrated by his sudden appearance in March 635 before Damascus, which fell after a brief siege. On 20 August 636 in the valley of the Yarmuk River, the eastern tributary of the Jordan River, Khalid won his most famous victory by utterly destroying a Byzantine army. This victory assured Arab domination of Syria. See also HOLY WAR; ISLAM.

KHAN. See KHAGHAN.

KHAZARS. Turkic tribe of the Caucasus who allied themselves with Herakleios to oppose the Persians, and who provided subsequent help against the Avars and Arabs.

In the ninth century the Khazars received a Christian mission (ca. 860) headed by Constantine the Philosopher (Cyril), by which time their khagan and upper echelons of Khazar society had converted to Judaism. Justinian II took refuge among the Khazars, and Leo IV the Khazar was the son of Constantine V and a Khazar princess. The Khazar state was destroyed by Svjatoslav and Vladimir I in the 10th century. See also CHERSON; HETAIREIA; TURKS.

KHURRAMITES. Religious sectarians of Armenia and Azerbaijan, led by a certain Babek, who rebelled against the Caliph Mamun. The rebellion was perhaps largely responsible for the cessation of military hostilities between the Abbasid Caliphate and Byzantium from 814 to 829. In 834 a large number of Khurramites led by Nasr (Theophobos), fled to Byzantine territory, where Theophilos enrolled them in the army.

KIBYRRAHAIOTAI. Naval theme, first mentioned in the late seventh century. Its administrative center was Attaleia. It evolved from the karabisianoi, the first permanent Byzantine fleet, but the name of the theme is derived from the small coastal town of Kibyrra, in Pamphylia. The theme covered a large part of the southern coastline of Asia Minor, including the regions of Caria, Lycia, Pamphylia, and portions of Isauria. Its chief function was to protect Asia Minor’s southern flank against Arab naval attacks. It is last mentioned in 1043. See also MARDAITES; NAVY; SELEUKEIA; THOMAS THE SLAV.

KIEV. Capital of the Rus, established ca. 879 by Oleg, successor to Rurik of Novgorod, according to the Russian Primary Chronicle. Kiev was a center from which raids were launched down the Dnieper against Constantinople, the purpose of which seems to have been the acquisition of formal trading privileges with Byzantium. Oleg’s raid on Constantinople in 907 was followed by a trading agreement in 911. Subsequent raids by Igor in 941 and 943 (or 944) produced a new treaty.

The closer relationship between the Rus and Byzantium that developed from these treaties is seen in Olga’s visit to Constantinople, in Svjatoslav’s attack on Bulgaria in 968, and in the Varangians, whom Vladimir I supplied to Basil II in 988. After the conversion of Vladimir I, Byzantine influence in Kiev increased dramatically. This is especially seen during the reign of Jaroslav the Wise, who attempted to rebuild Kiev in the image of Constantinople.

Kiev flourished until it was pillaged by the Mongols in 1240; thereafter it declined. In the next century Moscow emerged as the true successor to Kiev, the center of all Russia, and the focal point for continued transmission of Byzantine civilization.

KILIJ ARSLAN I. See MYRIOKEPHALON, BATTLE OF; NICAEA; RUM, SULTANATE OF.

KILIJ ARSLAN II. See RUM, SULTANATE OF.

KINNAMOS, JOHN. Author of a history of the reign of John II Komnenos and Manuel I Komnenos that spans the years 1l18–1176, thus, continuing the work of Anna Komnene. Kinnamos was a secretary (grammatikos) of Manuel I, who he obviously admired, for Manuel’s heroic deeds are lauded in a eulogistic manner. Yet he was hardly just a panegyrist, although he is sometimes compared unfavorably to Niketas Choniates in this respect. The final portion of Kinnamos’s work (preserved in a single 13th-century manuscript), which concerns the last years of Manuel I’s reign, is missing.

KITI. See CYPRUS.

KLEISOURA. Type of military district (literally “mountain pass”), that flourished from the eighth through the 10th centuries. It was smaller than a theme and was sometimes the forerunner of a theme. See also SELEUKEIA.

KLIMENT OF OHRID. Missionary to the Slavs, Bulgarian priest, teacher, writer, saint. He was a companion to Naum of Ohrid and a disciple of Cyril and Methodios, whom he accompanied to Moravia in 863. In 886, Boris I sent him to Macedonia, first to the region of Devol, then (after 893) to Ohrid, which soon became a center of Old Church Slavonic culture. He wrote numerous homilies and quite likely authored the vitae of Cyril and Methodios. He may also have invented the Cyrillic alphabet, which soon competed with Glagolitic. See also MISSIONS.

KLOKOTNITSA. Battle in 1230 that established Bulgaria as the chief power in the Balkan Peninsula. It halted the expansion of the Despotate of Epiros, whose ruler Theodore Komnenos Doukas was captured by Tsar John Asen II, eliminating the despotate as a competitor in the race to seize Constantinople, then held by the Latin Empire.

KODINOS, PSEUDO-. See TAKTIKA.

KOIMESIS. The term refers to the feast of the Dormition (literally “falling asleep,” meaning death) of the Virgin Mary, celebrated on 15 August, as well as to its image in art. See also THEOTOKOS.

KOINOBION. Literally “communal living,” the term refers to a monastery where monks live and work together, organized around the same daily schedule, administered by an abbot (hegoumenos). All property is owned in common. This type of monasticism, first developed by Pachomios, became the norm in Byzantine monasticism, as established by Basil the Great. It contrasts with the asceticism practiced by individual hermits.

KOMENTIOLOS. General who played an active role in the campaigns of Maurice against the Persians, Avars, and Slavs. He replaced Philippikos in Persia in 588 and immediately won a stunning victory near Nisibis. However, his return to the Balkan Peninsula proved his undoing.

In 598 he and fellow general Priskos were defeated by the Avars, who then invaded Thrace. Theophylaktos Simokattes reports that an embassy to Maurice from soldiers stationed in Thrace accused Komentiolos of treason, but somehow he survived imperial censure. However, when Phokas overthrew Maurice in 602 he had Komentiolos executed. See also ARMY.

KOMMERKIARIOS. Customs and excise officials at customs stations along the frontiers and ports, who collected the 10 percent sales tax (the kommerkion) on commercial transactions. The term also includes officials who controlled the export of luxury items and military equipment.

The export of silk, for example, was strictly controlled by kommerkiarioi, who were supplied with special seals to indicate silk that had been authorized for export. From the ninth to the 11th centuries some kommerkiarioi controlled regional trade (e.g., of Cherson or Cyprus), as well as the trade and military equipment within themes. Indeed, the development of the theme system can be studied by analyzing the seals of kommerkiarioi.

KOMNENE, ANNA. Historian; eldest daughter of Alexios I Komnenos. Her Alexiad, which is a tribute to her father, encompasses the years 1069–1118, and it is a chief source for the 11th century. Until her brother John II was born and subsequently recognized (in 1092) as heir to the throne, Anna was heir to the throne through her betrothal to Constantine Doukas, son of Michael VII Doukas. After Constantine’s premature death, Anna married Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger and schemed with her mother, Anna Dalassene, to make Bryennios emperor. Nevertheless, after her father’s death in 1118 her brother John became Emperor John II Komnenos and she was forced to retire to a monastery. There, embittered by her fate, she wrote the Alexiad, one of the great Byzantine historical works, and the only work of its kind written by a woman during the Middle Ages. See also DOUKAS, JOHN; HISTORY; MEDICINE; PETER THE HERMIT; RAYMOND OF TOULOUSE; WOMEN.

KONTAKION. Most church hymns were in the format of the kontakion, consisting of poetry-in-song, sang or chanted in church by a priest or by a trained lay singer (those in a choir). Typically a kontakion memorializes the life of a saint. See also ANDREW OF CRETE; MUSIC; ROMANOS THE MELODE.

KOSMAS INDIKOPLEUSTES. Author of the Christian Topography, perhaps the most interesting and curious work of the first half of the sixth century. He was called Indikopleustes, meaning “sailor to India,” because of his travels along the borders of the Indian Ocean.

As travel literature and as a work of geography founded on personal travel, his descriptions of the Red Sea, Nile River, Axum, Nubia, Arabian Gulf, and Ceylon are important. He was a merchant, probably from Alexandria, and also a Nestorian who wrote during the Three Chapters controversy. His work describes trade, but he mentions other things as well, including exotic animals (as does Timothy of Gaza).

Most curious to the modern reader is his attempt to prove that the accepted cosmology of Ptolemy is erroneous; he argues that the universe is shaped like the tabernacle of Moses (thus, like a rectangular box). He was perhaps the greatest of Byzantine travelers, but certainly no Copernicus.

KOSMAS THE HYMNOGRAPHER. See JOHN OF DAMASCUS; ROMANOS THE MELODE.

KOSOVO POLJE, BATTLE OF. See MURAD I; OTTOMANS; SERBIA; WALLACHIA.

KOTYAION (KÜTAHYA). See GERMIYAN; PHRYGIA.

KOUBIKOULARIOI. See EUNUCHS; PRAEPOSITUS SACRI CUBICULI.

KOURION. See CYPRUS.

KOURKOUAS, JOHN. Brilliant general under Romanos I Lekapenos and Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos whose victories along the eastern frontier included the conquests of Melitene in 934 and Edessa in 944. He sent the famous mandylion of Edessa back to Constantinople in triumph. His great Muslim adversary was the Hamdanid ruler Sayf al-Dawla. See also ACHEIROPOIETA; ARMY; DARA; MARTYROPOLIS; NISIBIS.

KOUROPALATES. Title bestowed chiefly on members of the imperial family and on foreign princes. It was inferior only to caesar and nobilissimos in the Kletorologion of Philotheos. By the 11th century, when Byzantine titles had become less attractive to foreigners, it was refused by Robert Guiscard for his son, and refused by Roussel de Baillieul.

KRITOBOULOS, MICHAEL. Historian of the reign of Mehmed II. His History, which covers the years 1451–1467, extols Ottoman sultan Mehmed II as the new basileus, the legitimate successor to the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos. The work belongs with other works that deal with the end of Byzantium; for example, those of Doukas, Chalkokondyles, and Sphrantzes. See also HISTORY; IMBROS.

KRUM. Khan of the Bulgars from ca. 802 to 814, and one of Byzantium’s most fearful enemies. His army in 811 won a stunning victory over Nikephoros I, who was killed. Krum made a drinking cup from the emperor’s skull. In 812 Krum seized Mesembria and set about conquering towns in Thrace and Macedonia. The following year he marched unsuccessfully on Constantinople, but he captured Adrianople and carried off its citizens to Bulgaria. Fortunately for Byzantium he died the following year, in 814, while preparing another expedition against Constantinople. See also SERDICA.

KUVRAT. Khan of the Onogor Bulgars who rebelled against the Avars ca. 635 with the support of Herakleios. In 619 Kuvrat visited Constantinople, was baptized a Christian, and awarded the title of patrikios. The timing of the revolt was perhaps influenced by the defeats that Herakleios inflicted on the Avars and Persians from 626 to 630. However, future emperors lived to regret Herakleios’s support of this revolt, for under Kuvrat’s son Asparuch a Bulgarian state was established in Byzantine territory.

KYDONES, DEMETRIOS. Leading statesman and intellectual of the 14th century and one of the greater writers and theologians during the period of the Palaiologan Dynasty. He was the chief minister (mesazon) of John VI Kantakouzenos until the emperor’s abdication in 1354. In 1364 he resumed his political career in the court of John V Palaiologos, and he helped arrange the emperor’s conversion to Catholicism in 1369 on the steps of St. Peter’s in Rome. He was also an informal tutor and advisor to Manuel II Palaiologos. Ardently prowestern, he was a convert to Catholicism who had an openness to Latin culture and civilization that he shared with a circle of like-minded intellectuals, who included his brothers Andrew and Theodore, Maximos Chrysoberges and Manuel Kalekas.

His devotion to translating the writings of Thomas Aquinas, including sections of the Summa theologica, made him an ardent proponent of Thomism, and an opponent of the theology of Gregory Palamas. His voluminous correspondence with John VI Kantakouzenos, Manuel II, and many other leading personalities is of utmost significance for the cultural history of the 14th century. See also KYDONES, PROCHOROS; LITERATURE; PAPACY; PAPAL PRIMACY; THEOLOGY; UNION OF THE CHURCHES.

KYDONES, PROCHOROS. Younger brother of Demetrios Kydones; opponent of Palamism. He was a monk at the Great Lavra on Mount Athos until he was expelled from the monastery in 1367 and condemned for his views in Constantinople the following year. His historical legacy is chiefly his Greek translation of sections of the Summa theologica of Thomas Aquinas, and in his use of Aquinas’s arguments to combat Palamism. See also HESYCHASM; PALAMAS, GREGORY.

KYRENIA CASTLE. See CYPRUS.

KYROS, PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA. See SOPHRONIOS.

KYZIKOS. Strategic port city on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara, close to Constantinople. Until the seventh century it was the capital of the province of Hellespont; it was also metropolis of the ecclesiastical diocese of Hellespont. Kyzikos was situated on an easily defended peninsula (also referred to as Kyzikos) that the Arabs used when they attacked nearby Constantinople from 674 to 678. Justinian II resettled the peninsula in 688 with inhabitants from Cyprus. The Catalan Grand Company occupied it in 1304, before moving on to Gallipoli. See also ABYDOS; MUAWIYA; TRADE AND COMMERCE.