CONSTANTINE VII., Flavius Porphyrogenitus (905-959), emperor of the East, author, and patron of literature, born in 905 A.D., was the only son of Leo VI. The Eastern Church sanctioned no marriage beyond the second, and when Leo, being childless by three wives, had a son by his concubine Zoe, his attempt to legitimize his wife and his son was inflexibly resisted by the Patriarch Nicholas, and his will was only carried out at the expense of excommunication. These circumstances were probably the reason why the name Porplιyrogenitus, “born in the purple,” i.e., in the purple chamber in which the empresses were confined, was, while applicable to all the emperors, emphatically applied to Constantine VII. When Constantine was only six years old Leo died, leaving him under the guardianship of his uncle Alexander; but Alexander also died in the next year; and Romanus Lecapenus, the chief admiral, supported by Zoe, was appointed colleague to Constantine, and held all real power till 944, when he was forced by his sons to entera monastery....
Meanwhile Constantine, though powerless, had been well treated, and had married Helena, the daughter of Romanus. On the deposition of his colleague, the people gave willing aid to Constantine’s cause; and having banished his brothcrs-in-law, he became emperor in reality. Though wanting in strength of will, Constantine had intelligence and many other good qualities, and his reign on the whole was not unsatisfactory. (See Greek Empire.) He was poisoned by his son Romanus in 959. Constantine was a painter and a patron of art, a literary man and a patron of literature; and herein consists his real importance. Unable as he was to sift out the really important from the unimportant, and the credible from the incredible, it is yet from his pages that we gain the only knowledge of any extent which we possess of his time. He is the author of several works of considerable size :—1. ∏∈pi τωv θeμfiτωv, an account of the provinces (themata) of the empire; 2. De Administrando Imperio, an account of the condition of the empire, and an exposition of the author’s view of government, written for the use of his son Romanus; it also contains most valuable information as to the condition and history of various foreign nations with which the Eastern empire had been brought into connection,—as tho Arabs, Iberians, Armenians, and the tribes north of tho Danube—the Russians, Bulgarians, Hungarians, Chazars, and Patzinacitae; 3. v Eκ0∈σιs rýs βaσιXeiov τ<⅛∈ως, which describes the customs of tho Eastern Church and court; 4. A life of Basilius I., his grandfather; 5. Two treatises on warfare, of which his father Leo was perhaps part or sole author. The Γ∈ωτroiΙκ<z, a treatise on agriculture with which his namo is connected, is generally supposed to have been executed at his command by Bassus Cassianus; and under his patronage many other works— including collections of the ancient historians (of which fragments are extant), lives of saints, and treatises on medicine—were compiled. Several Latin translations of the works of Constantine have been made, and his complete works were published at Leyden, 1617, and Paris, 1711.
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