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Lesser Known Byzantine Empire Facts

Khalid Elhassan September 11, 2020 35 min

Byzantine Empire - Constantinople — Procession of Emperor Manuel I Komenos in Constantinople. Imgur

16. The Only Woman Who Ruled the Byzantine Empire as Sole Empress

Nowadays, the finer points of Christian doctrine seldom raise a kerfuffle beyond the walls of seminaries, or betwixt professors of theology, clerics, or the such. Centuries ago, however, and to an extent that is difficult to grasp today, theological debates riled up your average Christian on the street more than almost anything can rile us up today.

Today’s heated social media passions and internet flame wars don’t hold a candle to how worked up people got over religious arguments back in the days. Worked up enough for mothers to mutilate their offspring to death. That is what the Byzantine Empress Irene (circa 752 – 803) – the only woman to rule the Byzantine Empire openly as sole empress – did to her son.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.