You do a great job at the general overviews you do, but I think I like this format of a more micro affair, especially under consideration of the geopolitical circumstances, a bit more!
Funfact ''kouroupi'' in medieval greek means a big round ceramic pot. The etymology probably comes from the ancient greek ''kara'' (head) which probably goes even further back to indoeuropean roots. Now the interesting part is that in slang ''kouroupa'' meant the big round bald head. If we suppose that the caliph had a big round bald head the name ''Kouroupas'' is not just an effort to somewhat hellenize his arabic name, but also an effort to turn him into a meme lol. After all it was very common for the era to give ''nicknames'' to various leaders and even emperors. Some of them would be considered straight out bullying today lol.
Oo I’ve got another one. How did general Nicephoros make sure his public statements were well received by the public? He always ran them by a Phocas group first.... Ok that’s it.
Nikon also started a portrait painting guild that still survives today, although through the years it did evolve and eventually integrate photographic technology into its methods.
The assumption that the byzantine force was enormus is most probably wrong. Any local successes of ad-Dawlah on the eastern frontier were not due to lack of forces on the byzantine side. According to Leo Diaconos and other historiography of the time, Phocas had no more than 10.000 men - an already overstrength army taking into account the fact that it had to be sustained by overseas supply. The arabs had probably a similar force or even smaler. It is peculiar though that Nicephorus was able to conquer all inland Crete in such a short period of time. This could tell a lot about how few the arab population or arabicized population were outside city-walls.
The Byzantines, upholding their greekness of giving nicknames, gave the name Kouroupas to the Emir of Crete, which is a slang term for big-headed and usually bald as well, still in use these days.
I always found it funny that someone from Crete is a Cretan, someone formally from Crete is an Ex-Cretan. =/ I hear they have a much better sense of humour on Crete than I possess... they're probably also much more skilled at making bad puns. :(
This feels like it emphasises Theodosius the Deacon's epic account far more than Leo the Deacon's historical account. Your summary seems very similar to Kaldellis' summary too; did you read any translation of Capta Crete?
I should clarify that I always enjoy your content, especially on Nikephoros II, but I've been (self-)studying his life for a couple of years and am a little pedantic now, as I feel there's a bit too much of the mythology of Nikephoros at work, e.g. name me one battle, aside from Adata 957 (if that's even a battle?), that Nikephoros II Phokas won before Crete.
First time I hear of a Roman triumph that does not end with the execution of the losing party's leader 😀 Btw, "white death" sounds like a reasonable translation but I prefer the more evocative "pale death of the Saracens"
I reckon I also laughed but more at the absurd cruelty of throwing a donkey with a catapult than on the grim Emperor's silly joke. I thought the soldiers would have laughed...
Also in this epoch church was united the Catholicism n Orthodontic came in 1054...also the balcans is a Turkish word then they called it the state of Emou
Chanda,χανδαξ,in Greek ,means a big ditch.Anemas ,the son of the Emir ,means wind or like a wind.anemos means wind in Greek.that says to us that the Muslims were a minority.intresting to us the rest of the inhabitants were of course Greeks ,but followers of the twelve gods,pagans.they were the last of the Greeks to become christians toghether with the inhabitants of the southern Peloponnesus.where I come from .and some ancient names have survived till today.also Focás wasn’t a lover of the Jews and Slavs.he killed or forcibly evacuated them to Asia Minor or to 5he under world.
Kaldellis speculated that some of the letters preserved by the Jewish community of Egypt dated to this time and there is evidence that some of the Jews of Crete fled to Rhodes looking for safe passage to Egypt. I suppose Nicephorus not being a big fan of Jews would explain that.
Actually is son's name was al-numan (pronounced an-nooman), which would have been Anemas in greek. It dosen't have anything to do with 'anemos', it was just a transliteration of his name so that the greeks could pronounce it better.
Who dislike such in depth and well research and presented. Presentation
Wasn’t expecting this
Emir of Chandax disliked
You do a great job at the general overviews you do, but I think I like this format of a more micro affair, especially under consideration of the geopolitical circumstances, a bit more!
This might have been one of your best episodes and that's saying a lot!!!
Happy days! Wasn't expecting this either but, it's a pleasant surprise.
Please do more videos on the military campaigns of Nicephorus Phocas before he became the emperor.
Hope you do a separate video on the re-capture of Cyprus!
Chandax in Greeks is the ditch
Funfact ''kouroupi'' in medieval greek means a big round ceramic pot. The etymology probably comes from the ancient greek ''kara'' (head) which probably goes even further back to indoeuropean roots. Now the interesting part is that in slang ''kouroupa'' meant the big round bald head. If we suppose that the caliph had a big round bald head the name ''Kouroupas'' is not just an effort to somewhat hellenize his arabic name, but also an effort to turn him into a meme lol. After all it was very common for the era to give ''nicknames'' to various leaders and even emperors. Some of them would be considered straight out bullying today lol.
Oo I’ve got another one. How did general Nicephoros make sure his public statements were well received by the public?
He always ran them by a Phocas group first....
Ok that’s it.
Nikon also started a portrait painting guild that still survives today, although through the years it did evolve and eventually integrate photographic technology into its methods.
The assumption that the byzantine force was enormus is most probably wrong. Any local successes of ad-Dawlah on the eastern frontier were not due to lack of forces on the byzantine side. According to Leo Diaconos and other historiography of the time, Phocas had no more than 10.000 men - an already overstrength army taking into account the fact that it had to be sustained by overseas supply. The arabs had probably a similar force or even smaler. It is peculiar though that Nicephorus was able to conquer all inland Crete in such a short period of time. This could tell a lot about how few the arab population or arabicized population were outside city-walls.
The Byzantines, upholding their greekness of giving nicknames, gave the name Kouroupas to the Emir of Crete, which is a slang term for big-headed and usually bald as well, still in use these days.
33:12 Makes sense to me if you consider the broad strokes.
will you ever cover the crisis of the third century ?
Most definitely. I'm not sure when I will get around to it, but it is definitely something that I will cover at some point.
@@ThersitestheHistorian iam very excited for that your channel is awesome keep up the fantastic work
I always found it funny that someone from Crete is a Cretan, someone formally from Crete is an Ex-Cretan. =/
I hear they have a much better sense of humour on Crete than I possess... they're probably also much more skilled at making bad puns. :(
This feels like it emphasises Theodosius the Deacon's epic account far more than Leo the Deacon's historical account.
Your summary seems very similar to Kaldellis' summary too; did you read any translation of Capta Crete?
I should clarify that I always enjoy your content, especially on Nikephoros II, but I've been (self-)studying his life for a couple of years and am a little pedantic now, as I feel there's a bit too much of the mythology of Nikephoros at work, e.g. name me one battle, aside from Adata 957 (if that's even a battle?), that Nikephoros II Phokas won before Crete.
I followed Kaldellis' summary fairly closely for the campaign-specific details.
@@blinkyrem I think I read somewhere that Nicephorus won a victory in ~954 when his father was wounded and unable to command.
@@ThersitestheHistorian Bardas was wounded at Marash 953 and Adata 954 was a loss for the empire.
First time I hear of a Roman triumph that does not end with the execution of the losing party's leader 😀 Btw, "white death" sounds like a reasonable translation but I prefer the more evocative "pale death of the Saracens"
You should do a video on the Turkish conquest of Anatoila
Flying like a eagle lol
I reckon I also laughed but more at the absurd cruelty of throwing a donkey with a catapult than on the grim Emperor's silly joke. I thought the soldiers would have laughed...
Donkey: Holdup, my legs not that bad, honest! No! Please, don’t do this Shrek! ☄️
Also in this epoch church was united the Catholicism n Orthodontic came in 1054...also the balcans is a Turkish word then they called it the state of Emou
Phocas = stannis Baratheon
Chanda,χανδαξ,in Greek ,means a big ditch.Anemas ,the son of the Emir ,means wind or like a wind.anemos means wind in Greek.that says to us that the Muslims were a minority.intresting to us the rest of the inhabitants were of course Greeks ,but followers of the twelve gods,pagans.they were the last of the Greeks to become christians toghether with the inhabitants of the southern Peloponnesus.where I come from .and some ancient names have survived till today.also Focás wasn’t a lover of the Jews and Slavs.he killed or forcibly evacuated them to Asia Minor or to 5he under world.
Kaldellis speculated that some of the letters preserved by the Jewish community of Egypt dated to this time and there is evidence that some of the Jews of Crete fled to Rhodes looking for safe passage to Egypt. I suppose Nicephorus not being a big fan of Jews would explain that.
Actually is son's name was al-numan (pronounced an-nooman), which would have been Anemas in greek. It dosen't have anything to do with 'anemos', it was just a transliteration of his name so that the greeks could pronounce it better.
Samatar Mohamed thanks for the information.maybe he was using or people were using two names for the same persons.
Constructive criticism: work on your delivery. Interesting topic, very boring presentation. Good luck bro!
Yes! We want more battling rectangles and cringy dialogues!
Man your sarcasm is so stupid 21st century left wing superior complex! at 26:01 And this is coming from someone who is not christian nor muslim
What "sarcasm"?
The sarcasm is warranted. Religion sucks. It can twist people into only objecting to mass rape on grounds of religion.
That artwork is like it was painted by a child. So awful.
That's your OWN opinion and who cares about your own opinion. This is 9th century artwork.
@@nikosiderakis7105 I've seen better artwork that was 2500 years ago.
@@Ghost-vi8qm This is Byzantine folk art. If you don't like it, then it's your opinion.