his father. And they deposed Patriarch Tryphon after he had completed the appointed time, 745 and he died in his own monastery. And the church was vacant for 1 year and 5 months on account of the immaturity of Theophylact, the son of Romanus. 42. And a certain Macedonian impostor, Basil, proclaiming himself to be Constantine Doukas, led many along with him. He was seized and deprived of one of his hands. Then, seizing the opportunity, he again took over the Opsikion, and having fitted a bronze hand in place of the one cut off and fashioning an enormous sword, he went about deceiving many that he was Constantine Doukas; and having seized a fortress which is called Plateia Petra, and having stored up much food, he stirred up a great revolt against the Roman empire, foraging and plundering those he came across. Having captured him, they brought him up to the city, and burned him in the Amastrianon. 43. And in the month of February, of the 2nd indiction, on the feast of the Presentation, the aforementioned son of the emperor, Theophylact, was ordained patriarch, with legates having come up from Rome and bringing a synodical tome decreeing his ordination; who also installed him on the patriarchal throne. And the emperor Romanus took for his son Stephen a wife, Anna, the daughter of Gamalas, who at the same time as the nuptial crown also put on that of the empire. 746 44. In the month of April, of the 7th indiction, there was the first expedition of the Turks against the Roman empire; and they overran as far as the city, and plundered every soul in all of Thrace. Therefore, the patrikios and protovestiarios Theophanes was sent, and he made a reconciliation with them. 45. On the 14th of the month of January, Romanus took a wife for his youngest son Constantine, from the family of the Armeniacs, named Helene, the daughter of the patrikios Adrian; and when she died on the second of the month of February, he joined to him another wife, from the family of that Mamas, called Theophano. 46. In that year the Rus, who are also called Dromites, who are of the race of the Franks, sailed against Constantinople, with ten thousand ships. Therefore, the protovestiarios Theophanes was sent against them with ships. And having prepared the fleet, he awaited them. And when they came near the lighthouse in the Euxine Pontus (a pharos is called a structure on which a torch is placed for the guidance of passers-by at night, and the Euxine Pontus is so called by antiphrasis; for it was called Kakoxenos [Inhospitable] because of the continual raids of the local pirates against visitors, whom they say Heracles destroyed, and so the passers-by, having obtained safety, named it Euxine [Hospitable]) in the place called Hieron, which took its name from the sailors of the Argo who, passing through 747 there, founded a temple on the spot, he suddenly attacked them, and burned most of the ships, and the rest were turned to flight. Whence also a complete rout occurring, some of their ships sank with all hands, and they captured very many alive. And those who were left sailed to the eastern part, to the so-called Rogai. And when they sent a detachment toward the parts of Bithynia for the sake of provisions, Bardas Phokas encountered them; for indeed he had been sent for this purpose with elite horsemen, running them down, and he slaughtered all of them. But also Kourkouas, coming down with the entire army of the east, found those who were left behind and killed them. And they burned many places and temples, and of the Romans they captured, some they crucified and others they fixed to the ground, and of the clergy, tying their hands behind them, they drove iron nails through the middle of their heads. And with winter now setting in, and wishing to depart to their own homes, they were eager to escape the fleet. Therefore, as they sailed out by night, the patrikios Theophanes met them. And immediately a second naval battle was joined and very many ships were sunk. with a few ships

πατρὸς αὐτοῦ. κατήγαγον δὲ καὶ τὸν πατριάρχην Τρύφωνα τὸν ῥητὸν χρό 745 νον τελέσαντα, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἰδίᾳ μονῇ τελευτᾷ. χηρεύει δὲ ἡ ἐκκλησία χρόνον αʹ μῆνας εʹ διὰ τὸ ἀτελὲς Θεοφυλάκτου τοῦ υἱοῦ Ῥωμανοῦ. 42. Βασίλειος δέ τις Μακεδὼν πλάνος Κωνσταντῖνον ∆οῦκα ἑαυτὸν εἶναι ἐπιφημίσας πολλοὺς μεθ' ἑαυτοῦ συνεπήγετο. οὗτος συσχεθεὶς τῆς μιᾶς χειρὸς ἀλλοτριοῦται. εἶτα καιροῦ λαβόμενος καταλαμβάνει πάλιν τὸ Ὀψίκιον, καὶ χεῖρα χαλκῆν ἀντὶ τῆς κοπείσης προσαρμοσάμενος καὶ σπάθην ὑπερμεγέθη κατασκευασάμενος διήρχετο πλανῶν πολλοὺς ὡς αὐτὸς εἴη Κωνσταντῖνος ὁ ∆οῦκας· καὶ φρούριον κατασχὼν ὃ Πλατεῖα πέτρα κατονομάζεται, καὶ τροφὴν πολλὴν ἀποθέμενος, μεγάλην κατὰ Ῥωμανίαν ἀνταρσίαν κινεῖ, προνομεύων καὶ λεηλατῶν τοὺς παρατυγχάνοντας. τοῦτον κρατήσαντες ἀνήγαγον ἐν τῇ πόλει, καὶ ἐν τοῖς Ἀμαστριανοῦ ἔκαυσαν. 43. Τῷ δὲ Φεβρουαρίῳ μηνί, τῆς ʹ ἰνδικτιῶνος, τῇ ἑορτῇ τῆς ὑπαπαντῆς, χειροτονεῖται πατριάρχης ὁ ῥηθεὶς τοῦ βασιλέως υἱὸς Θεοφύλακτος, τοποτηρητῶν ἐκ Ῥώμης ἀνελθόντων καὶ τόμον συνοδικὸν ἐπιφερομένων περὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ χειροτονίας διαγορεύοντα· οἳ καὶ τῷ πατριαρχικῷ θρόνῳ τοῦτον ἐνίδρυσαν. Ῥωμανὸς δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς τῷ υἱῷ Στεφάνῳ γυναῖκα ἠγάγετο τὴν τοῦ Γαμαλᾶ θυγατέρα Ἄνναν, ἥτις ἅμα τῷ νυμφικῷ στεφάνῳ καὶ τὸν τῆς βασιλείας ἐπέθετο. 746 44. Μηνὶ Ἀπριλλίῳ, ἰνδικτιῶνος ζʹ, γέγονε πρώτη ἐκστρατεία τῶν Τούρκων κατὰ Ῥωμανίας· καὶ κατατρέχουσι μέχρι τῆς πόλεως, καὶ λεηλατοῦσι πᾶσαν Θρᾳκῴαν ψυχήν. ἀποστέλλεται οὖν ὁ πατρίκιος Θεοφάνης καὶ πρωτοβεστιάριος, καὶ ποιεῖ καταλλαγὴν μετ' αὐτῶν. 45. Τῇ δὲ ιδʹ τοῦ Ἰανουαρίου μηνὸς ἠγάγετο Ῥωμανὸς γυναῖκα τῷ τελευταίῳ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ Κωνσταντίνῳ, ἐκ τοῦ γένους τῶν Ἀρμενιακῶν, τοὔνομα Ἑλένην, τοῦ πατρικίου Ἀδριανοῦ θυγατέρα· ἧς καὶ τελευτησάσης Φεβρουαρίῳ μηνὶ δευτέρᾳ ἑτέραν τούτῳ συνέζευξεν γυναῖκα, ἐκ τοῦ γένους τοῦ Μάμω ἐκείνου, Θεοφανὼ λεγομένην. 46. Τῷ ἐνιαυτῷ ἐκείνῳ κατέπλευσαν οἱ Ῥῶς οἱ καὶ ∆ρομῖται λεγόμενοι, οἱ ἐκ γένους τῶν Φράγγων ὄντες, κατὰ τῆς Κωνσταντινουπόλεως, μετὰ πλοίων χιλιάδες δέκα. πέμπεται οὖν πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὁ πρωτοβεστιάριος Θεοφάνης μετὰ πλοίων. καὶ τὸν στόλον εὐτρεπίσας αὐτοὺς ἐξεδέχετο. ἐπεὶ δὲ πλησίον τοῦ ἐν τῷ Εὐξείνῳ Πόντῳ φάρου ἐγένοντο (φάρος δὲ καλεῖται ἀφίδρυμά τι ᾧ πυρσὸς ἐπιτίθεται πρὸς ὁδηγίαν τοῖς ἐν νυκτὶ παροδίταις, Εὔξεινος δὲ Πόντος κατὰ ἀντίφρασιν καλεῖται· κακόξεινος γὰρ ἐλέγετο διὰ τὰς συνεχεῖς τῶν ἐκεῖσε λῃστῶν πρὸς τοὺς ἐπιξενουμένους καταδρομάς, οὕς φασιν ἀνελὼν Ἡρακλῆς, ἀδείας τυχόντες οἱ παροδῖται τοῦτον Εὔξεινον ἐπωνόμασαν) ἐν τῷ Ἱερῷ λεγομένῳ, ὃ τὴν ἐπωνυμίαν εἴληφε διὰ τῶν τῆς Ἀργοῦς πλωτήρων ἐκεῖσε διερ 747 χομένων αὐτόθι ἀνιδρύσαι μὲν ἱερόν, αὐτὸς ἀθρόον τούτοις ἐπέθετο, καὶ τὰ μὲν πλεῖστα πλοῖα κατέφλεξεν, τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ εἰς φυγὴν ἐτράπησαν. ὅθεν καὶ τελείας τροπῆς γενομένης τὰ μὲν τῶν πλοίων αὐτῶν αὔτανδρα κατέδυσαν, πλείστους δὲ ζῶντας συνέλαβον. οἱ δὲ περιλειφθέντες εἰς τὸ τῆς ἀνατολῆς μέρος, εἰς τὰς Ῥογὰς λεγομένας, κατέπλευσαν. καὶ ἐπεὶ σύνταγμα πρὸς τὰ τῆς Βιθυνίας μέρη ἀπέστειλαν χρειῶν ἕνεκα, ἐντυγχάνει τούτοις Βάρδας ὁ Φωκᾶς· καὶ γὰρ ἀποσταλεὶς ἦν ἐπὶ τούτῳ μετὰ ἱππέων ἐκκρίτων, παρατρέχων αὐτούς, καὶ κατέσφαξεν ἅπαντας. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Κουρκούας μετὰ παντὸς τοῦ τῆς ἀνατολῆς στρατεύματος κατελθὼν τοὺς ὑπολειφθέντας εὑρίσκων ἀπέκτεινεν. πολλοὺς δὲ τόπους καὶ ναοὺς ἐνέπρησαν, καὶ τοὺς συλλαμβανομένους Ῥωμαίους τοὺς μὲν ἀνεσταύρουν τοὺς δὲ τῇ γῇ προσεπήγνυον, τοὺς δὲ τοῦ κλήρου, ὄπισθεν τὰς χεῖρας δεσμοῦντες, ἥλους σιδηροῦς κατὰ μέσης τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτῶν ἐπήγνυσαν. χειμῶνος δὲ ἤδη καταλαμβάνοντος, καὶ εἰς τὰ οἰκεῖα βουλόμενοι ἀπελθεῖν, τὸν στόλον λαθεῖν ἐσπούδαζον. νυκτὸς οὖν ἐκπλεύσαντας ὁ πατρίκιος Θεοφάνης τούτους ὑπήντησε. καὶ εὐθὺς δευτέρα ναυμαχία συνάπτεται καὶ πλεῖστα πλοῖα βυθίζονται. ὀλίγων δὲ μετὰ πλοίων