his son Romanos, and he is buried in the church of the Holy Apostles with Leo the emperor, his father. In appearance he was tall in stature, fair in complexion, with fine eyes, having greyish-blue eyes, with a hooked or aquiline nose, a long face, a long neck, broad shoulders, a lover of the table, a lover of wine, pleasant in speech. He lived 55 years, and died on the 15th of the month of November, in the 2nd indiction, in the year 450, leaving as emperor his son Romanos with his mother Helena. Year of the world 450, in the 50th year of the divine incarnation, Romanos, emperor of the Romans, for 3 years, 3 months, 5 days. He was 757 young in age, vigorous in body, wheat-colored, with fine eyes, an aquiline nose, greyish-blue eyes, sweet in his words, straight as a cypress, broad-shouldered, quiet and affable. And having been left emperor by his father Constantine Porphyrogennetos at the age of 21, with his son Basil who was one year old, and his mother Helena and his wife Theophano. And immediately he promoted the men of his father to the greatest dignities and, having enriched them with gifts, he brought them down from the palace; and he selected and preferred as his chief ministers and first men of the senate Joseph, patrikios and droungarios of the fleet, whom after a short time he also made parakoimomenos; and he appointed the protospatharios John Choinos as patrikios and megas hetaireiarches, and he ordained the protospatharios Sisinnios, the former sakellarios, as eparch of the city, and after a short time patrikios and logothetes tou genikou. And his sisters, Zoe and Theodora [Agathe] and Theophano and Anna, he brought down from the imperial apartments, and brought them to the imperial house called Kanikleion, in which also Sophia Augusta, the wife of the emperor Christophoros, had been tonsured, and after a few days he assigned them to the house of Antiochos. And he sent Agathe to the convent founded by Romanos the emperor, his grandfather, and he ordered that they should be supplied with what they were given in the palace. And he honored Nikephoros Phokas, the domestikos of the scholai and patrikios, as magistros and sent him to the east. Likewise also 758 he made his brother Leo, a patrikios, magistros and domestikos of the west. And he himself took pleasure in hunting and the chase, being throughout of luxurious habits. He also fathered another son after the death of his own father, and named him Constantine; who not long after was crowned by Patriarch Polyeuktos on the ambo of Hagia Sophia. And the Augusta Helena was with the emperor in the palace, until having fallen ill she died on the 19th of the month of September; and she was laid in the monastery of her father, Romanos the emperor, in a sarcophagus near her father. 2. And the emperor sent the magistros and domestikos Nikephoros Phokas to Crete with a large army and an armament of warships and Greek fire, which was formerly under the Romans, but during the reign of Michael the Amorian, the father of Theophilos, was conquered by the Saracens who came up from Spain, because at that time the Roman armies were occupied with the tyranny and rebellion of the insurgent Thomas, the comrade of Michael, so that the conquest of this island came to pass, until the day it was sacked again by Nikephoros Phokas, magistros and domestikos, 158 years later. There were 2 chelandia with Greek fire, 1 dromon, and 360 transport ships carrying grain and weapons of war. So Nikephoros the domestikos, departing from the queen of cities and reaching Phygela, took care 759 that his whole fleet should be together and anchor. Therefore with haste they took the island; and after the ships had landed they constructed a palisade and a deep trench. As they were thus besieging the island, and as an immense winter of rain and cold set in, and the provisions were spent, having become numb the
αὐτοῦ Ῥωμανόν, καὶ θάπτεται ἐν τῷ ναῷ τῶν ἁγίων ἀποστόλων μετὰ Λέοντος βασιλέως τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ. ἦν δὲ τῇ ἰδέᾳ εὐμήκης τὴν ἡλικίαν, λευκὸς τὴν χροιάν, εὐόφθαλμος, χαροποὺς ἔχων τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς, γρυπὸς ἤτοι ἐπίριν, μακροπρόσωπος, μακροτράχηλος, εὐρὺς τοὺς ὤμους, φιλοτράπεζος, φίλοινος, ἡδὺς τοῖς λόγοις. ἔζησε δὲ χρόνους νεʹ, καὶ ἐτελεύτησε μηνὶ Νοεμβρίῳ ιεʹ, ἰνδικτιῶνος ʹ, ἔτους υνʹ, καταλείψας αὐτοκράτορα Ῥωμανὸν τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ μεθ' Ἑλένης τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ. Κόσμου ἔτος υνʹ, θείας σαρκώσεως ἔτει νʹ, Ῥωμαίων βασιλεὺς Ῥωμανὸς ἔτη γʹ μῆνας γʹ ἡμέρας εʹ. ἦν δὲ τὴν ἡλικίαν 757 νέος, σφριγῶν τῷ σώματι, σιτόχροος, εὐόφθαλμος, ἐπίριν, χαροπός, γλυκὺς τοῖς ῥήμασιν, ὄρθιος ὡς κυπάρισσος, εὐρὺς τοὺς ὤμους, ἥσυχος καὶ προσηνής. καταλειφθεὶς δὲ αὐτοκράτωρ παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ Κωνσταντίνου τοῦ πορφυρογεννήτου ἐτῶν ὢν καʹ, σὺν Βασιλείῳ τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ ἐνιαυσιαίῳ ὄντι καὶ τῇ μητρὶ αὐτοῦ Ἑλένῃ καὶ τῇ συνεύνῳ αὐτοῦ Θεοφανῷ. καὶ παρευθὺ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀξιώμασι μεγίστοις ὑπερανεβίβασε καὶ δώροις καταπλουτίσας τοῦ παλατίου κατήγαγεν, ἐξελέξατο δὲ καὶ προέκρινε παραδυναστεύοντας καὶ πρώτους τῆς συγκλήτου Ἰωσὴφ πατρίκιον καὶ δρουγγάριον τῶν πλωΐμων, ὅντινα καὶ μετὰ βραχὺ παρακοιμώμενον ἐποίησεν· τὸν δὲ πρωτοσπαθάριον Ἰωάννην τὸν Χοινὸν πατρίκιον καὶ μέγαν ἑταιρειάρχην προεβάλετο, τὸν δὲ πρωτοσπαθάριον Σισίνιον τὸν ἀπὸ σακελλίου ἔπαρχον πόλεως ἐχειροτόνησεν καὶ μετὰ βραχὺ πατρίκιον καὶ γενικὸν λογοθέτην. τὰς δὲ ἀδελφὰς αὐτοῦ, Ζωὴν καὶ Θεοδώραν [̓Αγάθην] καὶ Θεοφανῶ καὶ ἄνναν, ἀπὸ τῶν βασιλικῶν κατήγαγε δόμων, καὶ εἰς τὸν βασιλικὸν οἶκον τὸν λεγόμενον Κανικλείου, ἐν ᾧ καὶ Σοφία Αὐγοῦστα ἡ τοῦ Χριστοφόρου βασιλέως γαμετὴ ἦν ἀποκεκαρμένη, ἐπήγαγεν, καὶ μετὰ διίππευσιν ἡμερῶν εἰς τὸ Ἀντιόχου ἐκλήρωσεν. τὴν δὲ Ἀγάθην εἰς τὸ ἱδρυνθὲν φροντιστήριον παρὰ Ῥωμανοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ πάππου αὐτοῦ ἀπέστειλεν, καὶ διωρίσατο χορηγεῖσθαι αὐταῖς ἃ καὶ ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ ἐδίδοντο. τὸν δὲ δομέστικον τῶν σχολῶν καὶ πατρίκιον Νικηφόρον τὸν Φωκᾶν μάγιστρον ἐτίμησεν καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀνατολῇ ἐξέπεμψεν. ὡσαύτως καὶ 758 τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ πατρίκιον Λέοντα μάγιστρον καὶ δομέστικον τῆς δύσεως ἐποίησεν. καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν εὐφραινόμενος ἐν κυνηγίοις καὶ θήραις δι' ὅλου ἁβροδίαιτος τυγχάνων. ἐγέννησε καὶ ἕτερον υἱὸν μετὰ θάνατον τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ, καὶ Κωνσταντῖνον αὐτὸν ὠνόμασεν· ὃς καὶ μετ' οὐ πολὺ ἐστέφθη παρὰ Πολυεύκτου πατριάρχου ἐν τῷ ἄμβωνι τῆς ἁγίας Σοφίας. ἡ δὲ Αὐγοῦστα Ἑλένη ἐν τῷ παλατίῳ συνῆν τῷ βασιλεῖ, ἕως ἀρρωστήσασα κατὰ τὴν ιθʹ τοῦ Σεπτεμβρίου μηνὸς τέθνηκεν· καὶ κατετέθη ἐν τῇ μονῇ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῆς, Ῥωμανοῦ τοῦ βασιλέως, ἐν λάρνακι πλησίον τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτῆς. 2. Τὸν δὲ μάγιστρον καὶ δομέστικον Νικηφόρον τὸν Φωκᾶν ὁ βασιλεὺς μετὰ στρατείας πολλῆς καὶ ἐξοπλίσεως πλοίων πολεμικῶν καὶ ὑγροῦ πυρὸς εἰς τὴν Κρήτην ἀπέστειλεν, ἥτις ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίους μὲν ἦν τὸ πρότερον, ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς βασιλείας Μιχαὴλ τοῦ Τραυλοῦ τοῦ πατρὸς Θεοφίλου ἐκρατήθη ὑπὸ τῶν ἀπὸ Ἱσπανίας ἀνελθόντων Σαρακηνῶν διὰ τὸ τηνικαῦτα ἀσχολεῖσθαι τὰ Ῥωμαϊκὰ στρατεύματα εἰς τὴν τυραννίδα καὶ στάσιν τοῦ ἀντάρτου Μωροθωμᾶ τοῦ συντρόφου Μιχαήλ, ὡς γενέσθαι τὴν ταύτης νήσου κράτησιν, ἕως τῆς ἡμέρας ἧς πάλιν ἐπορθήθη παρὰ Νικηφόρου μαγίστρου καὶ δομεστίκου Φωκᾶ, ἔτη ρνηʹ. ὑπῆρχον δὲ χελάνδια μετὰ τοῦ ὑγροῦ πυρὸς βʹ, δρόμωνες αʹ, καράβια καματηρὰ σιτάριν ἔχοντα καὶ ὅπλα πολεμικὰ τξʹ. ἀπάρας οὖν τῆς βασιλίδος Νικηφόρος ὁ δομέστικος, καὶ τὰ Φύγελα καταλαβών, ἐφρόντιζεν 759 ὅπως ὁ σύμπας στόλος αὐτῷ ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ εἴη καὶ προσορμίζοιτο. σπουδῇ οὖν τὴν νῆσον καταλαμβάνουσιν· καὶ ἀποβάντων τῶν νηῶν χάρακα καὶ τάφρον βαθεῖαν κατεσκεύασαν. τούτων οὕτως παρακαθεζομένων τῇ νήσῳ, καὶ ἀπείρου χειμῶνος καὶ ὑετοῦ καὶ κρύους γενομένου, καὶ τῶν σιτίων δαπανηθέντων, καταναρκήσαντες οἱ