Aspietes (general under Alexios I)
Aspietes (Greek: Ἀσπιέτης) was an Armenian nobleman who entered the service of the Byzantine Empire and served during most of the reign of Alexios I Komnenos.
He was a member of the noble family of the Aspietai, which claimed descent from the Arsacid royal dynasty of Armenia.[1] Aspietes is first attested alongside Alexios I during the 1081 campaign against the Normans that led to the disastrous Battle of Dyrrhachium, where Aspietes himself was gravely injured and died. The scene is graphically narrated by Alexios' daughter Anna Komnene in her Alexiad, highlighting Aspietes' valour.[2]
The name "Aspietes" appears in two different portions of the Alexiad, and it is unclear whether it refers to the same or different people.[3] Thus Basile Skoulatos, in his prosopographical study of the Alexiad, identified the Aspietes of Dyrrhachium with the Aspietes who in 1105/6 was appointed governor of Tarsus by the Emperor. Shortly after, he succeeded Monastras as stratopedarches of the East. In this capacity he failed to react effectively to the attempt by Tancred, Prince of Antioch, to capture Mamistra. Instead, Aspietes occupied himself with debauched revelries, and, if F. Chalandon's suggestion that he is to be equated with the Ursinus of Western sources is correct, openly treated with Tancred in an effort save the city. However, although the Alexiad openly admits his neglect of duty, he is nowhere accused of treasonous dealings such as those of Ursinus.[2] Alexis Savvides, on the other hand, points out that the two personages are usually treated as distinct people, and equates the later Aspietes with the Armenian lord of Cilician Armenia, Oshin of Lampron.[4]
References
- ↑ Kazhdan 1991, pp. 211–212.
- 1 2 Skoulatos 1980, p. 30.
- ↑ Savvides 1991, p. 74.
- ↑ Savvides 1991, pp. 70–74.
Sources
- Kazhdan, Alexander (1991). "Soterioupolis". In Kazhdan, Alexander. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 211–212. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.
- Savvides, Alexis G. K. (1991). "Notes on the Armeno-Byzantine family of Aspietes, late 11th-early 13th centuries". Byzantinoslavica (Prague) 52: 70–79.
- Skoulatos, Basile (1980). Les personnages byzantins de I'Alexiade: Analyse prosopographique et synthese (in French). Louvain: Nauwelaerts.