Constantine Opos (megas doux)

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Constantine Opos
Allegiance
Byzantine–Seljuk Wars

Constantine Opos (

Seljuk Turks, eventually reaching the rank of megas doux (commander-in-chief of the Byzantine navy
).

Biography

Constantine Opos first appears in the

Leo I the Thracian (r. 457–474).[1]

In 1090, Opos was subordinate to the admiral Constantine Dalassenos during the siege of the island of Chios, held by the forces of the Turkish emir Tzachas of Smyrna. Hoping to prevent Tzachas from crossing over from the mainland with reinforcements and relieve the siege, Dalassenos sent Opos with part of the fleet to interdict the crossing of the Chios Strait. Opos indeed encountered Tzachas's fleet attempting to cross during night, but, according to the Alexiad, as the emir had had his ships chained together, Opos feared to engage them and retreated to the Byzantine camp.[2]

In 1092, he was charged with retaking the town of

Marmara Sea, after a previous Byzantine naval expedition under Alexander Euphorbenos had failed. Opos led his forces overland to Cyzicus, and successfully stormed the town. He then dispatched troops that took Poimanenon before marching to Apollonias. He laid siege to the city, but soon the Turkish emir, Elchanes, surrendered it and his family to him.[3]

By 1094, when he is attested in the synod that condemned

protonobelissimos, and in a manuscript that belonged to him, he is finally recorded as megas doux. Opos is last attested in 1097, during the First Crusade, when he was tasked with preventing the forces of a certain count, Raoul, from crossing the Bosporus, and even engaged in battle with the Crusaders.[4]

References

  1. ^ Birkenmeier 2002, pp. 62, 157; Haldon 1999, pp. 68, 91–93; Skoulatos 1980, p. 71.
  2. ^ Anna Komnene. Alexiad, VII.8 (Dawes 1928, pp. 183–184); Skoulatos 1980, pp. 71–72.
  3. ^ Anna Komnene. Alexiad, VI.13 (Dawes 1928, pp. 163–164); Skoulatos 1980, pp. 9–10, 72.
  4. ^ Anna Komnene. Alexiad, X.10 (Dawes 1928, pp. 261–262); Skoulatos 1980, p. 72.

Sources

  • Birkenmeier, John W. (2002). The Development of the Komnenian Army: 1081-1180. Boston, Massachusetts: Brill.
    ISBN 90-04-11710-5
    .
  • Dawes, Elizabeth A., ed. (1928). The Alexiad. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Archived from the original on 2014-08-14. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
  • ISBN 1-85728-495-X
    .
  • Skoulatos, Basile (1980). Les personnages byzantins de l'Alexiade: Analyse prosopographique et synthèse [The Byzantine Personalities of the Alexiad: Prosopographical Analysis and Synthesis] (in French). Louvain-la-Neuve and Louvain: Bureau du Recueil Collège Érasme and Éditions Nauwelaerts.
    OCLC 8468871
    .
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