Mathematical Mysteries in Byzantium

This chapter examines how the mathematical mysteries of Diophantus were preserved, embellished, developed, and enjoyed in Byzantium by many generations of amateur mathematicians like Pierre de Fermat, who formulated what became known as Fermat's last theorem. Fermat was a seventeenth-century scholar and an amateur mathematician who developed several original concepts in addition to the famous “last theorem.” One of his sources was the Arithmetika, a collection of number problems written by Diophantus, a mathematician who appears to have flurished in Alexandria in the third century AD. It was through the Greek text translated into Latin that Fermat became familiar with Diophantus's mathematical problems, and in particular the one at book II, 8, which encouraged the formulation of his own last theorem. Fermat's last theorem claims that “the equation xn + yn = zn has no nontrivial solutions when n is greater than 2”.

Philippikos “The Gentle”

This chapter examines how the term “praos,” associated with Christ in the Gospels, was applied to the eighth-century Byzantine emperor Philippikos, whose successful usurpation was accompanied by a determination to return the Byzantine church to the observance of Monotheletism. Philippikos reigned for less than two years from June 711 to May 713, but in that short time he became closely associated with the text known as Parastaseis syntomoi chronikai. A passage in Parastaseis Chapter 82 described Philippikos as “gentle.” The fact that “gentle and humble of heart” was so widely quoted in Byzantium points up the contrast between its use in Parastaseis and later accounts of Philippikos. So when the compilers of Parastaseis combine a Christ-like quality of gentleness with Eastern traditions about the emperor's learning and culture, they present him in a very favorable light.

Philippikos and the Greens

This chapter examines the role played by the circus faction called the Greens in getting rid of Philippikos and replacing him with a civilian official, Artemios the secretary, as emperor of Byzantium in 713. Ever since the publication of Alan Cameron's book on the circus factions, it has been agreed that the Blues and Greens played a much less political role after the tumultuous reigns of Maurice and Phokas. Herakleios (610–41) diverted their energies into the far more manageable and benign roles of court entertainment: music and dancing, which had already been expanded in the sixth century. The chapter narrates the coup d'état staged by soldiers from the nearby military units of Opsikion and Thrace against Philippikos, who celebrated Constantinople's birthday on 11 May 713 with the customary races in the Hippodrome.