- Kalokyros
Kalokyros (Greek: Καλοκυρός) (d. c. 970) was a pretender to the Byzantine throne during the
Russo-Byzantine Wars in the reigns ofNikephoros II andJohn I Tzimiskes .According to
John Skylitzes andLeo the Deacon , Kalokyros was the son of a strategos ofChersonesos .Nikephoros II bestowed upon him the title ofpatrician and dispatched to the court ofSviatoslav I of Kiev in order to persuade him to launch an invasion of theFirst Bulgarian Empire , with which Byzantium was at war. Kalokyros was to pay to Svyatoslav 15,000 pounds of gold to defray the expense of the voyage.The Greek historians also allege that Svyatoslav agreed to support Kalokyros in his ambition of gaining the imperial throne, while Kalokyros promised to reward Svyatoslav with "great, incalculable treasures from the imperial coffers" and to acknowledge his conquest of Bulgaria. During the following Russo-Byzantine conflict, Kalokyros (whom Svyatoslav reportedly loved and respected as his own brother) was captured by the Greeks at
Preslav and put to death.The Kievan mission of Kalokyros may be the subject of an obscure record inscribed on the blank pages of a 10th-century Byzantine codex. In this document, a Greek
toparch recounts his passage through the hostile country north of theBlack Sea sometime between 964 and 967. Sakharov believes that the document describes Kalokyros's return from Kiev throughBerezan Island toCrimea , although the accuracy of this interpretation is open to question.References
*
Andrey Nikolayevich Sakharov . "The Diplomacy of Svyatoslav". Moscow: International Relations, 1982.
*Fyodor Uspensky . "The History of the Byzantine Empire", vol. 2. Moscow: Mysl, 1997.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.