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THEOPHILUS , See also:East See also:Roman See also:emperor (829–842), the second of the " Phrygian " See also:dynasty . Unlike his See also:father See also:Michael II., he declared himself a pronounced iconoclast . In 832 he issued an See also:edict strictly forbidding the See also:worship of images; but the stories of his cruel treatment of recalcitrants are probably exaggerated . At the See also:time of his See also:accession, the Sicilians were still engaged in hostilities with the See also:Saracens, but Theophilus was obliged to, devote all his energies to the See also:war against the caliphs of See also:Bagdad (see See also:CALIPHATE, especially See also:sect . C., § 8) . This war was caused by Theophilus, who afforded an See also:asylum to a number of See also:Persian refugees, one of whom, called Theophobus after his See also:conversion to See also:Christianity, married the emperor's See also:sister See also:Helena, and became one of his generals . The Roman arms were at first successful; in 837 See also:Samosata and Zapetra (Zibatra, Sozopetra), the See also:birth-See also:place of Motasim, were taken and destroyed . Eager for revenge, Motasim assembled a vast See also:army, one See also:division of which defeated Theophilus, who commanded in See also:person, at Dasymon, while the other advanced against Amorium, the See also:cradle of the Phrygian dynasty . After a brave resistance of fifty-five days, the See also:city See also:fell into Motasim's hands through treachery (23rd of See also:September 838) . See also:Thirty thousand of the inhabitants were slain, the See also:rest sold as slaves, and the city razed to the ground . Theophilus never recovered from the See also:blow, his See also:health gradually failed, and he died at the beginning of 842 . His See also:character has been the subject of considerable discussion, some regarding him as one of the ablest of the See also:Byzantine emperors, others as an See also:ordinary See also:oriental See also:despot, an overrated and insignificant ruler .
There is no doubt that he did his best to check corruption and oppression on the See also:part of his officials, and administered See also:justice with strict impartiality, although his punishments did not always See also:fit the See also:crime
.
In spite of the drain of the war in See also:Asia and the large sums spent by Theophilus on See also:building, See also:commerce, See also:industry, and the finances of the See also:empire were in a most flourishing See also:condition, the See also:credit of which was in See also:great measure due to the highly efficient See also:administration of the See also:department
.
Theophilus, who had received an excellent See also:education from See also: 142; G . F . See also:Hertzberg, Geschichte der Byzant'iner and See also:des osmanischen Reiches, bk. i . (See also:Berlin, 1883) ; H . Gelzer, " Abriss der byzantinischen Kaisergeschichte " in C . See also:Krumbacher's Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur (2nd ed . 1897) ; and authorities under ROMAN EMPIRE, LATER . On the See also:early See also:campaigns against the See also:Arabs see J . B . See also:Bury, in Journ . See also:Hell . See also:Stud. See also:xxix., 1909, pt. i .
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