LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
Academy · Biography & Mythology

Theodorus CONSTANTINI

25. CONSTANTINI PORPHYROGENITI PAEDAGOGUS. Theodore, tutor to the emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus [CONSTANTINUS VII.] enjoyed during the minority of that accomplished but weak prince, considerable influence in the palace. The attempt of Leo Phocas and his brother-in-law, the chamberlain Constantine, to depose the young emperor, and confer the purple on Leo, were defeated by the vigilance of Theodore, who prevailed on the emperor to summon to his assistance Romanus, afterwards colleague of Constantine in the empire; who, probably, from finding Theodore's fidelity an obstacle to his advancement, caused him and his brother Simeon to be banished from Constantinople to their estates in the Opsician thema, on the Asiatic side of the Bosporus. (Leo Grammaticus, Chronog. pp. 492-496, ed. Paris; Theoph. Continuat. lib). vi. De Constant. Porphyrog. cc. 11-16; Sym. Magist. De Constant. Porphyroy. cc. 12-16; Georg. Monach. Dc Constant. Porphyrog. cc. 20-34; Zonaras, Annales, 16.17; Cedrenus, Compend. pp. 614-619, ed. Paris, vol. ii. pp. 289-296, ed. Bonn.) To this Theodore Lambecius ascribes the authorship of five Λογοι, Orationes, extant in MS. in the Imperial Library at Vienna. (Lambec. Commentar. de Biblioth. Caesaraea, lib. s. vol. iv. col. 22, &c., ed. Kollar, which he intended to publish. He has given some extracts. (Lambec. vol. iii. p. 147, and l.c.; Cave, Hist. Litt. ad ann. 920, vol. ii. p. 93; Oudin, De Script. Eccles. vol. ii. col. 428; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. x. p. 384.)

From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.