For a millennium after the Western Roman Empire crumbled, the Eastern Byzantine Empire ruled the eastern Mediterranean with iron and silk. In this sprawling chronicle we pull back the curtain on the 10 dark secrets of the empire, exposing a court riddled with murder, mutilation, intrigue, and rebellion.
Unveiling the 10 Dark Secrets of Byzantium
10 Assassinations
The Byzantine habit of treating unpopular rulers as interchangeable meant that many emperors met grisly ends. Constans II, for instance, was clubbed to death with a humble soap dish while he relaxed in his bathtub, a bizarre and brutal finale.
Michael III tried to fend off a blade with his bare hands and lost both in the process, a testament to the ferocity of palace conspiracies. Meanwhile, Nikephoros Phokas was warned of a plot and ordered a palace sweep, only to discover his own wife had hidden the assassins in their bedroom, a place no guard would dare search. They slipped in under cover of night and stabbed him to death.
Perhaps the most theatrical murder belonged to Leo the Armenian. On Christmas Day, a band of killers disguised as chanting monks stormed the Hagia Sophia. Leo fought them with a heavy cross, battling around the altar until an assassin sliced off his arm and felled him. The bloodied corpse was then tossed into a toilet, a macabre end befitting the chaotic court.
9 Mutilation
Byzantine law held that physical disfigurement barred any claimant from the throne, prompting a grim preference for mutilation over outright execution. Blinding became a common tool, as did the removal of noses and tongues, while later centuries saw castration rise to prominence.
Such cruelty was, paradoxically, sometimes framed as merciful. John IV Laskaris survived forty years after being blinded, a stark reminder that the empire’s punishments could be long‑lasting yet not instantly lethal. Empress Irene, however, proved ruthless: she ordered the blinding of her own rebellious son in the very chamber where she had given birth to him, and the boy succumbed to his injuries shortly thereafter.
Nonetheless, mutilation did not always spell permanent exile. Basil Lekapenos, castrated as a child to remove any dynastic threat, turned his disqualification into a political advantage, becoming a powerful courtier who pulled strings behind a succession of puppet emperors.
8 The Noseless Emperor
Justinian II’s first downfall came in 695 when rebels seized him, sliced off his nose, and slit his tongue before exiling him to the Crimean coast. Undeterred, he escaped to the Khazars, plotted revenge, and even strangled the Khazar assassins who had been hired to kill him.
He fled to Bulgaria in a fishing boat, forged an alliance with the Bulgarian khan, and returned to Constantinople by way of the city’s sewers. There he exacted savage vengeance on his enemies, reclaimed the throne, and ruled for another six years wearing a golden prosthetic nose while an interpreter translated his garbled speech.
His reign grew increasingly tyrannical, prompting a second overthrow in 711. This time, the conspirators did not spare him; they put an end to his life, sealing the fate of the once‑noseless emperor.
7 Intrigue
The modern adjective “Byzantine” derives from the tangled web of scheming that defined the imperial court. Eunuchs, courtiers, and favoured officials constantly vied for influence, while emperors often ruled through shadowy favorites rather than by personal authority.
One ninth‑century drama saw the eunuch Staurakios aid Empress Irene in blinding her own son, only to be supplanted by another eunuch, Aetios, who attempted to elevate his brother to the throne. Aetios’s plans were foiled when the finance minister Nikephoros orchestrated a coup, briefly seizing power before the Bulgarians turned his skull into a drinking cup.
This relentless atmosphere of back‑room plotting persisted until Constantinople’s fall. Even as Ottoman forces gathered at the walls, Grand Duke Loukas Notaras was rumored to be maneuvering to secure lucrative court posts for his offspring, proving that intrigue never truly died.
6 Civil War
The ninth‑century saw Emperor Michael I forced from power by a trio of his own generals—Leo the Armenian, Michael the Amorian, and Thomas the Slav. Leo seized the throne, but his tenure ended abruptly when Amorian loyalists infiltrated a Christmas service and hacked him to death.
Thomas the Slav ignited a massive civil war by rebelling against Michael, a conflict that sapped the empire’s strength against Arab incursions. A similar pattern repeated in the tenth century when Bardas Phokas rebelled, only to be crushed by General Bardas Skleros. The eunuch Basil Lekapenos, fearing for his safety, launched his own uprising, prompting Phokas’s release from prison to command forces against Skleros.
Phokas triumphed over Skleros in single combat, but the three—Phokas, Skleros, and Lekapenos—later united against the young Basil the Bulgar‑Slayer. Their infighting ultimately fell apart, allowing Basil to secure power, later becoming infamous for blinding thousands of prisoners and sending them back to Bulgaria, where Tsar Samuel reportedly died of sheer horror.
5 The Purple‑Born
In Byzantine culture, purple was the imperial hue, reserved for the royal family. The emperor even commissioned a special chamber whose walls were sheathed in porphyry, a rare purple stone, to birth children of supreme prestige.
Those born within this chamber earned the title porphyrogennetos, meaning “purple‑born.” Their status carried immense weight; they were expected to marry only within the empire. Yet Vladimir of Kiev famously demanded a purple‑born bride as payment for military assistance and his eventual conversion to Christianity.
The public adored the Purple‑Born, bestowing them with unwavering loyalty. Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos, overthrown as a child, retained his co‑emperor position for twenty‑four years thanks to his birthright. When Basil II died, the surviving Purple‑Born sisters Zoe and Theodora faced repeated attempts at removal, but popular uprisings kept them in power until Theodora’s death in 1056.
4 Riots
The citizens of Constantinople were not shy about making their voices heard—often with fists and swords. The most famous unrest erupted when supporters of the Blue and Green chariot racing factions united to revolt against Emperor Justinian I.
Justinian prepared to flee, but his wife Theodora famously declared she would rather die an empress than live as a commoner, rallying the troops to crush the rebels in a bloody massacre.
Riots were not always purely political. During a later civil war, a prison uprising proved decisive: Megaduke Alexios Apokaukos inspected his newly built jail when the inmates broke free, slaughtering him and crippling his faction.
3 Castration
Eunuchs occupied every niche of Byzantine society, serving as courtiers, priests, and even generals. Their perceived lack of ambition—stemming from the inability to sire heirs—made them ideal candidates for high‑ranking, non‑threatening positions.
Yet some eunuchs amassed terrifying power. John the Orphanotrophos, who managed Constantinople’s orphanage, leveraged his brothers into prominent offices. His influence grew so extreme that an anxious emperor ordered the entire Orphanotrophos family to be castrated and exiled.
Castration was technically illegal, prompting a shadow market where boys were kidnapped from abroad and castrated just before crossing the empire’s borders. In desperate times, impoverished Byzantine families sometimes chose to castrate their own sons, hoping they would secure lucrative court appointments.
2 Sex Slaves
Contemporary sources allege that eunuchs were often exploited as sex slaves, prized for their youthful appearance. Though officially forbidden, the church struggled to eradicate the practice without condemning slavery itself, which underpinned the empire’s economic structure.
The 10th‑century “Life of St. Andrew the Fool” places blame squarely on eunuchs, describing how slaves who disobeyed were brutally beaten. Yet the text also argues that those who resisted the “abominable passions” of their masters were “thrice blessed,” and would be counted among martyrs for their suffering.
This paradox highlights the moral contradictions of a society that simultaneously relied on and condemned the exploitation of its own servants.
1 The Zealots Of Thessalonica
In 1341, the empire was once again embroiled in a civil war. A nine‑year‑old emperor reigned under the regency of his friend John Kantakouzenos, while the boy’s mother Anna and Megaduke Alexios Apokaukos formed an alliance to usurp the regency, sparking a massive conflict.
This time, the city of Thessalonica saw an unprecedented popular uprising. The common folk seized control from the aristocracy, forming a revolutionary group known as the “Zealots.” They proclaimed themselves champions of the poor, and contemporary accounts describe them violently slaughtering the wealthy elite.
The Zealot council governed Thessalonica throughout the civil war, at times pledging allegiance to Apokaukos but remaining hostile to the aristocracy. Eventually they asserted full independence by murdering Apokaukos’s son. The revolt was finally crushed when John Kantakouzenos became emperor, with some Zealots even inviting the Serbian king Stefan Dusan to take the city, while others resisted, leading to internal fighting before Kantakouzenos retook Thessalonica and executed the movement’s leaders.