ABSTRACT
Of the emperors of ninth-century Byzantium all but one went on military campaign. Nikephoros I (802-11) was killed on campaign against the Bulgars.1 Michael I (811-13) also saw active service against the Bulgarians,2
as did his successor Leo V (813-20).3 Michael II (820-829), the founder of the Amorian dynasty, took the field during the internal struggle with Thomas the Slav.4 Theophilos (829-42) is renowned for his campaigns on the eastern frontier,5 and his son Michael III (842-67) followed in his footsteps, being famously absent from Constantinople in 860 at the time of the first Russian attack.6 Basil I (867-86), the founder of the Macedonian dynasty, also pursued campaigns in the east? The exception is Leo VI (886-912), the son of Basil I; he never once campaigned in a reign that stretched over 25 years, spanning the end of the ninth century and the beginning of the tenth. In this respect Leo has more in common with the ninth-century empresses Eirene (797-802) and Theodora (regent for Michael III, 842-56). Why was Leo an emperor who avoided a campaigning role, and how does this intersect with his conception of his role as emperor, his imperial 'thought-world'?
