place_of_death zoe karbonopsina
___MASK63___ is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It constitutes an autonomous Region of Italy , along with surrounding minor islands , officially referred to as " Regione Siciliana " ( in Italian , Sicilian Region ). The Macedonian dynasty ruled the ___MASK77___ from 867 to 1056 , following the Amorian dynasty . During this period , the Byzantine state reached its greatest expanse since the Muslim conquests , and the Macedonian Renaissance in letters and arts began . The dynasty was named after its founder , Basil I the Macedonian who came from the Theme of ___MASK83___ which at the time was part of ___MASK30___ . Leo VI , called the ___MASK17___ or the Philosopher (" Len VI ho Sophos ", 19 September 866  11 May 912 ), was Byzantine Emperor from 886 to 912 . The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty ( although his parentage is unclear ), he was very well - read , leading to his surname . During his reign , the renaissance of letters , begun by his predecessor Basil I , continued ; but the Empire also saw several military defeats in the Balkans against Bulgaria and against the Arabs in Sicily and the Aegean . Zoe Karbonopsina , also Karvounopsina or Carbonopsina , i . e . , `` with the Coal - Black Eyes '' ( Greek :   , Z Karbnopsina ) , was fourth wife of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the ___MASK17___ and the mother of Constantine VII . Zoe Karbonopsina was a relative of the chronicler Theophanes the Confessor and a niece of the admiral Himerios . Desperate to sire a son , Leo VI married his mistress Zoe on 9 January 906 , only after she had given birth to the future Constantine VII at the end of 905 . However , this constituted his fourth marriage , and was therefore un - canonical in the eyes of the Eastern Orthodox Church , which had already been reluctant to accept his third marriage to Eudokia Baïana , who died in childbirth in 901 . Although the Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos reluctantly baptised Constantine , he forbade the emperor from marrying for the fourth time . Leo VI married Zoe with the assistance of a cooperative priest , Thomas , but Nicholas ' continued opposition to the marriage led to his removal from office and replacement by Euthymios in 907 . The new patriarch attempted a compromise by defrocking the offending priest but recognizing the marriage . When Leo died in 912 , he was succeeded by his younger brother Alexander , who recalled Nicholas Mystikos and expelled Zoe from the palace . Shortly before his death Alexander provoked a war with Bulgaria . She returned on Alexander ' s death in 913 , but Nicholas forced her to enter a convent after obtaining the promise of the senate and the clergy not to accept her as empress . However , Nicholas ' unpopular concessions to the Bulgarians later in the same year weakened his position and in 914 Zoe was able to overthrow Nicholas and replace him as regent . Nicholas was allowed to remain patriarch after reluctantly recognizing her as empress . Zoe governed with the support of imperial bureaucrats and the influential general Leo Phokas the Elder , who was her favorite . Zoe ' s first order of business was to revoke the concessions to Simeon I of Bulgaria , including the recognition of his imperial title and the arranged marriage between his daughter and Constantine VII . This renewed the war with Bulgaria , which began badly for the Byzantines who were distracted by military operations in Southern Italy and on the eastern frontier . In 915 Zoe ' s troops defeated an Arab invasion of Armenia , and made peace with the Arabs . This freed her hands to organize a major expedition against the Bulgarians , who had raided deep into Byzantine Thrace and captured Adrianople . The campaign was planned on a grand scale , and intended the bribing and transportation of Pechenegs into Bulgaria by the imperial fleet from the north . However , the Pecheneg alliance failed , and Leo Phokas was crushingly defeated in the Battle of Anchialus and again at Katasyrtai in 917 . Zoe tried to ally with Serbia and the Magyars against Simeon . This also failed to produce any concrete results , and the Arabs , encouraged by the empire ' s weakness , renewed their raids . A humiliating treaty with the Arabs of Sicily , who were asked to help subdue revolts in Italy , did little to improve the position of Zoe and her supporters . In 919 , there was a coup involving various factions , but the opposition to Zoe and Leo Phokas prevailed ; in the end the admiral Romanos Lekapenos took power , married his daughter Helena Lekapene to Constantine VII , and forced Zoe back into a convent . Basil I , called the Macedonian (" Basíleios  Makedn "; 811  ___MASK38___ 29 , 886 ) was a Byzantine Emperor who reigned from 867 to 886 . Born a simple peasant in the Byzantine theme of ___MASK83___ , he rose in the ___MASK74___ court , and usurped the ___MASK74___ throne from Emperor Michael III ( r . 842  867 ). Despite his humble origins , he showed great ability in running the affairs of state , leading to a revival of ___MASK74___ power and a renaissance of Byzantine art . He was perceived by the Byzantines as one of their greatest emperors , and the Macedonian dynasty , which he founded , ruled over what is regarded as the most glorious and prosperous era of the Byzantine Empire . The ___MASK77___ , also referred to as the Eastern ___MASK32___ Empire , was the continuation of the ___MASK32___ Empire in the East during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages , when its capital city was ___MASK70___ ( modern - day Istanbul , which had been founded as Byzantium ). It survived the fragmentation and fall of the Western ___MASK32___ Empire in the 5th century AD and continued to exist for an additional thousand years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 . During most of its existence , the empire was the most powerful economic , cultural , and military force in Europe . Both " ___MASK77___ " and " Eastern ___MASK32___ Empire " are historiographical terms created after the end of the realm ; its citizens continued to refer to their empire as the " ___MASK32___ Empire " ( tr . ), or " Romania ", and to themselves as " Romans ". ___MASK65___ VII Porphyrogennetos or Porphyrogenitus , " the Purple - born " ( that is , born in the purple marble slab - paneled ___MASK74___ bed chambers 17  18 May 905  9 November 959 ), was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire , reigning from 913 to 959 . He was the son of the emperor Leo VI and his fourth wife , Zoe Karbonopsina , and the nephew of his predecessor , the emperor Alexander . Porphyrogénntos ( Latinized as Porphyrogenitus ) ( literally " born in the purple ") was an honorific title in the ___MASK77___ given to a son , or daughter (  , Porphyrogénnt , Latinized Porphyrogenita ), born " after " the father had become emperor . In addition to this , the birth had to meet other conditions in order for the title to apply .