page_title: Romanos III Argyros
section_title: Family and early career
hierarchical_section_title: Romanos III Argyros / Life / Family and early career
caption_attribution_description: Constantine VIII AV Histamenon Nomisma. Constantinople mint. + IhS XIS REX REGNANTInM (Jesus Christ, King Regnant), bust of Christ facing, holding Gospels + CÔnSTAnTIn bASILEUS ROM[AION] (Constantine emperor of the Romans), crowned bust of Constantine facing, holding labarum with pellet on shaft and akakia. DOC III 1; SB 1815. See also same coin, other pic:
context_page_description: Romanos III Argyros, or Romanus III Argyrus, was Byzantine Emperor from 15 November 1028 until his death. He was a Byzantine noble and senior official in Constantinople when the dying Constantine VIII forced him to divorce his wife and marry the emperor's daughter Zoë. Upon Constantine's death three days later, Romanos took the throne.
  Romanos has been recorded as a well meaning but ineffective emperor. He disorganised the tax system and undermined the military, personally leading a disastrous military expedition against Aleppo. He fell out with his wife and foiled several attempts on his throne, including two which revolved around his sister-in-law Theodora. He spent large amounts on the construction and repair of churches and monasteries. He died after six years on the throne, allegedly murdered, and was succeeded by his wife's young lover, Michael IV.
context_section_description: Romanos Argyros, born in 968, was the son of an unnamed member of the Argyros family. This may have been either Pothos Argyros who defeated a Magyar raid in 958 (identified by some scholars with an older namesake), or Eustathios Argyros, known only for commissioning a poem in honour of Romanos II in 950. Romanos' grandfather was the son of another Romanos Argyros, who had married Agatha, a daughter of Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos (r. 919–944).
  Romanos had several siblings: Basil Argyros, who served as general and governor under Basil II (r. 976–1025); Leo, who served under Basil and was killed in Italy in 1017; Pulcheria Argyropoulina, who married the magistros Basil Skleros; a sister who married Constantine Karantenos, who served as doux of Antioch under Romanos; and Maria Argyropoulina, who married Giovanni Orseolo, son of Doge Pietro II Orseolo.
  He served as krites (judge) in Opsikion, with the rank of protospatharios (one of the highest judicial ranks, usually awarded to senior generals and provincial governors). In this capacity he persecuted heretics at Akmoneia. He was then promoted to the post of quaestor (the senior judicial official for the imperial capital, Constantinople) and became one of the judges of the Hippodrome, the High Court of the Empire. In this role he is mentioned in the Peira, a compendium of legal decisions compiled by the noted jurist Eustathios Rhomaios. He was promoted further to the rank of patrikios and the post of oikonomos (administrator) of the Great Church, while continuing to preside over the High Court. Under Emperor Constantine VIII he held the post of urban prefect of Constantinople, which made him the formal head of the Senate and one of the emperor's chief lieutenants.
caption: Constantine VIII on the reverse of a histamenon
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