Abstract

The son of the learned Byzantine emperor Alexios I, the younger brother of the historian Anna Comnena, the father of the cruel emperor Andronikos I, and apparently the forefather of the γένος that was to overthrow the Byzantine empire, Isaac Porphyrogenitus had no easy life. Not only did his repeated attempts to the throne of his brother John II Comnenos prove totally unsuccessful, not only did he travel for this purpose across Asia Minor and the Middle East, but shortly after he was reconciled with the emperor his son, called John, fled to the Turks out of insubordination to John II's power, causing Isaac himself to be exiled: in Asia Minor John became a Muslim, married the emir's daughter and – someone says – gave birth to the grandfather of Othman/Osman , the sultan who started the Ottoman dynasty