Andreas 1

Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire
SexE
FloruitM VII
Dates662 (taq) / 667 (tpq)
PmbZ No.353
Variant Names'Ndr''
LocationsAmorion (Galatia);
Damascus;
Arabissos (Armenia Prima);
Melitene (Armenia);
Anisa
TitlesKoubikoularios (office)
Textual SourcesBar Hebraeus, Chronographia, tr. E. A. W. Budge, The Chronography of Abu 'l-Faraj (London, 1932; repr. Amsterdam, 1976) (history);
Chronicon Anonymi ad annum 1234 pertinens, ed. and tr. J.-B. Chabot, I = CSCO 81-82 (Paris, 1916-20), II = CSCO 109 (Louvain, 1937) (chronicle);
Michael the Syrian, Chronicle, ed. and tr. J.-B. Chabot, La chronique de Michel le Syrien (Paris, 1899-1904) (chronicle);
Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia, ed. C. de Boor, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1883-85, repr. Hildesheim/NewYork, 1980); tr. and comm. C. Mango and R. Scott, The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor, Oxford 1997 (chronicle)

Andreas 1 was koubikoularios (ὁ κουβικουλάριος), he was instrumental with Theodoros 3 of Koloneia in preventing the emperor Constans II (Konstans 1) from taking the empress (Phausta 1) and their three sons (Konstantinos 2, Heraklios 1 and Tiberios 1) to the West and transferring the seat of government there (in c. 661/662): Theoph. AM 6160. Koubikoularios, he was sent as envoy to the caliph Mu`awiya 1 in 667 ("in the twenty-sixth year of Constans": Chron. 1234) by Konstantinos 2 (son of the emperor Constans II = Konstans 1) after the rebel Saborios 1 sent an envoy (Sergios 2) to the Arabs for military help; his mission was to persuade Mu`awiya 1 not to help the rebel; in Damascos he quarrelled with Sergios 2, who insulted him as a eunuch "neither a man nor a woman" (ὅτι οὐκ εἶ ἀνήρ οὐδὲ γυνή); Andreas 1's mission failed, but on the return journey to Melitene he anticipated the route which Sergios 2 would take and at Arabissos persuaded the local kleisourarches to set an ambush; he himself went on to Amnesia (perhaps Anisa) and informed the emperor (Konstantinos 2) what had occurred, then waited until Sergios 2 was captured and brought to him and had him castrated and then executed: Theoph. AM 6159, Chron. 1234, §138 (pp. 283-286). A eunuch and koubikoularios (qubbuqlara) under Constantine IV (Konstantinos 2), he was famous for his knowledge of the art of war; in the year 977 Sel. (665/666) he was sent by Konstantinos 2 as envoy to the caliph Mu'awiya 1 after news that the rebel Sapor (Saborios 1) had sent an envoy of his own, Sergios 2, to the caliph for help; at the court of Mu'awiya 1 Sergios 2 first did obeisance to Andreas 1 as a mark of respect, but later insulted him, alluding to the fact that he was a eunuch, and Andreas 1 threatened to have him castrated; his mission to Mu'awiya 1 failed because Andreas 1 refused to accept the caliph's demands and he set off for home and headed for Melitene; on the way he ordered the frontier guards to seize Sergios 2 when he passed on his way home; Sergios 2 was arrested and taken to Andreas 1, who had him first castrated and then impaled: Mich. Syr. II 451-454, Bar Hebr., pp. 100-101. Later, after Amorion fell to the Arabs, Andreas 1 was sent to recover it; it was winter and, in a snowstorm, he entered the city and recaptured it, killing all the Arabs within: Theoph. AM 6159.

(Publishable link for this person: )