Although such a union would effectively cement the loyalty of the army, it would also strengthen the position of the legitimate Macedonian line, represented by Constantine VII, over the imperial claims of Romanos's own sons.
•
The ground work for his successes had certainly been laid by others: Michael III, who broke the power of Melitene at Lalakaon; Basil I, who destroyed the Paulicians; Leo VI the Wise, who founded the vital theme of Mesopotamia; and Empress Zoe, who extended Byzantine influence again into Armenia and founded the theme of Lykandos.
•
and in a contemporary eight-book history, written by a protospatharios Michael and now lost save for a short summary in Theophanes Continuatus, he is acclaimed as "a second Trajan or Belisarius".
•
John's namesake grandfather had been a commander of the elite Hikanatoi regiment (tagma) under Emperor Basil I (reigned 867–886); John's brother Theophilos became a senior general, as did John's own son, Romanos, and his great-nephew, John Tzimiskes.
John Kourkouas, son of Romanos, Domestic of the Schools of the East, killed in the Siege of Dorostolon
John F. Kennedy | Pope John Paul II | Elton John | John | John Lennon | John Wayne | John McCain | John Kerry | John Cage | Olivia Newton-John | John Williams | John Peel | John Adams | John Steinbeck | John Travolta | John Milton | John Zorn | John Marshall | John Howard | John Singer Sargent | John Ruskin | John Updike | John Maynard Keynes | John Coltrane | John Cleese | St. John's | John Waters | John Lee Hooker | John Huston | John Ford |
In 886, Basil discovered and punished a conspiracy by the domestic of the Hikanatoi John Kourkouas and many other officials.