Georgios Maniakes

Georgios Maniakes

 

Year of birth unknown; died 1043. Byzantine general.

Georgios Maniakes was successful in wars against the Arabs; in 1032 he captured the city of Edessa [now Urfa] in northern Mesopotamia, and during the years 1038-40 he won back the eastern part of Sicily. Sent to Italy in 1042 to repel the onslaught of the Normans, Georgios Maniakes was at the height of his success in combating them when he was removed from his post as catapan of Italy by the emperor Constantine IX Monomakh. In response, Georgios Maniakes raised a rebellion; in 1043 he landed near Dyrrachium [now Durrës] and moved toward Constantinople. He was killed in a battle against government troops near Thessaloniki.

G. G. LITAVRIN