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MY'STORY

The MOVE Fire

This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985 Philadelphia police fired thousands of rounds at the MOVE house, city officials approved dropping an explosive device on the roof, the resulting fire was allowed to burn, 11 people—including five children—died, and 61 homes were destroyed. Philadelphia City Council later called it a “brutal attack carried out by the City of Philadelphia on its own citizens” and acknowledged that no individual faced criminal consequences for the bombing. One timeline correction worth preserving for the BHP record: the major previous MOVE-police confrontation was August 8, 1978, about seven years before the bombing, not a year or two earlier. Officer James Ramp was killed, other police and firefighters were wounded, nine MOVE members were later convicted, and television cameras recorded police beating Delbert Africa during his arrest. The 1985 MOVE Commission later specifically criticized city planners for failing to adequately use lessons from that 1978 confrontation. And that actually strengthens the point you’re making: 1985 did not happen without precedent or institutional memory. There had already been a deadly confrontation with MOVE, years of conflict, negotiations and police involvement before Osage Avenue.

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BLACK FACTS
The Truths They Never Taught You...

Wilmington 1898 — An American Coup

Wilmington, North Carolina once had a thriving Black middle class and an elected interracial government. In 1898 white supremacists used violence to overthrow that government, kill Black residents and drive many others from the city.

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Wikipedia

Autokrator

Ivory plaque with Emperor Constantine VII being crowned by Christ. The legend reads: "Constantine, in God [faithful], autokratōr and basileus of the Romans.

Autokrator or Autocrator (Ancient Greek: αὐτοκράτωρ, romanized: autokrátōr, lit. 'self-ruler', from αὐτός, autós, 'self' + κράτος, krátos, 'dominion') is a Greek epithet applied to an individual who is unrestrained by superiors. It has been applied to military commanders-in-chief as well as Roman and Byzantine emperors as the translation of the Latin title imperator. Its connection with Byzantine and Russian-style absolutism gave rise to the modern terms autocracy and autocrat.[1][2]

Ancient Greece

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The title appeared in Classical Greece in the late 5th century BC, and was used for generals given independent authority, i.e. a supreme commander (στρατηγὸς αὐτοκράτωρ, stratēgòs autokrátōr). In Classical Athens, stratēgoì autokrátores were generals endowed with autonomous power of command, i.e. they were able to make certain military and diplomatic decisions without prior consultation with the Athenian assembly. This was enacted when the general was expected to operate far from Athens, for instance during the Sicilian Expedition. Nevertheless, the generals remained accountable to the assembly for their conduct upon their return.[3] Similar practices were followed by other Greek states, such as Syracuse, where the post served as a power base for several of the city's tyrants. Stratēgoì autokrátores were also appointed by various leagues of city-states to head their combined armies. Thus Philip II of Macedon was declared as hēgemṓn (ἡγεμών, 'leader') and stratēgòs autokrátōr of the southern Greek states by the League of Corinth,[4] a position later given to his son Alexander the Great as well.[5] The term was also employed for envoys entrusted with plenipotentiary powers (πρέσβεις αὐτοκράτορες, présbeis autokrátores, 'elder autocrats').[6]

Rome and Byzantium

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In later times, with the rise of the Roman Republic, [stratēgòs] autokrátōr was used by Greek historians to translate different Roman terms: Polybius uses the term to translate the title dictator,[7] while Plutarch uses it in its later sense as a translation of the victory title imperator. Autokrátōr became entrenched as the official translation of the latter during the Roman Empire, where imperator was part of the titulature of the Roman emperors. As such it continued to be used in Greek translations from Latin until the adoption of the Greek title basileús by Emperor Heraclius in 629.[8]

It was retained in archaic forms of address during ceremonies in the East Roman (Byzantine) Empire, and was revived (no later than the early 9th century) in the form of basileùs [kaì] autokrátōr (βασιλεὺς [καὶ] αὐτοκράτωρ, usually translated as "emperor and autocrat"), which then designated the senior of several ruling co-emperors (συμβασιλεῖς, symbasileis), who held the actual power. In the Palaiologan period, this use was extended to include the designated heir. The title is evidenced in coins from 912, in imperial chrysobulls from the 11th century, and in numerous illuminated manuscripts.[8] The term stratēgòs autokrátōr continued to be used in the Byzantine period as well. The title is particularly prevalent in the 6th century (e.g. for Belisarius), and re-appears in the 10th–11th centuries for senior military commanders.[9] Thus, for instance, Basil II installed David Arianites as stratēgòs autokrátōr of Bulgaria, implying powers of command over the other regional stratēgoí in the northern Balkans.[10]

Other nations

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The Byzantine imperial formula was imitated among the Byzantine influenced nations such as Georgia and Balkan states, and later, most notably Russia, beginning with the reign of Ivan III.[11]

  • Ottoman sultan Bayezid II titled himself "By the grace of God, basileus and autokrator of the two continents of Asia and Europe and other possessions".[12]
  • One of the titles of Georgian kings of Bagrationi dynasty was "Autocrat of all the east and the west",[13] title introduced during David IV and lasted until dissolution of the unified Georgian monarchy during the reign of George VIII, and later dissolution officially confirmed at 1490.
  • The rulers of the Second Bulgarian Empire used the title "Emperor (Tsar) of the Bulgarians", in the early reigns with the addition of "and the Vlachs", but Ivan Asen II (r. 1218–41), who after the Battle of Klokotnitsa in 1230 expanded his control over most of the Byzantine Empire's former European possessions, also adopted the title of "Tsar and autokrator of all the Bulgarians and the Greeks", a title which had first been claimed by Prince Simeon I (r. 893–927).[14]
  • Similarly, when the Serbian king Stefan Dušan claimed the imperial title in 1345/46, he used the title "basileus and autokrator of Serbia and of Romania" in Greek, and "Tsar of the Serbs and Greeks" in Serbian. The use of "Romania" (i.e. the land of the Romans, the Byzantine Empire) and not the usual Byzantine formula "of the Romans" signified that although he claimed the direct succession to all Byzantine emperors from the time of Constantine the Great, he lacked possession of Constantinople and of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which alone conferred full legitimacy.[15]
  • Deriving from this usage, the Russian tsars, from the establishment of the Russian Empire up to the fall of the Russian monarchy in 1917, used the formula "Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias". Ivan III as grand prince styled himself as autocrat,[11] while Feodor I was the first to be crowned as both tsar and autocrat.[16] The title samoderzhets (autocrat) became standard in the title of the tsar from the 17th century.[16] In the Slavic languages, the title was used in a translated form (Bulgarian: самодържец, samodarzhets, Serbian: самодржац, samodržac; Russian: самодержец, samoderzhets).

References

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  1. ^ "Autocrat - Etymology, Origin & Meaning".
  2. ^ Wifstrand, Albert (2005). Epochs and Styles: Selected Writings on the New Testament, Greek Language and Greek Culture in the Post-classical Era. Mohr Siebeck. ISBN 978-3-16-148627-2.
  3. ^ Pritchett, William Kendrick (1974). The Greek state at war. University of California Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-520-02565-3.
  4. ^ Diodorus Siculus, XVI.89.1–3
  5. ^ Diodorus Siculus, XVII.4.9; Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, I.1.1–3
  6. ^ Andocides, On the Peace with Sparta
  7. ^ Polybius, Histories, III.86.7
  8. ^ a b Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford University Press. p. 235. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.
  9. ^ Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford University Press. p. 1964. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.
  10. ^ Stephenson, Paul (2003). The Legend of Basil the Bulgar-Slayer. Cambridge University Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-521-81530-7.
  11. ^ a b Riasanovsky, Nicholas V. (27 October 2005). Russian Identities: A Historical Survey. Oxford University Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-19-986823-0.
  12. ^ Gábor Ágoston (2023). The Last Muslim Conquest: The Ottoman Empire and Its Wars in Europe. p. 335.
  13. ^ Lordkipanidze, Mariam Davydovna; Hewitt, George B. (1987), Georgia in the XI-XII Centuries, Ganatleba Publishers: Tbilisi.
  14. ^ Božilov, Ivan (2011). "La Bulgarie". In Laiou, Angeliki E.; Morrisson, Cécile (eds.). Le monde byzantin, Tome III: Byzance et ses voisins : 1204–1453 (in French). Presses universitaires de France. pp. 343–354 (esp. 345, 346–348). ISBN 978-2-13-052008-5.
  15. ^ Maksimović, Ljubomir (2011). "La Serbie: pouvoir et organisation sociale". In Laiou, Angeliki E.; Morrisson, Cécile (eds.). Le monde byzantin, Tome III: Byzance et ses voisins : 1204–1453 (in French). Presses universitaires de France. pp. 323–342 (esp. 333–336). ISBN 978-2-13-052008-5.
  16. ^ a b Pavlov, A. P. (2006). "Fedor Ivanovich and Boris Godunov (1584–1605)". In Perrie, Maureen (ed.). The Cambridge History of Russia: Volume 1: From Early Rus' to 1689. Cambridge University Press. p. 266. doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521812276. ISBN 978-1-107-63942-3.

Further reading

[edit]

Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.

Wikipedia

Autokrator

Autokrator or Autocrator (Ancient Greek: αὐτοκράτωρ, romanized: autokrátōr, lit. 'self-ruler', from αὐτός, autós, 'self' + κράτος, krátos, 'dominion') is a Greek epithet applied to an individual who is unrestrained by superiors. It has been applied to military commanders-in-chief as well as Roman and Byzantine emperors as the translation of the Latin title imperator. Its connection with Byzantine and Russian-style absolutism gave rise to the modern terms autocracy and autocrat.

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Autokrator (metal band)

Autokrator is a French blackened death metal band, formed in 2014 dealing with history, psychology and Christianity.

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Wikipedia

Hippokrates Autokrator Nikephoros

Hippokrates Autokrator Nikephoros was a king with a Greek name only known from a coin in a private collection. His name is partly reconstructed. The first name Hippokrates is not fully preserved on the coin. Only pokrates is still visible. His known coin is a tetradrachm, showing the head of the king. The portrait resembles that of the Seleucic kings Seleucus VI Epiphanes Nikator (c. 96–94 BC), and in the length of his beard Demetrios II, from the facial feature Antiochos IX. On the reverse of the coin is shown Zeus sitting on the throne, holding a wreath in place of the usual Nike. The coin is clearly dated to the year 81/80 BC, according to the Seleucid era. Hippokrates Autokrator Nikephoros is perhaps also known from a coin of Kamnaskires III and Anzaze, that overstruck a coin of that king. A similar overstrike is known from a coin of Characene king Tiraios II. The exact position of Hippokrates Autokrator Nikephoros is not known. The style of his coins is different to those of the Elymais making is unlikely that he was a king there. His title 'Basileus Autokrator' was used by Seleucid usurpers such as Tryphon (141-138 BC), also the title 'Strategos Autokrator' has been documented. He might have ruled briefly in Charakene as the overstrike of Tiraios II indicates. One recently proposed hypothesis is that Hippokrates was a Seleucid general (strategos) of the Seleucid king Antiochos XII, after whose death on the battle field 83/82 BC against the Nabateans, Hippokrates would have escaped with the remaining Seleucid troops to the North-East, and tried to establish himself in the area of Elymais. Winning a battle on the way would have brought him the title 'Nikephoros'.

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Wikipedia

List of Byzantine emperors

The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Byzantine Empire, which fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised sovereign authority are included, to the exclusion of junior co-emperors who never attained the status of sole or senior ruler, as well as of the various usurpers or rebels who claimed the imperial title. The following list starts with Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, who rebuilt the city of Byzantium as the imperial capital, Constantinople, and who was regarded by the later emperors as the model ruler. Modern historians distinguish this later phase of the Roman Empire as the Byzantine Empire due to the imperial seat moving from Rome to Byzantium, the Empire's integration of Christianity, and the predominance of Greek over Latin. The Byzantine Empire was the direct legal continuation of the eastern half of the Roman Empire following its division in 395. Emperors listed below up to Theodosius I in 395 were sole or joint rulers of the entire Roman Empire. The Western Roman Empire continued until 476. Byzantine emperors considered themselves Roman emperors in direct succession from Augustus; the term "Byzantine" became conventional in Western historiography in the 19th century. The use of the title "Roman Emperor" by those ruling from Constantinople was not contested until after the papal coronation of the Frankish Charlemagne as Holy Roman emperor (25 December 800). The title of all emperors preceding Heraclius was officially "Augustus", although other titles such as Dominus were also used. Their names were preceded by Imperator Caesar and followed by Augustus. Following Heraclius, the title commonly became the Greek Basileus (Gr. Βασιλεύς), which had formerly meant sovereign, though Augustus continued to be used in a reduced capacity. Following the establishment of the rival Holy Roman Empire in Western Europe, the title "Autokrator" (Gr. Αὐτοκράτωρ) was increasingly used. In later centuries, the emperor could be referred to by Western Christians as the "emperor of the Greeks". Towards the end of the Empire, the standard imperial formula of the Byzantine ruler was "[Emperor's name] in Christ, Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans" (cf. Ῥωμαῖοι and Rûm). Dynasties were a common tradition and structure for rulers and government systems in the Medieval period. The principle or formal requirement for hereditary succession was not a part of the Empire's governance; hereditary succession was a custom and tradition, carried on as habit and benefited from some sense of legitimacy, but not as a "rule" or inviolable requirement for office at the time. Throughout the history of the Byzantine Empire, the vast majority of emperors originated from the state's traditional military recruitment grounds. During the early imperial period, many rulers hailed from the Latin-speaking regions of the Balkans (Illyricum) and Thrace, whereas in subsequent centuries the leadership was predominantly drawn from Anatolia and Thrace. Individuals of Armenian origin or descent also represented a notable and recurring element within the imperial succession, producing several prominent rulers and dynasties. Empress Irene of Athens represents the sole documented instance in Byzantine history of a ruler born in the Greek peninsula.

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TOPIC OF THE DAY

Greenwood / Black Wall Street

Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.

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TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE DAY

Which Black woman became the first elected to the United States Congress?

Shirley Chisholm, elected in 1968.