Portal:Byzantine Empire/Selected biography/7

Theoktistos (Θεόκτιστος, died November 20, 855), was an influential senior Byzantine official during the reigns of Michael II and his son Theophilos, and regent for the underage Michael III. He is noted for his administrative and political competence, for ending the Iconoclasm (the "Triumph of Orthodoxy"), and for promoting a major renaissance in education within the Empire with the foundation of the University of Magnaura.

Theoktistos was also the uncle of Cyril and Methodius. Following the death of their father, in 843 he invited them to Constantinople to help them in their studies. During the regency, the empress' brother, Bardas, was Theoktistos' primary antagonist. In 855, Michael III came of age at 16, and turned the control of the government over to his uncle Bardas, raising him to the highest rank - that of caesar. It was then that Bardas and Michael decided to eliminate Theoktistos, who was arrested and killed.

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