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As The Komnenoi World Turns, S1 E2
Dec. 1st, 2011 02:35 amNow I'd like to pause and explain the AIMA prophecy.
Manuel was mad about prophecies and astrology and all manner of woo-woo; he was a very superstitious man and he saw signs and portents in everything. The time he didn't spend in bed with his niece or dodging assassins was spent holding crystals and trying to contact his 'spirit animal'. The AIMA prophecy, ascribed to someone called 'Leo the Wise', who really should've been called 'Leo the Jackass' for the amount of bloodshed and tragedy he'd cause, went thusly: the initial letter of the name of each Byzantine emperor would spell the word aima (Greek for blood), a sequence destined to repeat over and over. So far the sequence had gone as follows:
A: Alexios I
I: Ioannes II
M: Manuel
So they needed another A to fulfil the prophecy and start the sequence over again. Now Manuel had many sleepless nights over this, because he and Bertha had failed to produce a son. Despite years of enjoying the finest vaginas the Byzantine empire had to offer, Manuel was without an heir. Undaunted, he resolved to name every potential heir with an A name to make sure the prophecy would come to pass, one way or another. When his niece Theodora gave birth to a son, Manuel named him Alexios. When he betrothed his daughter Maria Porphyrogenita to Prince Béla of Hungary, Manuel had Béla renamed Alexios too, just in case.
( Read more... )
Manuel was mad about prophecies and astrology and all manner of woo-woo; he was a very superstitious man and he saw signs and portents in everything. The time he didn't spend in bed with his niece or dodging assassins was spent holding crystals and trying to contact his 'spirit animal'. The AIMA prophecy, ascribed to someone called 'Leo the Wise', who really should've been called 'Leo the Jackass' for the amount of bloodshed and tragedy he'd cause, went thusly: the initial letter of the name of each Byzantine emperor would spell the word aima (Greek for blood), a sequence destined to repeat over and over. So far the sequence had gone as follows:
A: Alexios I
I: Ioannes II
M: Manuel
So they needed another A to fulfil the prophecy and start the sequence over again. Now Manuel had many sleepless nights over this, because he and Bertha had failed to produce a son. Despite years of enjoying the finest vaginas the Byzantine empire had to offer, Manuel was without an heir. Undaunted, he resolved to name every potential heir with an A name to make sure the prophecy would come to pass, one way or another. When his niece Theodora gave birth to a son, Manuel named him Alexios. When he betrothed his daughter Maria Porphyrogenita to Prince Béla of Hungary, Manuel had Béla renamed Alexios too, just in case.
( Read more... )
