emperor of the East in 912, left the care of the empire to his wife Helena, who oppressed the people with taxes, and sold all the offices in church and state to the highest bidders; whilst the emperor employed himself in reading, writing, and the fine arts, till he became as good an architect and painter as he was a bad prince. He wrote several biographical and geographical works, which would have done honour to his name if he had not neglected his duties to compose them. He died in 959.

Dracosses, the son of Emmanuel Palaeologus, was placed on the throne by Sultan Amurath in 1448. But Mahammed II., his successor, resolving to dethrone him, laid siege to Constantinople by sea and land, and took it by assault in 1453, after it had held out fifty-eight days. The unfortunate emperor seeing the Turks enter the breaches, threw himself into the midst of the enemy and was cut to pieces; the children of the imperial house were massacred by the soldiers; and the women were reserved to gratify the lust of the conqueror. Thus terminated the dynasty of the Constantines, 1123 years after its establishment at Constantinople.

Robert, a learned physician, born at Cean. He taught polite literature in that city, and acquired great reputation by his skill in the Greek language, in history, and in medicine. He died in 1603, at the age of a hundred and three years. He wrote a dictionary in Greek and Latin, and other works.