Tarchaneiotes, John: A governor in Asia Minor from 1297. He was a skilful general with exceptional administrative abilities and temporarily improved the position of the Byzantines in the area. But he was blamed for planning a conspiracy against the emperor and was forced to leave Asia Minor in 1300.
Timur Chan or (Tamerlane) (1336-1405): Turco-Tatar conqueror, ruler (chan) of Samarkand and founder of a large empire extending from China to the Mediterranean Sea.
Thema ("Theme"): term for a military and administrative division of the Byzantine empire under the command of a general. The militarisation of the administration, which began in the 6th century seems to have been completed by the 8th century. The system of themata, which was maintained until the end of the Byzantine period, was used in the late Byzantine period mostly for fiscal reasons.
Themes from the Old Testament: iconographic themes inspired by the Old Testament.
Themes with an eschatological content: themes related to life after death and the desire of the faithful to gain a place in paradise.
Theodore I Angelos Doukas: Despotes of Epiros from 1215 to 1224. After Thessalonike was recovered from the Latins in 1221 he was declared emperor and maintained his authority until 1230.
Theodore I Laskaris:Founder of the Empire of Nicaea (1204-22) and son-in-law of the Byzantine emperor Alexios III Angelos. After the fall of the Byzantine empire in 1204 he was declared emperor and organised the Byzantine state in exile.
Theodore I Palaiologos: Despotes of the Morea (1382-1407), third son of the emperor John V Palaiologos and Helen Kantakouzene.
Theodore II Laskaris:Byzantine emperor (1254-58). Son of John III Vatatzes. After his death, Michael VIII Palaiologos usurped the throne of the legitimate successor John IV Laskaris (1258-61) and founded a new dynasty.
Theodore II Palaiologos:Despotes of the Morea (1407-43), second son of the emperor Manuel II Palaiologos.
Theoleptos of Philadelphia (1250-1322):Anti-Unionist metropolitan of Philadelphia (1283/4-1322), fanatical opponent of the Arsenites. On Mt. Athos he was introduced to mystical life, of which he became a defender; he is considered a forerunner of hesychasm. His writings include religious poetry, treatises on monasticism, epistles to Irene Choumnaina (of whom he was the spiritual advisor) as well as treatises with an anti-Unionist and anti-Arsenite content.
Thomas Magistros (1275-ca.1347): Philologist and writer from Thessalonike. He taught important personalities such as Philotheos Kokkinos, Demetrios Triklinios and Gregory Akindynos. He produced works on grammar and commentaries on works of Pindar, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes and Synesios as well as rhetorical and political works.
Thomas Palaiologos: Despotes of Mistra (1428-1460) and son of the emperor Manuel II Palaiologos.
Three-aisled timber-roofed basilica: architectural type of church consisting of a rectangular ground plan divided into three parts by two series of colonnades; it has a semicircular apse on its eastern side and is covered by a saddleback wooden roof.
Titular emperors: Latin emperors who, after the recovery of Constantinople by the Byzantines, bore the title of Latin emperor of Constantinople without actually holding the office.
Tocci: Italian family from Benevento which played an important role in the history of the Ionian islands as well as in that of the Despotate of Epiros in the 14th and 15th centuries.
Tome - tomography: term used for documents of a political and mostly an ecclesiastical nature.
Transverse-vault church: relatively small, single-naved, three-aisled or cross-shaped edifices, in which the longitudinal barrel-vault of the roofing is interrupted by a transverse barrel-vault. The crossing of the barrel-vaults, which are of unequal height and which are covered by saddleback roofs, clearly outlines the shape of the cross in the roof of the church.
Tree of Jesse: Iconographic theme developed in the West and appearing from the 13th century on in Byzantine art. It constitutes a pictorial rendering of the prophecy of Isaiah (11,1). The theological message of the representation is the symbolic depiction of Jesus' human genealogy from the line of King David.
Triklinios, Demetrios:Classical philologist who lived in Thessalonike around 1300 or 1325. He was a student of Thomas Magistros and Maximos Planoudes and probably directed a school and a manuscript copying workshop in Thessalonike. He copied and published many works of classical literature, accompanied by comments, and also wrote a treatise on astronomy.
Typikon:the set of regulations on the administration of a monastery and rules of behaviour of its monks.