- ... that the Anatolic, Armeniac, Opsician, and Thracesian themes, the first four Byzantine themes to be established, descended from the field armies of the East Roman army?
- ... that the Byzantine general John Kourkouas, supreme commander of the Byzantine armies in the East for 22 years, was hailed by his contemporaries as "another Trajan or Belisarius"?
- ... that the Byzantine emperor Justin II had his cousin, the general and former consul Justin, murdered in his sleep as a potential rival to the throne?
