An Unknown Hero: Portrait Discovered of the Tragic Last Roman Emperor

New in PJ Media:

The news out of Greece is momentous. The first and only contemporary portrait of the last Roman emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, has just been discovered, and yes, you need a print for your office wall. The Emperor Constantine XI is a man you should know: he is one of the largely forgotten heroes of our civilization who deserve to be better known today. A paragon of faith under fire and courage in the face of adversity, his career was a lengthy series of tragedies and losses; yet he gave history a brilliant example of what it means to be a man of principle even when nothing could be more difficult.

Greek City Times reported that “an exciting discovery was made at the Monastery of Taxiarches: a portrait of Constantine XI Palaiologos, believed to be the only portrait of the last emperor of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire.” That’s what people call Constantine’s empire today, but those names only came into use long after the demise of the empire itself. During its long lifetime, the people who lived in the empire called themselves simply Romans. They understood that Constantine XI, who was killed as Constantinople fell to the Ottoman jihadis on May 29, 1453, was Roman emperor in a long line that stretched back to Augustus Caesar.

As “Empire of God: How the Byzantines Saved Civilization” explains, by the time of Constantine XI, that empire was in its death throes. After fourteen hundred years as an empire, which followed 450 years as a republic and two years as a kingdom, the end was at hand in the great city of New Rome that had been the empire’s capital for 1100 of those years, better known as Constantinople.

The day before the end, with the Ottomans storming the city’s walls and it only being a matter of time before they broke through, Constantine addressed his officers. He knew the badly outnumbered and surrounded Romans had no hope of victory, but he exhorted them to stand for their faith and their families and die like men:

I am imploring you to fight like men with brave souls, as you have done from the beginning up to this day, against the enemy of our faith. I hand over to you my glorious, famous, respected, noble city, the shining Queen of cities, our homeland. You know well, my brothers, that we have four obligations in common, which force us to prefer death over survival: first our faith and piety; second our homeland; third, the emperor anointed by the Lord and fourth; our relatives and friends.

There is more. Read the rest here.