Emperor Theophilos's bride show
A witty reply cost Kassia a crown
Byzantine emperors sometimes picked a bride at a beauty show, handing a golden apple to the chosen one. Young Theophilos told Kassia: 'Through a woman came the baser things.' She replied: 'And through a woman the better.' Theodora got the apple; Kassia became an abbess and the only known woman whose hymns entered the Byzantine liturgy.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 9th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Asia
- c. 850 Prambanan — 20 years later
Alive at the time
- Louis the Pious (aged 52)
- Al-Khwarizmi (aged 50)
- Charles the Bald (aged 7)
- Rurik (aged 0)