Theophilos Erotikos was an 11th-century Byzantine

Byzantine

Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

 general, and governor in Serbia and Cyprus

Cyprus

Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...

, where he led a short-lived rebellion in 1042.

Serbian revolts

Around 1034, according to John Skylitzes

John Skylitzes

John Skylitzes, latinized as Ioannes Scylitzes was a Greek historian of the late 11th century. He was born in the beginning of 1040's and died after 1101.- Life :Very little is known about his life...

, the Serbs renounced Byzantine rule. Stefan Vojislav, cousin of the assassinated Jovan Vladimir

Jovan Vladimir

Jovan Vladimir or John Vladimir was ruler of Duklja, the most powerful Serbian principality of the time, from around 1000 to 1016. He ruled during the protracted war between the Byzantine Empire and the First Bulgarian Empire...

, organized a rebellion while the Byzantine Empire was undergoing a change of emperor. Vojislav was defeated and imprisoned in Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

, and his realm was restored under the control of Erotikos as "strategos

Strategos

Strategos, plural strategoi, is used in Greek to mean "general". In the Hellenistic and Byzantine Empires the term was also used to describe a military governor...

of Serbia". Voijislav regained his freedom and organized a new rebellion in late 1037 or early 1038 targeting the Serb allies of the Emperor in the neighbouring regions. In 1040, Erotikos was expelled by Vojislav of Duklja after the latter escaped from imprisonment in Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

.

Cyprus

Erotikos was nevertheless appointed as governor of Cyprus, and in 1042, at the death of Michael V

Michael V

Michael V "the Caulker" or Kalaphates , , was Byzantine emperor for 4 months in 1041–1042, as the nephew and successor of Michael IV and the adoptive son of his wife, the Empress Zoe.Michael V was the son of Stephen by Maria, a sister of Emperor Michael IV...

 and the resulting turmoil in the imperial government, he decided to take advantage of the situation: he incited the local populace to revolt, especially against the local krites (senior fiscal and judicial official), who was accused of excessive taxation and murdered by the rebels. The new emperor, Constantine IX Monomachos

Constantine IX Monomachos

Constantine IX Monomachos, Latinized as Constantine IX Monomachus , c. 1000 – January 11, 1055, reigned as Byzantine emperor from June 11, 1042 to January 11, 1055. He had been chosen by the Empress Zoe as a husband and co-emperor in 1042, although he had been exiled for conspiring...

, sent a fleet under Constantine Chage, which quickly suppressed the rebellion and arrested Erotikos. The rebel was brought to Constantinople, where he was paraded on horseback in the Hippodrome

Hippodrome of Constantinople

The Hippodrome of Constantinople was a circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Today it is a square named Sultanahmet Meydanı in the Turkish city of Istanbul, with only a few fragments of the original structure surviving...

dressed in women's clothes. After this public humiliation, his estates and fortune were confiscated, but Erotikos himself was set free.