AIMA prophecy
Encyclopedia
The AIMA prophecy was a prophecy
current during the reign of the Byzantine emperor, Manuel I Comnenus. It claimed to foretell that the initial letters of the names of the emperors of the Comnenus dynasty would spell aima (αιμα), the Greek
word for blood. The emperors had been, in order, Alexius I (A, alpha), Ioannes II (I, iota), and Manuel I (M, mu) (whose succession was unexpected since he was the fourth son of Ioannis). Because of his belief that his successor's name would have to start with the letter alpha, Manuel had the name Alexius bestowed on his daughter Maria's first fiancé and on at least one and perhaps two of his own illegitimate sons, and finally on his legitimate son Alexius, child of his second marriage.
The reign of Alexius II lasted only three years, before he was deposed and killed by his cousin, Andronicus I Comnenus, with whom, apparently, the AIMA sequence began again. In accordance with this, Andronicus would be succeeded in turn by an emperor whose name began with the letter I (iota). Andronicus hence feared his throne would be usurped by another cousin, Isaac Comnenus of Cyprus. In the event, after an uprising Andronicus was killed in 1185 and succeeded by Isaac II Angelus, with whom the repeated sequence apparently stopped.
Prophecy
Prophecy is a process in which one or more messages that have been communicated to a prophet are then communicated to others. Such messages typically involve divine inspiration, interpretation, or revelation of conditioned events to come as well as testimonies or repeated revelations that the...
current during the reign of the Byzantine emperor, Manuel I Comnenus. It claimed to foretell that the initial letters of the names of the emperors of the Comnenus dynasty would spell aima (αιμα), the Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
word for blood. The emperors had been, in order, Alexius I (A, alpha), Ioannes II (I, iota), and Manuel I (M, mu) (whose succession was unexpected since he was the fourth son of Ioannis). Because of his belief that his successor's name would have to start with the letter alpha, Manuel had the name Alexius bestowed on his daughter Maria's first fiancé and on at least one and perhaps two of his own illegitimate sons, and finally on his legitimate son Alexius, child of his second marriage.
The reign of Alexius II lasted only three years, before he was deposed and killed by his cousin, Andronicus I Comnenus, with whom, apparently, the AIMA sequence began again. In accordance with this, Andronicus would be succeeded in turn by an emperor whose name began with the letter I (iota). Andronicus hence feared his throne would be usurped by another cousin, Isaac Comnenus of Cyprus. In the event, after an uprising Andronicus was killed in 1185 and succeeded by Isaac II Angelus, with whom the repeated sequence apparently stopped.