Sisinnios Triphyllios

Who is Sisinnios Triphyllios?

Sisinnios Triphyllios was one of the senior dignitaries of the Byzantine Empire during the reign of Empress Irene of Athens and her successor Emperor Nikephoros I.

Sisinnios first appears in Irene's unique triumphal procession on Easter Monday, 1 April 799, through the imperial capital, Constantinople. At the time, he held the post of strategos of Thrace, the theme closest to Constantinople, and holder of the supreme dignity of patrikios. He was one of the four patrikioi leading the four white horses which drew the imperial carriage, a role which marked these men out as the most prominent of Irene's supporters among the high dignitaries of the state.

Despite their earlier support of Irene, the Triphyllioi brothers opposed the rising influence of the eunuch Aetios and the fiscal policies adopted by Irene over the next years. They were thus among the leaders of her overthrow by the General Logothete, Nikephoros I, on 31 October 802. As a patrikios, Sisinnios remained influential under Nikephoros, but is not recorded as having held any specific post.