Konstantinos Porphyregenitus, de Administrando Impero (commentary and evalution)

De Administrando Impreio, an important work by the 10th-century Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. It was written between 948 and 952, as an internal and foreign policy manual for the use of his son and successor, the Emperor Romanus II. It contains advice on running the ethnically-mixed empire as well as fighting external enemies.The work describes various nations, intere alia, the Pechenegs, Kievan Rus', Hungarians (under the name Turkoi), Bulgarians, Tatars, and Khazars to the north; the Arabs to the east and south and their expansion as far as Spain; and the Germans, Lombards, Venetians, Dalmatians, Croats, Serbs, and Moravians to the west. As well as historical and geographical information, Constantine gives information on how to manipulate each nation against each other, rather than use imperial money and resources to wage war against them directly. Constantine also provides information about imperial provinces, including Armenia, Iberia, Cyprus, and the Peloponnese, with recent diplomatic events which were considered useful for Romanus' instruction.