Theoktiste

Theoktiste (Greek: Θεοκτίστη), also known as Phlorina (Φλώρινα), was the mother of the 9th-century Byzantine empress Theodora, the wife of Emperor Theophilos.

Theoktiste Phlorina was the spouse of Marinos, an officer in the Byzantine army with the rank of tourmarches or droungarios. The family originally lived in, or hailed from, the town of Ebissa in Paphlagonia. Some modern genealogists, including Cyril Toumanoff and Nicholas Adontz, have suggested that Marinos hailed from the Armenian noble clan of the Mamikonian. According to Nina Garsoïan in the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, however, "[a]ttractive though it is, this thesis cannot be proven for want of sources."

With Marinos, Theoktiste had two sons, Bardas and Petronas, and four daughters, Theodora, Sophia, Maria and Irene. In 821 or 830 (the date is disputed), Theodora married Theophilos, who in 829 succeeded his father Michael II the Amorian (ruled 820–829) as emperor. With her daughter's coronation as empress, Theoktiste too was honoured with the exalted title of zoste patrikia. At about the same time she bought a mansion in Constantinople, in the quarter of Psamathia, from the patrikios Niketas, which became her residence.

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