However, Alexios II was deposed and replaced by Andronikos I, who reigned in blood. After the Komnenoi were deposed by the people of Constantinople in 1185, it might have seemed the prophet had been mistaken, but this was not so. In 1204, when the city of Constantinople fell to the Latins, the youthful grandsons of Andronikos, Alexios and David came and seized the city of Trebizond. The emperor Alexios declared himself emperor of the Romans and through his "herald and forerunner", his brother David, advanced along the Pontic coast to seize the Constantinople. For a short time it would have seemed the Komnenoi were back in power, but then when David's army was destroyed by Laskaris and Alexios himself captured by the Turkish Sultan of Konya, Alexios restricted to the lands along the Pontic coast from west of Sinope to Georgia. However, in spite of this, the emperors of Trebizond did not abandon their imperial title and so it would seem not the AIMA prophecy.

Alexios I the Grand Komnenos himself might have even been following the tradition when he named his son Ioannes [John I 1235-8]. The people of Trebizond themselves might also have been interested in preserving the prophecy when Manuel, Alexios's second son, was chosen rather than John's son Ioannikos to be John's successor when he died from falling from his horse during a polo game(2). Manuel himself completed the AIMA by choosing his son Andronikos to succeed him(3). However, when Andronikos died in 1266, the AIMA took a break and civil discord followed with the reign of George Komnenos who was betrayed by his nobles into the hands of the Mongol Khan at Tabriz in 1280(4).

However, after these misfortunes, the Trapezuntines seemingly did not give up on AIMA, but rather according to Rustam Shukurov reversed the order to suit their own ends(5). Under Ioannes [John II 1280-1297], George's successor, who abandoned the imperial title of emperor of the Romans, the AIMA prophecy was reversed AMAI and the tradition of ignoring outsiders from the imperial line from the prophecy was continued (i.e. Andronikos I Gidon 1222-1235). Under John II, the new AIMA was meant to mean Alexios I, Manuel I, Ioannes II himself. The final alpha was meant to be his son and successor Alexios II as Constantine Loukites informs us(5). Alexios in keeping with the earlier tradition of the firt AIMA (Alexios I, John II, Manuel I, and Alexios II) was succeeded by his son Andronikos and here the blood meaning of AIMA showed itself again. For Andronikos III (1330-1332), Alexios II's son, then slaughtered his two brothers, George and Michael. After Andronikos, civil war descended upon the empire of Trebizond(6)hen an AIMA had passed, the prophecy fufilled itself in blood.

The last use of the reverse AIMA was fully intentional and the most bloody of all, and when it failed to be fufilled Manuel I's question was answered, "How long will the line of the emperor Alexios Komnenos endure?" Alexios III (1349-1390) seems to have passed over his first son Basil and selected his second Manuel to succeed. Manuel III (1390-1416) then choose his son Alexios to succeed him and here the story assumes its bloodiness. According to Pero Tafur (see here, Alexios IV (1416-1429), then murdered his father Manuel. Alexios IV then chose his son Ioannes to succeed him, who according to Chalcondylas revolted against his father and mother. See here. In place of John, who was exiled to Georgia, Alexios raised up his son Skantarios and it might have seemed the reverse AIMA was broken, but fate intervened when John returned and committed parricide(7) Even then, AIMA was not abandonded. Rather than choosing to be succeeded by his brother David, John IV (1429-1460), selected his nephew by Skantarios, Alexios, to succeed him. Alas, these mesures failed and David Komnenos took the throne and under him the empire of Trebizond was surrendered to the Turks in 1461. However, this was not the end of AIMA. In 1463, AIMA finally wreaked its terrible vengence on the Komnenoi when David, his three sons, and Alexios, the son of Skantarios, were killed by the sword at the order of the Turkish sultan Mehmed.

In conclusion, in my opinion, the Komnenoi and then the Grand Komnenoi followed the AIMA prophecy and the longer they followed it, the worse its results grew. First in 1185, it ended in the deposition of the dynasty though it lived on. Then in 1280, it ended in the betrayal of George Komnenos and the loss of the imperial title. In 1332, it ended in civil war, and in 1463, it ended in the deaths of all the male heirs of the Grand Komnenoi and the destruction of a dynasty. The prophecy we can interpret as a symbol of the results of clinging to power. The longer the Komnenoi clung, the worse its results. AIMA BLOOD!