Petrus ( el, Πέτρος, ''Petros'', also known as Peter in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

(c. 545 in

Arabissus Arabissus or Arabissos ( grc, Ἀραβισσός), also known as Tripotamos, was a town in ancient Cataonia, then Cappadocia, and later in the Roman province of Armenia Secunda. The Byzantine Emperor Maurice was born there in 539. A cave of the ...

Cappadocia Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Revo ...

– 27 November 602 in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

Chalcedon Chalcedon ( or ; , sometimes transliterated as ''Chalkedon'') was an ancient maritime town of Bithynia, in Asia Minor. It was located almost directly opposite Byzantium, south of Scutari (modern Üsküdar) and it is now a district of the cit ...

) was a brother of the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

Emperor Maurice (r. 582 - 602).

Background

Petrus was a son of Paul, head of the

Byzantine Senate The Byzantine senate or eastern Roman senate ( el, Σύγκλητος, ''Synklētos'', or , ''Gerousia'') was a continuation of the Roman Senate, established in the 4th century by Constantine I. It survived for centuries, but the senate's powers ...

and a sibling to Maurice,

Byzantine emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as ...

; Gordia, the wife of

Philippicus Philippicus ( la, Filepicus; el, Φιλιππικός, Philippikós) was Byzantine emperor from 711 to 713. He took power in a coup against the unpopular emperor Justinian II, and was deposed in a similarly violent manner nineteen months later ...

; and Theoctista.Whitby (1988), pp. 5 He had a son named

Domitian Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Fl ...

, who became bishop of Melitene.

Military career

Raised to the rank of '' curopalates'', he was an important general in the Byzantine army. Together with

Priscus Priscus of Panium (; el, Πρίσκος; 410s AD/420s AD-after 472 AD) was a 5th-century Eastern Roman diplomat and Greek historian and rhetorician (or sophist)...: "For information about Attila, his court and the organization of life genera ...

and Comentiolus, he was one of the three commanders-in-chief during

Maurice's Balkan campaigns Maurice's Balkan campaigns were a series of military expeditions conducted by Roman Emperor Maurice (reigned 582–602) in an attempt to defend the Balkan provinces of the Roman Empire from the Avars and the South Slavs. Maurice was the only Ea ...

. Though less able than Priscus, he succeeded the latter as leader of the Roman forces in

Moesia Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; el, Μοισία, Moisía) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River, which included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Alban ...

in 594, being more loyal to the emperor, his own brother. The reason for this replacement was Priscus' refusal to obey the emperor's orders to spend the winter on the northern

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

bank in 593 and to carry on fighting the

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

. Petrus defeated the Slavs in 594 near Marcianopolis and maintained the Danube between

Novae A nova (plural novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", which is Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. Causes of the dramati ...

and the

Danube Delta The Danube Delta ( ro, Delta Dunării, ; uk, Дельта Дунаю, Deľta Dunaju, ) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Ro ...

. Later on, he crossed the Danube and fought his way to the Helibacia river, defeating numerous Slavic tribes in the course. 601, he crossed the

into Avar homeland and defeated them in several battles. When in 602, his brother ordered his troops to spend the winter on the northern bank of the Danube, Petrus made no attempt to disobey this order, as opposed to Priscus in 593. Mutiny was the result. Although Petrus attempted to calm down his troops in vain, they marched to

and overthrew Maurice. Petrus was subsequently murdered. Although Theophylact Simocatta portrayed Petrus as unable, relying on Priscus as only surviving witness, Petrus' expertise was sophisticated enough to put him forward as a candidate for the authorship of the Strategikon of Maurice.

References

Literature

* Michael Whitby: ''The Emperor Maurice and his Historian – Theophylact Simocatta on Persian and Balkan Warfare''. Oxford 1988. {{DEFAULTSORT:Peter 6th-century births 602 deaths Generals of Maurice Justinian dynasty Magistri militum 6th-century Byzantine generals 7th-century Byzantine generals Executed Byzantine people Avar–Byzantine wars 7th-century executions by the Byzantine Empire Kouropalatai