Artabasdos
Artabasdos or Artavasdos ( or , from , , ), Latinized as Artabasdus, was a Byzantine general of Armenian descent who seized the throne from June 741 until November 743, in usurpation of the reign of Constantine V. Rise to power In about 713, Emperor Anastasius II appointed Artabasdos as governor ( ''stratēgos'') of the Armeniac Theme (Θέμα Άρμενιάκων, ''Thema Armeniakōn''), the successor of the Army of Armenia, which occupied the old areas of the Pontus, Armenia Minor, and northern Cappadocia, with its capital at Amasea. After Anastasius' fall, Artabasdos made an agreement with his colleague Leo, the governor of the Anatolic Theme, to overthrow the new Emperor Theodosius III. This agreement was sealed with the engagement of Leo's daughter Anna to Artabasdos, and the marriage took place after Leo III ascended the throne in March 717. Artabasdos was awarded the rank of '' kouropalates'' ("master of the palace") and became commander (count, ''komēs'') of t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Anna, Wife Of Artabasdos
Anna (Greek: Άννα, fl. 715–773 CE) was the wife of Artabasdos, one of two rival Byzantine emperors in a civil war which lasted from June, 741 to November, 743 CE. The other emperor was her brother, Constantine V. Family Anna was a daughter of Leo III the Isaurian and his wife Maria. She was a sister of Constantine V. She also had two sisters named Irene and Kosmo, whose names and place of burial were recorded in De Ceremoniis by Constantine VII, however nothing else is known of them. Marriage The throne of the Byzantine Empire was unstable in the early 710s. Justinian II had been deposed and executed in 711. His deposition was followed by the brief reigns of Philippikos (711–713), Anastasios II (713–715) and Theodosios III (715–717). All three were elevated to the throne after coup d'états by factions of the Byzantine army. Under these conditions two military commanders sought each other as allies. According to the chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor, Leo, stra ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Constantine V
Constantine V (; July 718 – 14 September 775) was Byzantine emperor from 741 to 775. His reign saw a consolidation of Byzantine security from external threats. As an able military leader, Constantine took advantage of Third Fitna, civil war in the Muslim world to make limited offensives on the Al-'Awasim, Arab frontier. With this eastern frontier secure, he undertook repeated campaigns against the First Bulgarian Empire, Bulgars in the Balkans. His military activity, and policy of settling Christian populations from the Arab frontier in Thrace, made Byzantium's hold on its Balkan territories more secure. He was also responsible for important military and administrative innovations and reforms. Religious strife and controversy was a prominent feature of his reign. His fervent support of Byzantine Iconoclasm, iconoclasm and opposition to Christian monasticism, monasticism led to his vilification by some contemporary commentators and the majority of later Byzantine writers, who ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Byzantine Empire Under The Isaurian Dynasty
The Byzantine Empire was ruled by the Isaurian dynasty (or Syrian dynasty) from 717 to 802. The Isaurian emperors were successful in defending and consolidating the empire against the caliphates after the onslaught of the early Muslim conquests, but were less successful in Europe, where they suffered setbacks against the Bulgars, had to give up the Exarchate of Ravenna, and lost influence over Italy and the papacy to the growing power of the Franks. The Isaurian dynasty is chiefly associated with Byzantine iconoclasm, an attempt to restore divine favour by purifying the Christian faith from excessive adoration of icons, which resulted in considerable internal turmoil. By the end of the Isaurian dynasty in 802, the Byzantines were continuing to fight the Arabs and the Bulgars for their very existence, with matters made more complicated when Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as emperor of the Romans, which was seen as an attempt at making the Carolingian state the successor to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Nikephoros (son Of Artabasdos)
Nikephoros () was junior Byzantine Emperor from 741 to 743. He was crowned after his father, Artabasdos ( 741–743) usurped Emperor Constantine V ( 741–775). Constantine seized power again on 2 November 743, and Nikephoros, Artabasdos, and Niketas were blinded and confined in the Chora Church. Life Nikephoros was made ''strategos'' of Thrace by his father Artabasdos soon after he usurped the throne from Byzantine Emperor Constantine V, around June or July of 741. He was elevated to junior co-emperor at some point in 741. After Constantine defeated Artabasdos on 2 November 743, he had Artabasdos, Nikephoros, and Niketas humiliated in the Hippodrome of Constantinople before being blinded and confined in the Chora Church The Chora Church or Kariye Mosque () is a Byzantine architecture, Byzantine church, now converted to a mosque (for the second time), in the Edirnekapı, Istanbul, Edirnekapı neighborhood of Fatih district, Istanbul, Turkey. It is famous for .... Ref ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Niketas (son Of Artabasdos)
Niketas () was the eldest son of the Byzantine general and usurper Artabasdos (r. 741–743). He served as a general during his father's usurpation against Emperor Constantine V (r. 741–775). Biography Niketas was the eldest son of Artabasdos. His mother may have been Anna, but it is not certain: Paul Speck hypothesized that he descended from an earlier marriage, since Artabasdos named his younger brother Nikephoros, and not him, as co-emperor. According to the hagiography of Michael Synkellos, there were further seven siblings, whose names are not mentioned.. In 741 Artabasdos rebelled against his brother-in-law Constantine V, and was crowned emperor. Niketas was then appointed ''strategos'' of the Armeniac Theme (some sources call him ''monostrategos'', "commander-in-chief"). In August 742 or 743, however, he was defeated in the Battle of Modrine by the forces of Emperor Constantine V. Niketas fled the field, but regrouped his scattered army and resumed the pursuit of Constant ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Leo III The Isaurian
Leo III the Isaurian (; 685 – 18 June 741), also known as the Syrian, was the first List of Byzantine emperors, Byzantine emperor of the Isaurian dynasty from 717 until his death in 741. He put an end to the Twenty Years' Anarchy, a period of great instability in the Byzantine Empire between 695 and 717, marked by the rapid succession of several emperors to the throne, along with ending the continual defeats and territorial losses the Byzantines had suffered during the 7th century. He also successfully defended the Empire against the invading Umayyads and Byzantine Iconoclasm, forbade the veneration of icons. Early life Leo III was born in Germanikeia, Commagene, which is in modern Kahramanmaraş in Turkey. His original name was Konon (). Leo’s native tongue was Syriac language, Syriac or Arabic and he was described by Theophanes the Confessor as "the Saracen-minded," although there is very little evidence that he was directly influenced by Islam. After the victory of Ju ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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List Of Byzantine Emperors
The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised sovereign authority are included, to the exclusion of junior co-emperors who never attained the status of sole or senior ruler, as well as of the List of Byzantine usurpers, various usurpers or rebels who claimed the imperial title. The following list starts with Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, who rebuilt the city of Byzantium as an imperial capital, Constantinople, and who was regarded by the later emperors as the model ruler. Modern historians distinguish this later phase of the Roman Empire as Byzantine due to the imperial seat moving from Rome to Byzantium, the Empire's integration of Christianity, and the predominance of Greek instead of Latin. The Byzantine Empire was the direct legal continuation of the eastern ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Anatolic Theme
The Anatolic Theme (, ''Anatolikon hema'), more properly known as the Theme of the Anatolics (Greek: , ''thema Anatolikōn''), was a Byzantine theme (a military-civilian province) in central Asia Minor (modern Turkey). From its establishment, it was the largest and senior-most of the themes, and its military governors ('' stratēgoi'') were powerful individuals, several of them rising to the imperial throne or launching failed rebellions to capture it. The theme and its army played an important role in the Arab–Byzantine wars of the 7th–10th centuries, after which it enjoyed a period of relative peace that lasted until its conquest by the Seljuk Turks in the late 1070s. Geography and administration In its "classical" form during the 8th and 9th centuries, the theme stretched over the ancient regions of Lycaonia, Pisidia, Isauria, as well as most of Phrygia and parts of Galatia Salutaris.. Initially, the Anatolic Theme included the western and southern shores of Asia Minor as ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Baktangios
Baktangios (; died 743) was a Byzantine ''patrikios'' and one of the principal supporters of the usurping emperor Artabasdos (). Baktangios was probably of Georgian descent, his name being a Hellenized form of " Vakhtang". According to Christian Settipani, he may have been a scion of King Vakhtang I of Iberia. Baktangios was closely associated with Artabasdos, a commander of Armenian origin, who seized Constantinople from Constantine V in 741. After Constantine made a comeback in November 743, Baktangios accompanied Artabasdos in his flight to the castle of Pouzanes in Opsikion (northwestern Asia Minor). They were both captured by Constantine's agents and brought to Constantinople, where Artabasdos was blinded and Baktangios was beheaded in the Kynegion, his head exposed on the Milion The Milion ( or , ''Mílion''; ) was a marker from which all distances across the Roman Empire were measured. Erected by Septimius Severus in the 3rd century AD in the city of Byzantium, i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |
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Theodosius III
Theodosius III () was Byzantine emperor from to 25 March 717. Before rising to power and seizing the throne of the Byzantine Empire, he was a tax collector in Adramyttium. In 715, the Byzantine navy and the troops of the Opsician Theme, one of the Byzantine provinces, revolted against Emperor Anastasius II (), acclaiming the reluctant Theodosius as emperor. Theodosius led his troops to Chrysopolis and then Constantinople, the capital, seizing the city in November 715. Anastasius did not surrender until several months later, accepting exile in a monastery in return for safety. Many themes viewed Theodosius to be a puppet of the troops of the Opsician Theme, and his legitimacy was denied by the Anatolics and the Armeniacs under their respective (generals) Leo the Isaurian and Artabasdos. Leo declared himself emperor in the summer of 716 and allied himself with the Umayyad Caliphate, the Islamic empire; Theodosius sought aid from the Bulgarians under Khan Tervel (), sett ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   [Amazon] |