Isaurian War

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For the Isaurian war of 404, see Arbazacius.

The Isaurian War was a conflict that lasted from 492 to 497 and that was fought between the army of the

Anastasius I
regained control of the Isauria region and the leaders of the revolt were killed.

Isaurian War
Date492-497
Location
Isauria
Result Eastern Roman victory
Belligerents
Eastern Roman Empire
Huns
 Isaurian rebels
Commanders and leaders
John the Scythian
John the Hunchback
Diogenianus
Sigizan
Zolban		 Longinus of Cardala
Lilingis
Conon
Longinus of Selinus
Athenodorus
Indes
Strength
unknown unknown
Casualties and losses
unknown unknown, most likely higher

Background

During the reign of

Eastern Roman Empire. Emperor Leo I (r. 457–474) deliberately promoted Isaurians to important posts in the civil and military administration to counterbalance the power of the hitherto all-powerful Germanic elements. The Isaurians, however, were despised as semi-barbarians by the people of Constantinople, who in 473 rose in an anti-Isaurian revolt in the Hippodrome and in 475 overthrew the newly crowned Isaurian emperor Zeno
(r. 474–475 and 476–491), killing all the Isaurians in the city in the process.

Zeno returned to the throne in 476, however, this time until his death in 491. Under this emperor, his fellow Isaurians prospered, and the opposition to them, although growing, remained latent. In 484, the Isaurian magister militum Illus rebelled against Zeno and fled to the East, where he supported the usurpation of Leontius. That, however, ended in 488 with the capture and execution of both rebel leaders.

Conflict

In 491

Empress Ariadne. During the brief interregnum, the Constantinopolitan populace had made its views on the succession clear by cries in the Hippodrome demanding a "Roman emperor", thus rejecting the possible succession of Longinus, Zeno's brother. In the same year, anti-Isaurian riots broke out in the Hippodrome, and Anastasius exiled Longinus and several other Isaurians, including general Longinus of Cardala
.

In 492 the Isaurians began a revolt, but in the same year their joint forces were defeated by the Roman army, led by generals

Kotyaion in Phrygia (battle of Cotyaeum). Lilingis, a leading figure in the revolt, died after the battle.[1]
The Isaurian survivors took refuge in the mountain strongholds of their country and kept waging war.

In 493 the Roman general Diogenianus captured Claudiopolis but was besieged there by the Isaurians, led by the ex-bishop Conon. To his help came John Gibbo who forced the passes and, helped by a sortie of Diogenianus', won an overwhelming victory against the Isaurians, in which Conon died.[2]

From 494 to 497 the Isaurians closed themselves in their fortresses in the Isaurian mountains, where they were kept supplied by Longinus of Selinus through the port of Antioch.[2]

In 497 John the Scythian killed Longinus of Cardala and

Tarsus, thus effectively ending the war. In 498, John Gibbo captured the last enemy leaders, Longinus of Selinus and Indes, and sent them to the Emperor, who paraded them along the main road of Constantinople to the Hippodrome, where they had to perform the proskynesis in front of the imperial kathisma.[3]

Aftermath

In 495, Emperor Anastasius I told

Monophysite sympathies, had been forced by Euphemius to sign a declaration of orthodoxy before being crowned. For these reasons he decided to accuse Euphemius of treason for revealing plans to the enemy. In 496, Euphemius was excommunicated and deposed.[4]

After the war Anastasius rewarded his generals with the consulship:

Chalke Gate to the Great Palace of Constantinople to celebrate the victory,[5] and the poet Christodorus commemorated the war in a now-lost poem in six books, entitled Isaurica.[6]

Notes

  1. OCLC 1007044617.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link
    )
  2. ^ a b Joan Mervyn Hussey, Cambridge medieval history, CUP Archive, 1967, p. 480.
  3. ISBN 0-521-38659-4
    , p. 61.
  4. ISBN 1-4021-8369-0
    , p. 296
  5. ^ Jones, "Aetherius 2", p. 19.
  6. ^ Jones, "Christodorus", p. 293.

Bibliography

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