Leontius

Leontius

In 692, Justinian declared war upon the Umayyads again, and sent Leontius to campaign against them. However, he was defeated decisively at the Battle of Sebastopolis, and imprisoned by Justinian for his failure. He was released in 695, and given the title of strategos of the Theme of Hellas in Southern Greece. After being released, he led a rebellion against Justinian, and seized power, becoming emperor in the same year.

He ruled until 698, when he was overthrown by Apsimarus, a droungarios who had taken part in a failed expedition that had been launched by Leontius to recover Carthage. After seizing Constantinople, Apsimar took the name Tiberius (III),^[b] and had Leontius' nose and tongue cut off. He was sent to the Monastery of Dalmatou, where he remained until some time between August 705 and February 706. By this time Justinian had retaken the throne. Both Leontius and Tiberius were executed.

Origin and early life

Little of Leontius' early life is known, other than that he was from

Justinian invaded the Caliphate again in 692, feeling that the Umayyads were in a weak position, but was repulsed at the Battle of Sebastopolis, where a large number of Slavs defected to the Umayyads, ensuring the Byzantine defeat. After this, the Umayyads renewed their invasion of North Africa, aimed at taking the city of Carthage in the Exarchate of Africa, and also invaded Anatolia. Around this time, Justinian imprisoned Leontius. Some Byzantine sources, such as Nikephoros and Theophanes, suggest that Justinian did so because he believed that Leontius was seeking to take the throne,^[6] but it is possible that the crushing defeat at Sebastopolis played a part in his imprisonment; as strategos of the Anatolic Theme, he likely served in the battle, and may have even been the main Byzantine commander in it.^{[5][14][15][6]}

After further setbacks in the war, Justinian released Leontius in 695 because he feared losing control of Carthage, and appointed him strategos of the Theme of

Upon his coronation, Leontius, now known as "Leo", adopted a moderate political stance. He restricted the activity of the Byzantine army, allowing small raids against the border of the Byzantine empire to proceed without reprisal, and instead focused upon consolidation.^[5][20] Very little is known of his domestic policy, except that he had the port of Neorion in Constantinople cleared, which allegedly led to a four-month outbreak of plague.^[6]

The Umayyads, emboldened by Leontius' perceived weakness, invaded the Exarchate of Africa in 696, capturing Carthage in 697. Leontius sent the patrikios John to retake the city. John was able to seize Carthage after a surprise attack on its harbor. However, Umayyad reinforcements soon retook the city, forcing John to retreat to Crete and regroup. A group of officers, fearing the Emperor's punishment for their failure, revolted and proclaimed Apsimar, a droungarios (mid-level commander) of the Cibyrrhaeots, emperor.^[5][20]

Apsimar took the regnal name

• List of Byzantine emperors

Notes

References

Citations

1. ^ ^{a b c} Grierson 1993, p. 610.
2. ^ British Museum.
3. ^ Foss 2005.
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Brubaker & Haldon 2011, p. 586.
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q} Moore 1999.
6. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} PmbZ, Leontius (#4547/corr.).
7. ^ Settipani 2006, pp. 202–206.
8. ^ Kazhdan 1991, pp. 89–90.
9. ^ Donner 2010, pp. 181–182.
10. ^ Wellhausen 1927, pp. 168–169.
11. ^ Wellhausen 1927, p. 182.
12. ^ Kennedy 2016, p. 80.
13. ^ Gibb 1960, p. 77.
14. ^ ^{a b c d} Bacharach 2010, p. 15.
15. ^ ^{a b} Rosser 2001, p. 2.
16. ^ ^{a b} Saxby & Angelov 2016, p. 27.
17. ^ Asimov 1970, p. 120.
18. ^ ^{a b c d} Ostrogorsky 1956, pp. 116–122.
19. ^ Saxby & Angelov 2016, p. 45.
20. ^ ^{a b c d} Garland 2017, p. 2.
21. ^ Brubaker & Haldon 2011, p. 730.
22. ^ Kazhdan 1991, p. 2084.
23. ^ PmbZ, Tiberios II. (III.) Apsimar (#8483/corr.).
24. JSTOR 1291157
    .

Bibliography

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• Grierson, Philip (1993). Catalogue of the Byzantine Coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection, 2: Phocas to Theodosius III, 602–717 (2nd ed.). Dumbarton Oaks.
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• Lilie, Ralph-Johannes; Ludwig, Claudia; Pratsch, Thomas; Zielke, Beate (2013). Prosopographie der mittelbyzantinischen Zeit Online. Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Nach Vorarbeiten F. Winkelmanns erstellt (in German). Berlin and Boston: De Gruyter.
• Moore, R. Scott (26 May 1999). "Leontius (695–98 A.D.)". De Imperatoribus Romanis. Archived from the original on 7 July 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
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• Rosser, John H. (2001). Historical Dictionary of Byzantium. Lanham: Scarecrow Press.
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• Saxby, Michael; Angelov, Dimiter (2016). Power and Subversion in Byzantium: Papers from the 43rd Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Birmingham, March 2010. Routledge.
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• Settipani, Christian (2006). Continuité des élites à Byzance durant les siècles obscurs. Les princes caucasiens et l'Empire du VIe au IXe siècle Continuité des élites à Byzance durant les siècles obscurs (in French).

Web sources

• "Leontius II". The British Museum. Retrieved 12 April 2021.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leontius.

Leontius Born: Unknown Died: February 706
Regnal titles
Preceded by Justinian II	Byzantine Emperor 695–698	Succeeded by Tiberius III