Tiberius III

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Tiberius III
Byzantine emperor
Reign698–705
PredecessorLeontius
SuccessorJustinian II
BornApsimar
Diedbetween August 705 and February 706
Constantinople
Burial
Prote
Issue
Regnal name
Tiberius
PeriodTwenty Years' Anarchy

Tiberius III

Prote
.

History

Early life

Sparse details are known of Tiberius before the reign of Byzantine emperor

Byzantinists Anthony Bryer and Judith Herrin have suggested that the name Apsimar may be Slavic in origin,[3] and the scholars Leslie Brubaker and John Haldon have suggested a Turkic origin.[4] It is also known that he was a droungarios (a commander of about a thousand men) of the Cibyrrhaeot Theme, a military province in southern Anatolia.[5][6] Some scholars, such as Alexander Vasiliev, have speculated that Tiberius was of Gotho-Greek origin.[7] The Byzantinist Walter Kaegi states that Tiberius had won victories over the Slavs in the Balkans during his early military career, which granted him a degree of popularity.[8]

Background

Main article: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

In 696, the Umayyad Caliphate renewed its attack upon the Exarchate of Africa of the Byzantine Empire, seizing the city of Carthage in 697. The Byzantine Emperor Leontius sent John the Patrician with an army to retake the city, which John accomplished after launching a surprise attack on its harbor. Despite this initial success, the city was swiftly retaken by Umayyad reinforcements, which forced John to retreat to the island of Crete to regroup. A group of officers who feared Leontius's wrath for failing to recapture Carthage killed John, and declared Apsimar emperor.[5] Apsimar took the regnal name Tiberius;[b] during this period, the selection of a regnal name was quite common, but later fell out of favor.[10] He gathered a fleet and allied himself with the Greens (one of the Hippodrome sports and political factions), before sailing for Constantinople, which was enduring an outbreak of the bubonic plague.[5] Tiberius and his troops landed at the port of Sykai on the Golden Horn, and then proceeded to lay siege to the city.[11] After several months, the gates of Constantinople were opened for Tiberius's forces by members of the Green faction, allowing Tiberius to seize the city and depose Leontius;[5][11][12] this did not prevent his troops from plundering the city.[13] Tiberius had Leontius's nose slit, and sent him to live in the Monastery of Psamathion in Constantinople.[5][12][14] According to the 12th-century chronicler Michael the Syrian, himself citing an unnamed contemporary 8th-century Syriac source, Tiberius justified his coup by pointing to Leontius' own dethroning of Emperor Justinian II (r. 685–695, 705–711) for mismanaging the empire as precedent.[15][16][17] Before Tiberius, no naval officer had ever assumed the throne, partly because Byzantines considered the army far more prestigious.[10]

Rule

A colored map of the Byzantine Empire in 717.
Map of the Byzantine Empire in 717

Tiberius was

Samosata before pulling back to the safety of Byzantine lands in spring of 699.[21][22][23]

Heraclius' military successes led to a series of punitive Arab attacks: the Umayyad generals

Sisium, killing most and enslaving the rest; in spite of this, Heraclius was not able to stop al-Malik from reconquering Armenia.[14][20][22]

Tiberius attempted to strengthen the Byzantine military by reorganizing its structure, as well as reorganizing the Cibyrrhaeotic Theme,

Theme of Sicily from the Exarchate of Ravenna.[26] Tiberius also banished the future emperor Philippicus, the son of a patrikios, to the island of Cephalonia.[27]

A colored map of Constantinople in Byzantine times
A map of Constantinople in Byzantine times; the Palace of Blachernae is located in the north-west of the city

In 702, Justinian II escaped from the

Prote.[6]

Legacy

Head comments that although little is known of Tiberius, the evidence points to him being a "conscientious and effective ruler", and states that he might be remembered as "one of the truly great emperors of Byzantium" if he had reigned longer.[10] Kaegi states that succeeding dynasties of the Byzantine Empire, and their associated historians, tend to blame the permanent loss of Byzantine Africa upon Tiberius, although he posits that, by the time Tiberius took the throne, it was far too late for the Byzantines to restore their control.[31]

Family

Tiberius had a son, Theodosius, who became bishop of Ephesus by 729, presided over the Council of Hieria in 754,[32][33] and advised Emperors Leo III (r. 717–741) and Constantine V (r. 741–775).[34] The Byzantinist Graham Sumner has suggested that this son of Tiberius may have later become Emperor Theodosius III (r. 715–717). Sumner presents evidence that both figures held the Bishopric of Ephesus at similar times: Emperor Theodosius became bishop after 716, according to the Chronicon Altinate, and Theodosius the son of Tiberius became bishop by 729, suggesting they may be the same person.[33] The Byzantinists Cyril Mango and Roger Scott do not view this theory as likely, as it would mean that Emperor Theodosius had to have lived for thirty more years after his abdication.[35] Other details of Tiberius's family, including the name of his spouses, are lost: a common consequence of the upheaval of the period in which Tiberius ruled, known as the Twenty Years' Anarchy.[10]

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b Some scholars, such as Walter Kaegi, identify Heraclius as Tiberius' son, rather than his brother.[18]
  2. ^ a b Tiberius is usually referred to as Tiberius III by modern historians, but is on other occasions called Tiberius II when the original Tiberius is excluded from the regnal count. Tiberius II Constantine is then enumerated as "Tiberius I".[9]

Citations

  1. ^ Head 1972, p. 101.
  2. ^ a b Brandes 2003, p. 723.
  3. ^ Bryer & Herrin 1977, p. 16.
  4. ^ Brubaker & Haldon 2011, p. 72.
  5. ^ a b c d e Moore 1999a.
  6. ^ a b c d e PmbZ, Tiberius III (#8483/corr.).
  7. ^ Vasilev 1980, p. 194.
  8. ^ Kaegi 1981, pp. 207 & 318.
  9. ^ Rosser 2001, p. 473.
  10. ^ a b c d Head 1982, p. 51.
  11. ^ a b Haldon 2016, p. 49.
  12. ^ a b Garland 2017, p. 2.
  13. ^ Haldon 2016, p. 185.
  14. ^ a b c d e f Moore 1999b.
  15. ^ Haldon 2016, p. 93.
  16. ^ Penna & Morrison 2016, p. 27.
  17. ^ Ostrogorsky 1956, pp. 116–122.
  18. ^ Kaegi 1981, p. 189.
  19. ^ Brubaker & Haldon 2011, p. 738.
  20. ^ a b PmbZ, Herakleios (#2558).
  21. ^ a b c Kazhdan 1991, "Tiberios II" (P. A. Hollingsworth), p. 2084.
  22. ^ a b c Treadgold 1997, p. 339.
  23. ^ Bury 1889, p. 355.
  24. ^ a b c d Bury 1889, p. 356.
  25. ^ a b c Kazhdan 1991, p. 2084.
  26. ^ Treadgold 1995, p. 26.
  27. ^ Bury 1889, p. 357.
  28. ^ Ostrogorsky 1956, p. 142.
  29. ^ a b Head 1969, p. 105.
  30. ^ a b Grierson, Mango & Ševčenko 1962, p. 51.
  31. ^ Kaegi 2010, p. 288.
  32. ^ Bryer & Herrin 1977, p. 3.
  33. ^ a b Sumner 1976, p. 292.
  34. ^ Head 1970, p. 15.
  35. ^ Neil 2000.

Bibliography

Tiberius III
Born: 7th century Died: 15 February 706
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Byzantine Emperor

698–705 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Vacant
Title lapsed in 686
Title last held by
Justinian II 		Roman consul
699 		Vacant
Title lapsed until 711
Title next held by
Philippicus
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