Armenia, in the 7th century, was caught between two feuding empires. On the one hand, the region had been under Roman influence for well over a millennium. But, like much of the Roman Empire’s Middle Eastern and North African provinces in the 7th century, Armenia faced attacks by Arab armies, challenging the Roman/Byzantine capital of Constantinople’s ability to maintain control of the area. Armenia was largely occupied by the Arabs in successive military campaigns that occurred around 640, 643, and 650. By that point, the Arabs considered the region to be generally conquered, especially when the Armenian nobleman and regional military commander, Theodore Rshtuni, subsequently submitted in 653 to the eventual founder of the Umayyad Dynasty, Mu’awiya (r. 661-680). Yet, pockets of pro-Byzantine and anti-Arab resistance remained, launching attacks against the occupiers and keeping in contact with the emperors of Constantinople.
Although most of Armenia was under Arab influence by the time Mu’awiya became caliph, the emperors of Constantinople were able to help shape the remaining rebel strongholds of the Armenian borderland into buffer zones of resistance. Notably, Emperor Constans II of Constantinople (r. 641-668/669) managed to claw back some influence in Armenia around 657 or 658. His son, Emperor Constantine IV (r. 668-685), negotiated a truce with Mu’awiya after fending off the Umayyad leader’s unsuccessful siege of Constantinople between 674-678. And the Umayyad leader, Abd al-Malik (r. 685-705), negotiated a joint-rule scheme with Emperor Justinian II (r. 685-695, 705-711) that included conflict regions like Armenia. Justinian later broke the agreement and positioned troops for an Anatolic campaign, but the emperor’s amassed regional forces were dealt a decisive defeat by their Umayyad opponents in the Battle of Sebastopolis around 692 or 693, causing much of Anatolia to fall back under Arab sway. Unpopular Emperor Justinian II then was deposed by Emperor Leontios (r. 695-698), who in turn was supplanted by Tiberius III (r. 698-705), and both of those usurpers fared just as poorly or worse than Justinian against the Umayyads.
Despite the imperial chaos and drama back in Constantinople, the Armenian resistance was still alive and maintained a hope of throwing off Umayyad rule. Around the year 703 or 704, a sizable Armenian rebellion broke out against the Arab authorities stationed in the region, and the rebels reached out for military assistance from the reigning emperor of Constantinople, Tiberius III (known informally as Apsimar or Apsimaros). On this, the chronicler Theophanes (c. 750s-818) wrote, “In this year the leaders of Armenia rebelled against the Saracens and killed the Saracens there. They sent messengers to Apsimaros, who brought the Romans into their country” (Theophanes, Chronographia, entry for Annus Mundi 6195 [Sep. 703-Aug. 704]). The initial revolt, therefore, was a success. With the Umayyad governing officials defeated by the rebel forces and a new garrison of imperial troops on the way from Apsimaros/ Tiberius III, the situation was beginning to look promising for the resistance. Alas, when the imperial reinforcements arrived, they were too few in number, and far from effective.
Unfortunately for the Armenian rebels, the Arab leaders quickly pulled together a military force to confront the revolt, and the Umayyads committed more manpower, resources, and talented officers than Constantinople had dispatched to the region. Consequently, the Arab forces went on to carry out an efficient and decisive campaign against the rebellion. Emperor Tiberius III’s garrison there was defeated, the revolt was crushed, and the rebel leaders were captured. Theophanes described the fate of the rebellion and its principal figures, stating that the Arab general’s “campaign against them killed many. Once he had resubjected Armenia to the Saracens, he gathered the Armenian grandees together and burned them alive” (Theophanes, Chronographia, entry for Annus Mundi 6195). With the defeat of the Armenian rebels and the execution of its leaders, the emperors of Constantinople were dealt a major blow to their ambition of regaining influence in Armenia.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Picture Attribution: (Camp Fire, by Winslow Homer (1836–1910), [Public Domain] via the MET).
Sources:
- Theophanes, The Chronicle of Theophanes, translated by Harry Turtledove. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1982.
- The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity, edited by Oliver Nicholson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018.
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Justinian-II
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abd-al-Malik-Umayyad-caliph
