In the 7th and early 8th centuries, Bardanes Philippikos (also commonly known as Philippicus Bardanes) was a prominent member of the ruling elite involved in administering the realm of the imperial city of Constantinople. He was born in Armenia, as reflected in his name Bardanes, but he avoided prejudice among the Greek nobility by calling himself Philippikos. His father, Nikephoros, was known to have held the lofty title of patrician, a designation of high office or station that was often given to generals and governors. Theirs was a difficult time to be involved in Byzantine government. The empire was unrestful from an influx of Bulgarian, Khazar, Slavic and Arab threats, and the tension was amplified by the lackluster ability of the emperors to curtail the troubles and made worse by the growing financial strain imposed by years of constant warfare. Amid the atmosphere of disquiet and conspiracy, Emperor Justinian II of Constantinople (whose reign began in 685) was deposed, mutilated and banished, and replaced by the usurper, Emperor Leontios (r. 695-698). And Leontios, in turn, was overthrown by a certain Apsimar or Apsimaros, who adopted the official name of Emperor Tiberius III (r. 698-705). It was in the time of Tiberius III/Apsimaros, that Bardanes Philippikos began to emerge as a player in imperial politics. But the new emperor, as a usurper, recognized kindred ambition and opportunism in Philippikos, and heeding those signs of warning, the emperor banished Philippikos in 702 or 703 to Cephalonia (or Kephalenia). This was recalled by the chronicler, Theophanes (750s-818), who wrote that “Apsimaros exiled to Kephalenia Philippikos the son of the patrician Nikephoros, since he had dreamed he would become Emperor” (Theophanes, Chronographia, entry for Annus Mundi 6194 [Sep 702-Aug 703]). The emperor, as it would turn out, was right to be paranoid about challenges to his power, but it was not Philippikos who posed the immediate threat.
While Bardanes Philippikos was in exile, Apsimaros/Tiberius III faced a Bulgarian invasion in 705 that was launched on behalf of the former emperor, Justinian II (the man who had been deposed by Leontios in 695). With his coalition of foreign allies, Justinian seized Constantinople and reimposed his rule over the empire. In this second half of his reign, Emperor Justinian II (r. 685-695, 705-711) became increasingly tyrannical, starting with the executions of the two usurpers, Leontios and Tiberius III, who had ruled in his absence. As for Bardanes Philippikos, who had been exiled by Tiberius, he was given a new lease on life from Justinian II, who recalled Philippikos from exile and began considering him for special military and government appointments.
Around the year 710, Emperor Justinian II dispatched Bardanes Philippikos to join a punitive campaign waged by a spatharios (or Sword-Bearer) named Helias against the region of Cherson. Ironically, it would be Justinian who faced the ultimate punishment as a result of this mission. By the year 711, tyrannical orders and widespread unrest drove Helias and Philippikos to rise in rebellion against Emperor Justinian II, and they turned their expeditionary force around to target Constantinople. On this, the chronicler Theophanes wrote, “Under these circumstances, Helias the spatharios and Bardanes the exile (who by this time had been recalled from Kephalenia and was in Cherson with the expedition) also rebelled” (Chronographia, entry for Annus Mundi 6203 [Sep 711-Aug 712]).
During the course of the rebellion, Bardanes Philippikos emerged as the foremost figure of the revolt. As the rebels closed in, Justinian II made the unwise decision to personally go gather intelligence between Sinope and Damatrys, near Chalcedon. During the emperor’s subsequent absence from the imperial city, Philippikos was able to use that opportunity to march into Constantinople without a fight. Following the fall of the capital, Philippikos executed the emperor’s son, Tiberius, while the other rebel leader, Helias, personally led the manhunt for the emperor. He found Justinian near Damatrys, killed him, and sent his head back to Philippikos. On the successful rebellion and the fall of Justinian, Theophanes wrote:
“When the expedition lingered and did not return, Justinian guessed the reason. He departed (with him were the Opsikians and some of the Thrakesians) for Sinope to find out exactly what was going on in Cherson. In his examination he discerned the rebel expedition arming against the city and, charging forward like a lion, rushed toward the city himself. But since Philippikos got there ahead of him and had taken it, he went to Damatrys, where he camped with his men…Helias and his army went to Damatrys and entered into talks with the army there. They gave Justinian’s army a promise of no ill-treatment, whereupon everyone abandoned Justinian, leaving him all alone and going over to Philippikos. Then the spatharios Helias angrily burst forward and seized Justinian’s neck. He cut off his head with the dagger with which he was girded and sent it to Philippikos by way of the spatharios Romanos” (Chronographia, entry for Annus Mundi 6203 [Sep 711-Aug 712]).
With the deaths of Justinian II and his son, power in Constantinople was seized by Emperor Bardanes Philippikos in 711. Although he was first greeted as a liberator from Justinian’s tyranny, Philippikos’ reign quickly suffered from military and territorial setbacks caused by Bulgarian attacks around the region of Thrace and Arab assaults into Anatolia. These military troubles coincided with a growing religious backlash against the new emperor. Bardanes Philippikos, it turned out, was partial to the Monothelite heresy that proposed Jesus had one will, as opposed to the two-wills interpretation (human and divine) held by the mainstream churches. Philippikos’ support for the heresy put him at odds with a strong faction of his empire’s clergy, and it also caused a feud between him and Pope Constantine (r. 708-715), who refused to recognize Bardanes Philippikos as a legitimate ruler.
By the year 713, certain key nobles and courtiers in the empire began to lose faith in Philippikos. In the midst of that atmosphere of anxiety, disagreement and unrest, a conspiracy began to form. Prominent members included some of Justinian’s old Opsikion allies, namely George Bouraphos—count and patrician of the region—as well as Rufus of Opsikion, who held the prestigious military and courtly title of protostrator. These conspirators from Opsikion were also joined by another patrician named Theodore Myakios, in addition to the chief of the imperial chancery, Artemios. Together, the powerful schemers agreed to launch a coup against Philippikos, and they planned to carry out their plot around the time that the emperor would be holding chariot races in honor of his birthday in 713. On this birthday surprise, the chronicler Theophanes wrote:
“The two years of Philippikos’ reign had passed in this way. After his birthday races had been held (with the Greens winning), the Emperor decided on the sabbath of Pentecost to enter the public bathhouse of Zeuxippos on horseback (and to bring food and musical instruments) to wash himself there and breakfast with citizens of ancient lineage. At the advice of George (surnamed Bouraphos) the patrician and count of the Opsikion, Rufus the protostrator of the Opsikion and the patrician Theodore Myakios suddenly entered the city through the Golden Gate with the regiments of that theme which they had in Thrace. This was while Philippikos was taking his siesta; they rushed into the palace and caught him napping, spiriting him away to the oratory of the Greens. Though no-one knew it, they blinded him there” (Chronographia, entry for Annus Mundi 6205 [Sep 713-Aug 714]).
Such was the end of the reign of Emperor Bardanes Philippikos (r. 711-713). After being blinded, he was exiled by the usurpers. As for the conspirators, a power struggle apparently ensued between Count George Bouraphos, Patrician Theodore Myakios, and the chief of the imperial chancery, Artemios. Curiously, in that showdown of political maneuvering, it was the bureaucrat, Artemios, who came out on top. He renamed himself Emperor Anastasios II (r. 713-715) and his first orders of action were the blinding and exile of George Bouraphos and Theodore Myakios.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Picture Attribution: (Bardanes Philippikos and Anastasius II medallion illustrations by Jan van Vianen (c. 1695), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons and the Rijksmuseum).
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/Philippicus-Bardanes
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Constantine-pope
