Emperor Leo III of Constantinople (r. 717-741) gained power due, in large part, to the actions and reign of a former ruler named Emperor Anastasius II (r. 713-715). Anastasius (also known as Artemios before he seized power) revived Leo’s stalling military and political career by appointing the man as the military leader and governor (or strategos) of the empire’s Anatolic region (or theme). At that time, Leo was a loyal supporter of his emperor, but Anastasius II was subsequently ousted by a rebellion that put Emperor Theodosios III (r. 715-717) on the throne of Constantinople. Anastasius was spared and allowed to live as a monk after the overthrow. Leo, meanwhile, did not recognize the usurper, Theodosios, and instead raised the forces of his Anatolic theme in rebellion. Yet, in questioning Theodosios’ illegitimacy, it also contrastingly shone a light on Anastasius’ legitimacy, and this would pose a problem to Leo when he later overthrew Theodosios III in 717 and became the new ruler of Constantinople. Although the new emperor’s path to power was owed largely to Anastasius II, Leo did not feel any obligation to his old patron. He did not want to be seen as a steward warming the throne for a former emperor’s return, and he certainly did not want to give up the power that he had gained through his own rebellion. Nevertheless, Anastasius still had supporters, and they began mobilizing behind Leo’s back.
Anastasius’ conspiracy consisted of noblemen, religious leaders, military figures, and potential foreign allies—specifically, the Bulgarians. The chronicler, Theophanes (c. 750s-818) mentioned that, along with the former emperor, Anastasius II, the other key leaders of the conspiratorial alliance consisted of a certain patrician named Sisinnios Rhendakis, as well as a magistrate named Niketas Xylinites, and an unnamed archbishop from Thessalonike. Other close associates of Anastasius (who may have been less culpable in the conspiracy) included Count Isoes of Opsikion, as well as a high-level bureaucrat named Theokistes, and a second officer named Niketas, who had authority concerning the walls of Constantinople. The conspirators had made inroads into Bulgarian leadership. Eventually, the Bulgarian leader Tervel (r. 701-718), or his successor, was looped in on the details of the conspiracy. Upon learning of the plot, the Bulgarian ruler contacted the conspirators and offered them logistical and military aid in their endeavor. It was not an outlandish offer, as Tervel had recently helped Emperor Justinian II (r. 685-695, 705-711) return to the throne after rebels had ousted him from power. Tempted by the offer, the conspirators placed their fate and fortunes at the mercy of their Bulgarian backers. This, however, would prove to be a mistake, as the Bulgarian leader’s offer was not what it seemed. The unexpected outcome of the conspiracy was recorded by the chronicler Theophanes, who used the former emperor’s non-regal name of Artemios in the passage:
“In the same year Niketas Xylinites wrote to Artemios in Thessalonike that he should go to Tervel and move against Leo with a Bulgarian alliance. Obeying Niketas, he went off to Tervel, who gave him an army and fifty centenaria of gold. Artemios took them and moved on Constantinople, but when the city did not receive him favorably, the Bulgars handed him over to Leo and went home. The Emperor treated them kindly, but executed Artemios and Xylinites…Since the patrician Sisinnios (surnamed Rhendakis) had been with Artemios, the Bulgars likewise beheaded him. They also gave the Emperor the archbishop of Thessalonike, who was decapitated with Artemios. Leo executed Isoes the patrician and Count of the Opsikion, Theoktistes the protoasekretes, and Niketas Anthrax the officer of the walls because they were Artemios’ friends and colleagues. After he had slit the noses and confiscated the property of the rest, he exiled them” (Theophanes, Chronographia, entry for Annus Mundi 6211 [Sept. 718-Aug. 719).
Tervel or his successor, therefore, did not ultimately help the conspiracy, but instead marched the conspirators to Constantinople and handed them straight over to Emperor Leo III, who executed all of the leaders of the plot. For Leo, this would be one of many plots and dangers that appeared in his first years of rule. In addition to Anastasius’ conspiracy, Leo also had to contend with an Umayyad siege of Constantinople (between 717-718) and he also put down another conspiracy, this time from Italy, by 719. After these raucous events, Emperor Leo III was able to bring some much-needed stability to his empire.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Picture Attribution: (3D scan of the Madara Rider relief in Bulgaria, dated 8th century, [Public Domain] via the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Europeana).
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/Tervel
