User:Iazyges/Basiliscus
Eastern Roman Emperor / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Flavius Basiliscus (Greek: Βασιλίσκος, Basilískos; died 476/477) was Eastern Roman emperor from 9 January 475 to August 476. He rose to the office of magister militum per thracias in 464, under his brother-in-law, Emperor Leo (r. 457–474). He commanded the disastrous invasion of the Vandal Kingdom in 468, leading an army of more than 100,000 men, which was decisively defeated at the Battle of Cape Bon. The reasons for this defeat are not fully known: although accusations that Basiliscus was bribed by Aspar, the magister militum, were suggested at the time, many historians dismiss this; it is commonly accepted amongst them that Basiliscus was either incompetent or else foolish for accepting the five-day truce proposed by Vandal King Gaiseric, who used the time to construct fireships. The defeat cost the Eastern Empire 130,000 pounds (59,000 kg) of gold, causing the empire to hover above bankruptcy for another 30 years. After Basiliscus returned to Constantinople following this defeat, he sought refuge in the Church of St. Sophia, only leaving once his sister, Empress Verina, secured him a pardon. After this, he went into retirement at Neapolis.
Basiliscus | |||||
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Eastern Roman Emperor | |||||
Roman emperor of the East | |||||
Reign | 9 January 475 – August 476 | ||||
Predecessor | Zeno | ||||
Successor | Zeno | ||||
Spouse | Zenonis | ||||
Issue | Marcus | ||||
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After Emperor Leo died in 474, his grandson Emperor Leo II (r. 474) took power, but soon died; his father, Zeno (r. 474–475, 476–491) ascended the throne in the same year, in a politically precarious position. Verina conspired to install the magister officiorum Patricius, her lover, as emperor. This plot was backed by Theoderic Strabo, angered by Zeno's coronation, and Basiliscus, who succeded in recruiting Illus and Trocundes, Isaurian brothers, as well as her nephew Armatus; Zeno fled on 9 January 475, either after learning of it or after Verina warned him his life was in danger. Although Patricius was Verina's intended successor, Basiliscus convinced the Eastern Roman Senate to acclaim him instead, and soon had his son, Marcus made caesar, and his wife, Zenonis, made augusta, and executing Patricius.
Basiliscus quickly lost the support of the people, through a combination of heavy taxes, heretical policies, and a natural disaster which was viewed as divine wrath for said heretical views. In an attempt to shore up support, he embraced the miaphysites, restoring Timothy Ailuros as the Patriarch of Alexandria and Peter the Fuller as Patriarch of Antioch. He heeded their advice, and issued a encyclical on 9 April 475, which promoted the first three ecumenical councils of the church: Nicaea, Constantinople, and Ephesus, and condemned the Council of Chalcedon and the Tome of Leo. The Patriarch of Constantinople, Acacius, strongly opposed him, and together with Daniel the Stylite, turned the population of Constantinople against him.
Politically, Basiliscus quickly lost his allies, losing Verina almost immediately as a consequence of executing her lover Patricius. Soon after he alienated Theoderic Strabo by elevating Armatus to magister militum praesentalis. Illus and Trocundes, who had been besieging Zeno in his homeland of Isauria, were convinced by him to defect, and soon they and Zeno marched their troops toward the capital. Hearing this, Basiliscus ordered Armatus to take a number of troops and intercept them, however, Armatus betrayed him after being promised the position of magister militum praesentalis for life, and that his son, Basiliscus, would be made caesar (title). Armatus then directed his army away from the road which Zeno was traveling along, allowing Zeno to enter Constantinople unopposed in August 476. Basiliscus and his family hid in a church until Zeno promised not to execute them, and they were exiled to Limnae in Cappadocia, where they were imprisoned in a dried-up cistern and left to starve to death, or according to some sources, beheaded.