Petrus ( el, Πέτρος, ''Petros'', also known as Peter in English (c. 545 in

Arabissus Arabissus or Arabissos ( grc, Ἀραβισσός), also known as Tripotamos, was a town in ancient Cataonia, then Cappadocia, and later in the Roman province of Armenia Secunda. The Byzantine Emperor Maurice was born there in 539. A cave of the S ...

, Cappadocia – 27 November 602 in Constantinople or Chalcedon) was a brother of the Byzantine Emperor Maurice (r. 582 - 602).

Background

Petrus was a son of Paul, head of the

Byzantine Senate The Byzantine senate or eastern Roman senate ( el, Σύγκλητος, ''Synklētos'', or , ''Gerousia'') was a continuation of the Roman Senate, established in the 4th century by Constantine I. It survived for centuries, but the senate's powers ...

and a sibling to Maurice, Byzantine emperor; Gordia, the wife of Philippicus; and Theoctista.Whitby (1988), pp. 5 He had a son named Domitian, who became bishop of Melitene.

Military career

Raised to the rank of '' curopalates'', he was an important general in the Byzantine army. Together with Priscus and Comentiolus, he was one of the three commanders-in-chief during Maurice's Balkan campaigns. Though less able than Priscus, he succeeded the latter as leader of the Roman forces in

Moesia Moesia (; Latin: ''Moesia''; el, Μοισία, Moisía) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River, which included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Alban ...

in 594, being more loyal to the emperor, his own brother. The reason for this replacement was Priscus' refusal to obey the emperor's orders to spend the winter on the northern Danube bank in 593 and to carry on fighting the

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...

. Petrus defeated the Slavs in 594 near Marcianopolis and maintained the Danube between Novae and the

Danube Delta The Danube Delta ( ro, Delta Dunării, ; uk, Дельта Дунаю, Deľta Dunaju, ) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Ro ...

. Later on, he crossed the Danube and fought his way to the Helibacia river, defeating numerous Slavic tribes in the course. 601, he crossed the Danube into Avar homeland and defeated them in several battles. When in 602, his brother ordered his troops to spend the winter on the northern bank of the Danube, Petrus made no attempt to disobey this order, as opposed to Priscus in 593. Mutiny was the result. Although Petrus attempted to calm down his troops in vain, they marched to Constantinople and overthrew Maurice. Petrus was subsequently murdered. Although Theophylact Simocatta portrayed Petrus as unable, relying on Priscus as only surviving witness, Petrus' expertise was sophisticated enough to put him forward as a candidate for the authorship of the Strategikon of Maurice.

References

Literature

* Michael Whitby: ''The Emperor Maurice and his Historian – Theophylact Simocatta on Persian and Balkan Warfare''. Oxford 1988. {{DEFAULTSORT:Peter 6th-century births 602 deaths Generals of Maurice Justinian dynasty Magistri militum 6th-century Byzantine generals 7th-century Byzantine generals Executed Byzantine people Avar–Byzantine wars 7th-century executions by the Byzantine Empire Kouropalatai