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Zeno (emperor)
Zeno (; ; – 9 April 491) was Eastern Roman emperor from 474 to 475 and again from 476 to 491. His reign was plagued by domestic revolts and religious dissension, but was more successful on the foreign front. He is credited with further stabilizing the Eastern empire, while the Western Roman Empire fell following the deposition of Romulus Augustulus. Born in Isauria, Zeno was known as Tarasis before adopting his Greek name and becoming an ally of Emperor Leo I (emperor), Leo I, who saw the Isaurian general as an important counterweight against the Germanic leader Aspar. In 466, he married Leo I's daughter, Ariadne (empress), Ariadne, with whom he had a son, Leo II (emperor), Leo. On the death of Leo I in 474, Zeno's seven-year-old son took the throne as Leo II, with Zeno made co-emperor shortly after. Leo II died of an illness later that year, leaving Zeno as the sole emperor. Despite his early success in making peace with the Vandals, Zeno was an unpopular emperor due to his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Semissis
The ''semis'' () was a small Roman bronze coin that was valued at half an '' as''. During the Roman Republic, the ''semis'' was distinguished by an 'S' (indicating ''semis'') or 6 dots (indicating a theoretical weight of 6 '' unciae''). Some of the coins featured a bust of Saturn on the obverse, and the prow of a ship on the reverse. Initially a cast coin, like the rest of Roman Republican bronzes, it began to be struck from dies shortly before the Second Punic War (218–201 BC). Following the Augustan Coinage reforms of 23 BC the ''semis'' became the smallest orichalcum (brass) denomination, having twice the value of a copper ''quadrans'' and half the value of the copper ''as''. Its size and diameter corresponded directly to the ''quadrans'', so its value was attained from brass having double the value of copper. The coin was issued infrequently and it ceased to be issued by the time of Hadrian (117–138 AD). In the early Imperial period, a ''semis'' could buy a ''cerae' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ariadne (empress)
Aelia Ariadne () ( – 515) was Eastern Roman empress as the wife of Zeno and Anastasius I. She is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, with her feast day falling on August 22. Family Ariadne was a daughter of Leo I and Verina. Her mother was a sister of Basiliscus. Ariadne's younger sister, Leontia, was first betrothed to Patricius, a son of Aspar. Their engagement was probably annulled when Aspar and another of his sons, Ardabur, were assassinated in 471. Leontia then married Marcian, a son of Emperor Anthemius. The couple led a failed revolt against Zeno in 478–479. They were exiled to Isauria following their defeat. Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, vol. 2 An unnamed younger brother was born in 463. He died five months following his birth. The only sources about him are a horoscope by Rhetorius and a hagiography of Daniel the Stylite. Marriage Ariadne was born prior to the death of Marcian (reigned 450–457). In January 457, Marc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Odoacer
Odoacer ( – 15 March 493 AD), also spelled Odovacer or Odovacar, was a barbarian soldier and statesman from the Middle Danube who deposed the Western Roman child emperor Romulus Augustulus and became the ruler of Italy (476–493). Odoacer's overthrow of Romulus Augustulus is traditionally understood as marking the end of the Western Roman Empire. Although he held power over Italy, he also represented himself as the client of the Eastern Roman Emperor in Constantinople, Zeno. He was referred to not only as a king (), but also as commander (), or using the Roman honorific patrician, granted by Zeno. Odoacer himself used the title of king in the only surviving official document that emanated from his chancery, and it was also used by the consul Basilius. He had the support of the Roman Senate and was able to distribute land to his followers without much opposition. Unrest among his soldiers led to violence in 477–478, but no such disturbances occurred during the later p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Armatus
Flavius Armatus (died 477), also known as Harmatius, was an Eastern Roman military commander, ''magister militum'' under Emperors Leo I, Basiliscus and Zeno, and consul. He was instrumental in the rebellion of Basiliscus against Zeno, and in his subsequent fall. Origin and early career Armatus was a nephew of Basiliscus and of Empress Verina, the wife of Leo I. It is known that Armatus had a son, also named Basiliscus. During the last part of Emperor Leo's reign, Armatus, as ''magister militum per Thracias'', successfully quelled a revolt in Thrace, cutting off the hands of the Thracian prisoners and sending them to the rebels. It is possible that the rebels were men of the Thracian Goth Theodoric Strabo, a military commander under Leo, and hence this revolt would have been the one started by Strabo between the death of Aspar (471) and the end of Leo's rule (473).Suda, s.v. ''Ἁρμάτιος''. Rise of Basiliscus Armatus supported the rebellion of Basiliscus in 475, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Illus
Flavius Illus (; died 488) was a Roman general who played an important role in the reigns of the Eastern Emperors Zeno (emperor), Zeno and Basiliscus. Illus supported the revolt of Basiliscus against Zeno and switched sides to support the return of Zeno (475–476). Illus served Zeno well, defeating the usurper Marcianus (son of Anthemius), Marcianus but came into conflict with the Dowager Empress Verina, and supported the revolt of Leontius (usurper), Leontius. The rebellion failed, and Illus was killed. Origins Illus ( or ) was an Isaurian, but the time and place of his birth are unknown; he had a brother, called Flavius Appalius Illus Trocundes, Trocundes. Illus is said to have held various offices under the Emperor Leo I (emperor), Leo I (457–474), and to have been an intimate friend of Zeno, apparently before his accession. John Malalas considered Illus an uncle of Zeno. We first read of him in Zeno's reign, at a time during which he was hostile to Zeno. Under Basilis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Verina
Aelia Verina (Greek: Βερίνα; died 484) was the Eastern Roman empress as the wife of Leo I. She was a sister of Emperor Basiliscus. Her daughter Ariadne also became empress. Verina was the maternal grandmother of Leo II. Family The origins of Verina and her brother Basiliscus are unknown. They are considered likely to have ancestry in the Balkans but nothing more specific is known. They are assumed to have at least one sister as a hagiography of Daniel the Stylite names a brother-in-law of Verina and Basiliscus as Zuzus. Stefan Krautschick in his historical work ''Zwei Aspekte des Jahres 476'' (1986) advanced a theory that the two siblings were related to Odoacer, the first barbarian King of Italy.Patrick Amory, ''Passage of "People and Identity in Ostrogothic Italy, 489-554" (2003)], page 282 The theory relies on passage 209.1 in the fragmentary chronicle of John of Antioch (chronicler), John of Antioch, a 7th-century monk. The chronicler has been tentatively identifie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vandals
The Vandals were a Germanic people who were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vandal kingdoms first within the Iberian Peninsula, and then in the western Mediterranean islands, and North Africa. Archaeologists associate the early Vandals with the Przeworsk culture, which has led to some authors equating them to the Lugii, who were another group of Germanic peoples associated with that same archaeological culture and region. Expanding into Dacia during the Marcomannic Wars and to Pannonia during the Crisis of the Third Century, the Vandals were confined to Pannonia by the Goths around 330 AD, where they received permission to settle from Constantine the Great. Around 400, raids by the Huns from the east forced many Germanic tribes to migrate west into the territory of the Roman Empire and, fearing that they might be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aspar
Flavius Ardabur Aspar (Greek: Ἄσπαρ, fl. 400471) was an Eastern Roman patrician and ''magister militum'' ("master of soldiers") of Alanic- Gothic descent. As the general of a Germanic army in Roman service, Aspar exerted great influence on the Eastern Roman Emperors for half a century, from the 420s to his death in 471, through the reigns of Theodosius II, Marcian and Leo I, who, in the end, had him killed. His death led to the ending of the Germanic domination of Eastern Roman policy. Biography Aspar was born the son of the magister Ardaburius, and was of Alanic- Gothic descent. The name Aspar (Avestan: ''Aspari'') in Iranian languages means "Horse-rider". Aspar played a crucial role in his father's expedition in 424 to defeat the Western usurper Joannes of Ravenna and to install Galla Placidia and her son, Valentinian III, in his place. He also helped to negotiate a peace treaty with Geiseric after the Vandal invasion of Africa. Aspar attained the consulship in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leo I (emperor)
Leo I (; 401 – 18 January 474), also known as "the Thracian" (; ), was Eastern Roman emperor from 457 to 474. He was a native of Dacia Aureliana near historic Thrace. He is sometimes surnamed with the epithet "the Great" (; ), probably to distinguish him from his young grandson and co-''augustus'' Leo II (). During his 17-year rule, he oversaw a number of ambitious political and military plans, aimed mostly at aiding the faltering Western Roman Empire and recovering its former territories. He is notable for being the first Eastern Emperor to legislate in Koine Greek rather than Late Latin. He is commemorated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, with his feast day on 20 January. Reign He was born in Thracia or in Dacia Aureliana province in the year 401 to a Thraco-Roman family. His Dacian origin is mentioned by Candidus Isaurus, while John Malalas believes that he was of Bessian Thracian stock. According to the '' Patria of Constantinople'' he had one siste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Roman Emperor
The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised sovereign authority are included, to the exclusion of junior co-emperors who never attained the status of sole or senior ruler, as well as of the various usurpers or rebels who claimed the imperial title. The following list starts with Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor, who rebuilt the city of Byzantium as an imperial capital, Constantinople, and who was regarded by the later emperors as the model ruler. Modern historians distinguish this later phase of the Roman Empire as Byzantine due to the imperial seat moving from Rome to Byzantium, the Empire's integration of Christianity, and the predominance of Greek instead of Latin. The Byzantine Empire was the direct legal continuation of the eastern half of the Roman Empire following the division of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Autokrator
''Autokrator'' or Autocrator (, from + ) is a Greek epithet applied to an individual who is unrestrained by superiors. It has been applied to military commanders-in-chief as well as Roman and Byzantine emperors as the translation of the Latin title . Its connection with Byzantine-style absolutism gave rise to the modern terms ''autocracy'' and ''autocrat''. Ancient Greece The title appeared in Classical Greece in the late 5th century BC, and was used for generals given independent authority, i.e. a supreme commander (). In Classical Athens, were generals endowed with autonomous power of command, i.e. they were able to make certain military and diplomatic decisions without prior consultation with the Athenian assembly. This was enacted when the general was expected to operate far from Athens, for instance during the Sicilian Expedition. Nevertheless, the generals remained accountable to the assembly for their conduct upon their return. Similar practices were followed by oth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Augustus (title)
''Augustus'' (plural ''Augusti''; , ; "majestic", "great" or "venerable") was the main title of the Roman emperors during Classical antiquity, Antiquity. It was given as both name and title to Augustus, Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (often referred to simply as Augustus) in 27 BC, marking his accession as Rome's first emperor. On his death, it became an official title of his successor, and was so used by all emperors thereafter. The feminine form ''Augusta (honorific), Augusta'' was used for Roman empresses and other female members of the imperial family. The masculine and feminine forms originated in the time of the Roman Republic, in connection with things considered divine or sacred in Religion in ancient Rome, traditional Roman religion. Their use as titles for major and minor Roman deities of the Empire associated the imperial system and family with traditional Roman virtues and the divine will and may be considered a feature of the Imperial cult (ancient Rome), Roman imper ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
