Baktangios (; died 743) was a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

patrikios The patricians (from ) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom and the early Republic, but its relevance waned after the Conflict of the Orders (494 BC to 287 B ...

'' and one of the principal supporters of the usurping emperor Artabasdos (). Baktangios was probably of Georgian descent, his name being a Hellenized form of " Vakhtang". According to

Christian Settipani Christian Settipani (born 31 January 1961) is a French genealogist, historian and IT professional, currently working as the Technical Director of a company in Paris. Biography Settipani holds a Master of Advanced Studies from the Paris-Sorb ...

, he may have been a scion of King

Vakhtang I of Iberia Vakhtang I Gorgasali ( ka, ვახტანგ I გორგასალი, tr; or 443 – 502 or 522), of the Chosroid dynasty, was a king (''Mepe (title), mepe'') of Kingdom of Iberia (antiquity), Iberia, natively known as Kartli (eastern Ge ...

. Baktangios was closely associated with Artabasdos, a commander of Armenian origin, who seized

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

from

Constantine V Constantine V (; July 718 – 14 September 775) was Byzantine emperor from 741 to 775. His reign saw a consolidation of Byzantine security from external threats. As an able military leader, Constantine took advantage of Third Fitna, civil war ...

in 741. After Constantine made a comeback in November 743, Baktangios accompanied Artabasdos in his flight to the castle of Pouzanes in Opsikion (northwestern

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

). They were both captured by Constantine's agents and brought to Constantinople, where Artabasdos was blinded and Baktangios was beheaded in the Kynegion, his head exposed on the

Milion The Milion ( or , ''Mílion''; ) was a marker from which all distances across the Roman Empire were measured. Erected by Septimius Severus in the 3rd century AD in the city of Byzantium, it became the zero-mile marker for the empire upon the r ...

for three days. He was buried in the monastery of the Chora. Thirty years later, according to the chronicle of Theophanes, Constantine forced Baktangios's widow to unearth his remains, carry them away in her own cloak and deposit them in the cemetery of Pelagios, where suicides were buried.

References

{{reflist 743 deaths 8th-century Byzantine people 8th-century executions by the Byzantine Empire Patricii Byzantine people of Georgian descent People executed by decapitation