Basil Onomagoulos ( el, ) was a
Byzantine official who was declared rival emperor in
Sicily in 717, taking the
regnal name Tiberius.
Basil was from
Constantinople, the son of a certain Gregory Onomagoulos. In 717 he was a member of the entourage of Sergius, the Byzantine governor of
Sicily, when news arrived to the island of the fall of Constantinople, the Byzantine imperial capital, to an
Arab siege. At this point Sergius declared Basil as emperor, taking the name Tiberius. The Emperor
Leo III the Isaurian (r. 717–741) however quickly dispatched a ''
chartoularios
The ''chartoularios'' or ''chartularius'' ( el, χαρτουλάριος), Anglicized as chartulary, was a late Roman and Byzantine administrative official, entrusted with administrative and fiscal duties, either as a subaltern official of a depar ...
'' named
Paul, whom he named ''
patrikios'' and ''
strategos
''Strategos'', plural ''strategoi'', Linguistic Latinisation, Latinized ''strategus'', ( el, στρατηγός, pl. στρατηγοί; Doric Greek: στραταγός, ''stratagos''; meaning "army leader") is used in Greek language, Greek to ...
'' of Sicily, with a few men and imperial instructions for the army. On his arrival, the people of
Syracuse
Syracuse may refer to:
Places Italy
*Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa''
*Province of Syracuse
United States
*Syracuse, New York
**East Syracuse, New York
**North Syracuse, New York
*Syracuse, Indiana
* Syracuse, Kansas
*Syracuse, Miss ...
and the army surrendered the rebels. Basil and his head general were beheaded and their heads sent to the emperor, while the other rebels were
tonsured or
mutilated and exiled. Sergius himself managed to escape to the
Lombards in mainland Italy, and returned only after he received guarantees that no harm would befall him.
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Onomagoulos, Basil
7th-century births
717 deaths
Year of birth unknown
8th-century Byzantine people
Byzantine usurpers
Executed Byzantine people
People executed by decapitation
Byzantine Sicily
People from Constantinople
8th-century executions by the Byzantine Empire
Leo III the Isaurian