Elpidius or Elpidios () 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 ...

aristocrat and governor of

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, who was accused of conspiring against Empress

Irene of Athens Irene of Athens (, ; 750/756 – 9 August 803), surname Sarantapechaena (, ), was Byzantine empress consort to Emperor Leo IV from 775 to 780, regent during the childhood of their son Constantine VI from 780 until 790, co-ruler from 792 unti ...

(). This forced him to rebel, and after being defeated he defected to the

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes ...

and was recognized there as

Byzantine emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

Biography

Nothing is known of Elpidius before February 781, when Empress Irene () appointed him as governor () of the theme of

. At the time, he already held the highest Byzantine dignity, that of , and the chronicler Theophanes the Confessor simply mentions that he had held the governorship of Sicily in the past, either under Leo IV the Khazar () or possibly

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 ...

().. Soon after, however, on 15 April, Irene was informed that he had supported a plot, discovered in October of the previous year to depose her and elevate the Caesar Nikephoros, the eldest surviving son of Constantine V, to power. Irene immediately dispatched the '' spatharios'' Theophilos to Sicily to bring Elpidius back to

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 ...

. Although his wife and children were left behind in Constantinople, Elpidius refused the summons and was supported by the people and the local army. It does not seem that Elpidius declared himself explicitly in revolt against Irene, but the Empress nevertheless had his wife and children publicly whipped and imprisoned in the capital's . In autumn of 781 or early 782, Irene dispatched against him a large fleet under a trusted court eunuch, the Theodore. Elpidius's own military forces were meager, and after several battles he was defeated. Along with his lieutenant, the Nikephoros (probably the commander of

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

), he gathered what remained of the theme's treasury and fled to

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

, where the Arab authorities welcomed him. There, he had himself proclaimed emperor, a claim that was formally—but apparently not very seriously—acknowledged by the Abbasid government. His life thereafter is obscure, except for his participation in a large-scale campaign (reportedly 40,000 men) against Byzantium in 792 or 794. The Abbasids probably hoped that they could set him up as a rival emperor in at least part of

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 ...

, but the invading army was met with the onset of an early and heavy

winter Winter is the coldest and darkest season of the year in temperate and polar climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Dif ...

, losing many men to

cold Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjectivity, subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute t ...

, and was forced to retreat. According to Syriac sources, he was still alive in 802, when Irene was deposed by Nikephoros I (). When learning of this event, he is said to have advised Abd al-Malik ibn Salih, Emir of

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

, to "throw away his silk and put on his armour", as Nikephoros would pursue a more aggressive policy against the Abbasids than Irene.

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Elpidius 8th-century Byzantine people 8th-century rebels Byzantine defectors Byzantine generals Byzantine usurpers Byzantine people of the Arab–Byzantine wars Byzantine governors of Sicily Patricii