A History of Rome to 565 A. D.

by Arthur E. R. Boak

Leo II, 473–4 A. D. In 473 Leo took as his colleague and destined successor his grandson, also called Leo, the son of Zeno. The death of the elder Leo occurred early in 474, and the younger soon crowned his father Zeno as co-emperor. When Leo II died before the close of the same year, Zeno became sole ruler.

Zeno, 474–491 A. D. The reign of Zeno was an almost uninterrupted struggle against usurpers and revolting Gothic foederati. In [pg 365]474 occurred an outbreak of the latter led by their king Theodoric the son of Triarius, called Strabo or “the Squinter,” who ruled over the Goths settled in Thrace as a master of the soldiers of the empire. Before this revolt was over, the unpopularity of the Isaurians induced Basiliscus, the brother-in-law of Leo I, to plot to seize the throne for himself. He was supported by his sister, the ex-empress Verina, and Illus, the chief Isaurian officer in Zeno’s service. The conspirators seized Constantinople and proclaimed Basiliscus emperor (475 A. D.). But his heretical religious views aroused strong opposition, and he was deserted by both Verina and Illus. Zeno re-entered the capital and Basiliscus was executed.

During the revolt Zeno had been supported by Theoderic the Amal, a Gothic prince who was a rival of Theoderic son of Triarius. The emperor therefore tried to crush the latter with the help of the former, but the two Theoderics came to an agreement and acted in concert against Zeno (478 A. D.). In 479 peace was made with Strabo, but hostilities continued with the Amal. At this time another insurrection broke out in Constantinople, under the leadership of Marcian, a son-in-law of Leo I, as a protest against the predominance of the Isaurians, in particular Illus. However, this revolt was easily put down.

Theoderic son of Triarius was killed in 481, and in 483 Zeno made peace with Theoderic the Amal, creating him patrician and master of the soldiers, and granting him lands in Dacia and lower Moesia. These concessions were made in consequence of the antagonism which had developed between the emperor and his all-powerful minister Illus. This friction culminated in 484 A. D. when Illus, who was master of the soldiers in the Orient, induced the dowager empress Verina to crown a general, named Leontius, as emperor. But outside of Isauria the movement found little support and after a long siege in an Isaurian fortress the leaders of the revolt were taken and put to death (488 A. D.). In the meantime Theoderic the Amal had asked and received an imperial warrant for the conquest of Italy, and with the departure of the Goths the eastern empire was delivered from the danger of Germanic domination. Zeno died in April, 491 A. D.

Anastasius, 491–518 A. D. The choice of a successor was left to the empress Ariadne, who selected as emperor and her husband an [pg 366]experienced officer of the court, Anastasius. The first act of Anastasius was to remove the Isaurian officials and troops from Constantinople. This led to an Isaurian rebellion in southern Asia Minor which was not stamped out until 498. In the struggle the power of the Isaurians was broken, their strongholds were captured, part of their population transported to Thrace, and they ceased to be a menace to the peace of the empire.

In the place of the Goths new enemies appeared on the Danubian border in the Slavic Getae and the Bulgars who overran the depopulated provinces of the northern Balkan peninsula. So extended were their ravages and so utterly did the imperial troops fail to hold them in check that Anastasius was obliged to build a wall across the peninsula, upon which the city of Constantinople stands, for the protection of the capital itself. Anastasius had also to cope with a serious Persian war which began with an invasion of Roman Armenia and Mesopotamia by King Kawad in 502 A. D. After four years of border warfare, in which the Persians gained initial success but the fortune of the Roman arms was restored by the master of the offices Celer, peace was reëstablished on the basis of the status quo ante.

The civil administration of Anastasius is noteworthy for the abolition of the tax called the chrysargyrum (498 A. D.), and his relief of the curiales from the responsibility for the collection of the municipal taxes. A testimony of the increasing influences of Christian morality was the abolition of certain pagan festivals and of combats between gladiators and wild beasts in the circus.

But in spite of the justness and efficiency of his administration the reign of Anastasius was marked by several popular upheavals in Constantinople, and in other cities of the empire as well. The cause lay in his sympathy for the monophysite doctrine which was vigorously opposed by the orthodox Christians. In 512 the appointment of a monophysite bishop at Constantinople provoked a serious rebellion which almost cost Anastasius his throne.

Although the emperor was able to quiet the city rabble by a display of cool courage the prevailing religious discord encouraged Vitalian, the commander of the Bulgarian foederati in the Thracian army, to raise the standard of revolt (514 A. D.). He defeated all forces sent against him and endangered the safety of the capital. However, he was induced to withdraw by a ransom of 5000 pounds of gold and [pg 367]the office of master of the soldiers in Thrace. But the truce was only temporary, and in 515 he again advanced on Constantinople. This time his forces met with a crushing defeat on land and sea, and the rebellion came to an end. Three years later Anastasius died.