Flavius Armatus (died 477) was a
ByzantineThe Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on the capital of Constantinople, and ruled by Emperors in direct and de jure succession to the ancient Roman Emperors...
military commander,
magister militumMagister militum was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine. Used alone, the term referred to the senior military officer of the Empire...
under Emperors
Leo IFlavius Valerius Leo , known in English as Leo the Thracian or Leo I, was a Byzantine Emperor who ruled from 457 to 474...
,
BasiliscusFlavius Basiliscus was an Eastern Roman Emperor of the House of Leo, who ruled briefly , when Emperor Zeno had been forced out of Constantinople by a revolt....
and
ZenoFlavius Zeno, original name Tarasicodissa or Trascalissaeus, Byzantine Emperor was one of the more prominent of the early Byzantine Emperors. Domestic revolts and religious dissension plagued his reign, which nevertheless succeeded to some extent in foreign issues...
, and
consul-Ancient Rome:During the time of ancient Rome as a Republic, the consuls were the highest civil and military magistrates, serving as the heads of government for the Republic. New consuls were elected every year. There were two consuls, and they ruled together...
. He was instrumental in the rebellion of Basiliscus against Zeno, and in his subsequent fall.
Armatus was a nephew of
BasiliscusFlavius Basiliscus was an Eastern Roman Emperor of the House of Leo, who ruled briefly , when Emperor Zeno had been forced out of Constantinople by a revolt....
and of Empress
VerinaAelia Verina was the Empress consort of Leo I of the Byzantine Empire. She was a sister of Basiliscus. Her daughter Ariadne was Empress consort of first Zeno and then Anastasius I. Verina was the maternal grandmother of Leo II.-Family:...
, 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
ThraceThrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded on the north by the Balkan Mountains, on the south by the Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea and on the east by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara...
, cutting off the hands of the Thracian prisoners and sending them to the rebels.
Flavius Armatus (died 477) was a
ByzantineThe Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on the capital of Constantinople, and ruled by Emperors in direct and de jure succession to the ancient Roman Emperors...
military commander,
magister militumMagister militum was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine. Used alone, the term referred to the senior military officer of the Empire...
under Emperors
Leo IFlavius Valerius Leo , known in English as Leo the Thracian or Leo I, was a Byzantine Emperor who ruled from 457 to 474...
,
BasiliscusFlavius Basiliscus was an Eastern Roman Emperor of the House of Leo, who ruled briefly , when Emperor Zeno had been forced out of Constantinople by a revolt....
and
ZenoFlavius Zeno, original name Tarasicodissa or Trascalissaeus, Byzantine Emperor was one of the more prominent of the early Byzantine Emperors. Domestic revolts and religious dissension plagued his reign, which nevertheless succeeded to some extent in foreign issues...
, and
consul-Ancient Rome:During the time of ancient Rome as a Republic, the consuls were the highest civil and military magistrates, serving as the heads of government for the Republic. New consuls were elected every year. There were two consuls, and they ruled together...
. He was instrumental in the rebellion of Basiliscus against Zeno, and in his subsequent fall.
Origin and early career
Armatus was a nephew of
BasiliscusFlavius Basiliscus was an Eastern Roman Emperor of the House of Leo, who ruled briefly , when Emperor Zeno had been forced out of Constantinople by a revolt....
and of Empress
VerinaAelia Verina was the Empress consort of Leo I of the Byzantine Empire. She was a sister of Basiliscus. Her daughter Ariadne was Empress consort of first Zeno and then Anastasius I. Verina was the maternal grandmother of Leo II.-Family:...
, 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
ThraceThrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded on the north by the Balkan Mountains, on the south by the Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea and on the east by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara...
, 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
GothThe Goths were a heterogeneous East Germanic tribe. The historian Jordanes claimed that the Goths arrived from semi-legendary Scandza, believed to be somewhere in modern Götaland , and that a Gothic population had crossed the Baltic Sea before the 2nd century, lending their name to the region of...
Theodoric StraboTheodoric Strabo was an Ostrogoth chieftain who was involved in the politics of the Byzantine Empire during the reigns of Byzantine Emperors Leo I, Zeno and Basiliscus...
, a military commander under Leo, and hence this revolt would have been the one started by Strabo between the death of
AsparFlavius Ardabur Aspar was an Alan patrician and magister militum of the Eastern Roman Empire.Son of the magister Ardaburius, 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,...
(471) and the end of Leo's rule (473).
Rise of Basiliscus
Armatus supported the rebellion of Basiliscus in 475, probably gaining also the support of Verina, who was the mother-in-law of deposed Emperor Zeno, for the rebels. During the short reign of Basiliscus, Armatus exercised noteworthy influence on both the emperor and his wife and
AugustaAugusta was the feminine form of the title Augustus. It was usually given to the wives or relatives of the Roman Emperors and the Byzantine Emperors. In the third century, Augustae could also receive the titles of Mater castrorum and Mater patriae...
ZenonisAelia Zenonis was the Empress consort of Basiliscus of the Eastern Roman Empire.- Background :The ancestry of Zenonis is unknown. She was married to Basiliscus, brother of Verina. Her sister-in-law was Empress consort to Leo I and mother to Ariadne...
. There were rumours about a relationship between Armatus and Zenonis. Zenonis convinced Basiliscus to appoint Armatus to the office of
magister militum praesentialis. Armatus was also awarded the
consul-Ancient Rome:During the time of ancient Rome as a Republic, the consuls were the highest civil and military magistrates, serving as the heads of government for the Republic. New consuls were elected every year. There were two consuls, and they ruled together...
ship of 476, together with Basiliscus.
Armatus was a sort of dandy, who was interested only in his own hair and other body training, and Theodoric Strabo despised him for this reason. Strabo, therefore, grew unsatisfied with Basiliscus, whom he had helped in his uprising against Zeno, because he had given the title of
magister militum praesentialis, a rank as high as Strabo's own, to such a man.
After the honours and wealth received by his uncle Basiliscus, Armatus thought of himself as the bravest of the men, dressing as
AchillesIn Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad.Achilles also has the attributes of being the most handsome of the heroes assembled against Troy....
and parading around his house near the Hippodrome. During his wandering, the people called him "Pyrrus", either because he was of reddish complexion or because they were teasing him.
Fall of Basiliscus and Armatus' death
In the summer of 476, Zeno moved from Isauria to regain his throne, and bribed both the Basiliscus' generals
IllusIllus was a Byzantine general, who played an important role in the reigns of the Byzantine Emperors Zeno and Basiliscus.Illus supported the revolt of Basiliscus against Zeno, then switched sides, supporting the return of Zeno...
and Throcondus to join him. Basiliscus gathered all of the troops from Thracia, the city of Constantinople and even the palace guard, and, after binding Armatus with a loyalty oath, sent them to meet and defeat Zeno. When Armatus met Zeno, however, he was bribed into joining the Isaurian emperor, with the promise of the appointment of the title of
magister militum praesentalis for life, the awarding of Armatus' son, Basiliscus, of the title of
caesarCaesar , Latin: Caesar , is a title of imperial character. It derives from the cognomen of Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator...
, and of the qualification as heir to Zeno.
After his restoration, Zeno fulfilled his promises, letting Armatus keep his title of
magister militum praesentalis (possibly even raising him to the rank of
patriciusPatricius may refer to:People* Patricius, a leader of the War against Gallus, 4th-century Jewish revolt* Patricius, father of Saint Augustine of Hippo* Patricius , 14th-century ruler of two Russian principalities...
) and appointing his son Basiliscus Caesar in Nicaea. In 477, however, the
IsauriaIsauria , in ancient geography, is a rugged isolated district in the interior of South Asia Minor, of very different extent at different periods, but generally covering much of what is now Konya/Bozkir province of Turkey, or the core of the Taurus Mountains...
n Zeno changed his mind, probably by instigation of
IllusIllus was a Byzantine general, who played an important role in the reigns of the Byzantine Emperors Zeno and Basiliscus.Illus supported the revolt of Basiliscus against Zeno, then switched sides, supporting the return of Zeno...
, an Isaurian general who had helped Basiliscus' rise and later changed sides to Zeno, and who would have gained by the fall of Armatus. Armatus was killed by order of Zeno. The murderer was Armatus' own friend Onoulphus, who, as a poor barbarian, had been welcomed by Armatus, then made
comesComes is the Latin word for companion, either individually or as a member of a collective known as comitatus , especially the suite of a magnate, in some cases large and/or formal enough to have a specific name, such as a cohors amicorum. The word comes derives from com- "with" + ire "go."-In the...
, then commander of
IllyricumThe praetorian prefecture of Illyricum was one of four large praetorian prefectures into which the Late Roman Empire was divided. The administrative centre of the prefecture was Sirmium , and, after 379 AD, Thessalonica...
; Armatus even lent him a great deal of money to pay for a banquet. The citizens of
ConstantinopleConstantinople was the imperial capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire...
rejoiced after his death. Zeno confiscated all of the properties of Armatus, deposed his son Basiliscus, and had him ordained priest.
Relationship between Armatus and Odoacer
A recent publication by Stephan Krautschick has opened the study of Armatus' life to new interpretations, in particular the relationship between Armatus and Basiliscus' family and
OdoacerOdoacer , also known as Odovacer, was a Germanic foederati general and the first non-Roman ruler of Italy after AD 476. He deposed the last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus on 4 September of that year, but continued to rule first as a nominal client of Julius Nepos and, after Nepos' death in...
, chieftain of the
HeruliThe Heruli were a nomadic Germanic people, who were subjugated by the Ostrogoths, Huns, and Byzantines in the 3rd to 5th centuries. The name is related to earl and was probably an honorific military title...
and later King of Italy. According to Krautschick, as well as to other subsequent scholars, Armatus was brother of Onoulphus and Odoacer, so that the leader of the Heruli was also nephew of Basiliscus and Verina. In particular, this interpretation sheds light on why Armatus was so keen to help Onoulphus, and that it was his own brother that killed him.
The link between Armatus, Odoacer and Onoulphus is a fragment by
John of AntiochJohn of Antioch was Patriarch of Antioch and led a group of moderate Eastern bishops during the Nestorian controversy. He is sometimes confused with John Chrysostom, who is occasionally also referred to as John of Antioch. John gave active support to his friend Nestorius in the latter's dispute...
(209.1), in which Onoulphus is stated to be the murderer and the brother of Armatus. Before the work of Krautschick, and also according to other scholars, the reading was emended to read that "Odoacer was the brother of the Onoulphus who killed Armatus". This amendment made the fragment of John compatible with the accounts of other historians, since neither
John MalalasJohn Malalas or Ioannes Malalas was a Byzantine chronicler from Antioch. Malalas is probably a Syriac word for "rhetor", "orator"; it is first applied to him by John of Damascus .Malalas was educated in Antioch and probably was a jurist there, but moved to...
nor
MalchusMalchus was a Byzantine historian. According to Suda Malchus was a Byzantine; but the statement of Photius that he was a native of Philadelphia, is preferable; and his Syriac name makes it probable that Philadelphia was the city so called in the country of Ammonitis, east of the Jordan.Malchus...
make any reference to the fact that Armatus was killed by his own brother, and no reference is made to a blood relationship between Odoacer and Basiliscus.
Secondary sources