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Leo III the Isaurian

 
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Leo III the Isauria
Isauria

Isauria , 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 Mount Taurus....
n or the Syria
Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
n (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: ???? G?, Leon III), (c. 685–June 18, 741
741

Events...
) was Byzantine emperor
List of Byzantine Emperors

This is a list of the Emperors of the late Eastern Roman Empire, commonly known as the Byzantine Empire by modern historians. This list does not include numerous co-emperors who never attained sole or senior status as rulers....
 from 717 until his death in 741. He put an end to a period of instability, successfully defended the empire against the invading Umayyads, and forbade the veneration of icons (see Iconoclasm
Iconoclasm (Byzantine)

Iconoclasm, Greek for "image-breaking", is the deliberate destruction within a culture of the culture's own religion icons and other symbols or monuments, usually for religious or political motives....
).

whose original name was Konon, was born in Germanikeia (Maras
Maras

In ancient Latvia, Maras or Maras diena was a festival, celebrated on August 15, held in honor of Mara , the Latvian goddess. It marked the midpoint between Jani and Mikeli ....
) in the Syrian province of Commagene.






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Leo III the Isauria
Isauria

Isauria , 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 Mount Taurus....
n or the Syria
Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is an Arab-majority country in Southwest Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Israel to the southwest, Jordan to the south, Iraq to the east, and Turkey to the north....
n (Greek
Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: ???? G?, Leon III), (c. 685–June 18, 741
741

Events...
) was Byzantine emperor
List of Byzantine Emperors

This is a list of the Emperors of the late Eastern Roman Empire, commonly known as the Byzantine Empire by modern historians. This list does not include numerous co-emperors who never attained sole or senior status as rulers....
 from 717 until his death in 741. He put an end to a period of instability, successfully defended the empire against the invading Umayyads, and forbade the veneration of icons (see Iconoclasm
Iconoclasm (Byzantine)

Iconoclasm, Greek for "image-breaking", is the deliberate destruction within a culture of the culture's own religion icons and other symbols or monuments, usually for religious or political motives....
).

Life


Early life

Leo, whose original name was Konon, was born in Germanikeia (Maras
Maras

In ancient Latvia, Maras or Maras diena was a festival, celebrated on August 15, held in honor of Mara , the Latvian goddess. It marked the midpoint between Jani and Mikeli ....
) in the Syrian province of Commagene. Some, including the Byzantine
Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
 chronicler Theophanes
Theophanes the Confessor

Saint Theophanes Confessor was a member of the Byzantine Empire aristocracy, who became a monk and chronicler. He is venerated on March 12 in the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church ....
, have claimed that Konon's family had been resettled in Thrace
Thrace

Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. Today the name Thrace designates a region spread over southern Bulgaria , northeastern Greece , and European Turkey ....
, where he entered the service of Emperor Justinian II
Justinian II

Justinian II , known as Rinotmetos or Rhinotmetus , was the last Byzantine emperor of the :Category:Heraclian Dynasty, reigning from 685 to 695 and again from 705 to 711....
, when the latter was advancing on Constantinople
Constantinople

Constantinople was the empire capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire . Strategically located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe meets Asia, Byzantine Constantinople had been the capital of a Christendom empire, successor to ancient ancient Greece...
 with an army of 15,000 horsemen provided by Tervel of Bulgaria
Tervel of Bulgaria

Tervel also called Tarvel, or Terval, or Terbelis in some Byzantine Empire sources, was the ruler of the Bulgarians at the beginning of the 8th century....
 in 705, but such an assertion is not supported by the writings of Patriarch Nicephorus nor is it found in other oriental sources.

After the victory of Justinian II, Leo was dispatched on a diplomatic mission to Alania
Alania

Alania can refer to:*Alania, the medieval state of the Alans or Alani people in the North Caucasus.*The short name of the modern North Ossetia-Alania, one of the Caucasian republics in the Russian Federation....
 and Lazica to organize an alliance against the Umayyad Caliph
Caliph

The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the leader of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah....
ate under Al-Walid I
Al-Walid I

Al-Walid ibn Abd al-Malik or Al-Walid I was an Umayyad caliph who ruled from 705 - 715. He continued the expansion of the Islamic empire that was sparked by his father, and was an effective ruler....
. Leo was appointed commander (strategos
Strategos

The term strategos is used in Greek language to mean "general". In the Hellenistic and Byzantine Empires the term was also used to describe a military governor....
) of the Anatolic theme by Emperor Anastasius II
Anastasios II (emperor)

Artemius Anastasius , known in English as Anastasios II or Anastasius II, , was Byzantine emperor from 713 to 715.Anastasios was originally named Artemios , and had served as a bureaucrat and imperial secretary for his predecessors....
. On his deposition Leo joined with his colleague Artabasdus
Artabasdos

Artavasdos, latinized as Artabasdos or Artabasdus , was Byzantine Emperor from June 741 or 742 until November 743. His reign constitutes a usurpation against Constantine V, who had retained control of several thema in Asia Minor....
, the strategos of the Armeniac theme, in conspiring to overthrow the new Emperor Theodosius III
Theodosios III

Theodosios III or Theodosius III , was Byzantine Emperor from 715 to March 25, 717.Theodosius was a financial officer and tax collector in the southern portion of the Theme of Opsikion....
. Artabasdus was betrothed to Anna
Anna, wife of Artabasdos

Anna was the wife of Artabasdos, one of two rival Byzantine Emperors in a civil war which lasted from June, 741 to November, 743. The other Emperor was her brother, Constantine V....
, daughter of Leo as part of the agreement.

Siege of Constantinople

Leo entered Constantinople on March 25, 717
717

Events...
 and forced the abdication of Theodosios III, becoming emperor as Leo III. The new emperor was immediately forced to attend to the Second Arab siege of Constantinople
Siege of Constantinople (718)

The Second Arab Siege of Constantinople was a combined land and sea effort by the Arabs to take the capital city of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople....
, which commenced in August of the same year. The Arabs were Ummayad forces sent by Caliph Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik
Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik

Sulayman bin Abd al-Malik was an Umayyad caliph who ruled from 715 until 717. His father was Abd al-Malik, and he was a younger brother of the previous caliph, al-Walid I....
 and serving under Maslama. They had taken advantage of the civil discord in the Roman Empire to bring a force of 80,000 men and a massive fleet to the Bosphorus.

Careful preparations and the stubborn resistance put up by Leo wore out the invaders. An important factor in the victory of the Romans was their use of Greek fire
Greek fire

Greek fire was a primitive incendiary device weapon used by the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines typically used it in naval battles to great effect as it could continue burning even on water....
. The Arab forces also fell victim to Bulgarian reinforcements arriving to aid the Romans. Leo was allied with the Bulgarians but the chronicler Theophanes the Confessor
Theophanes the Confessor

Saint Theophanes Confessor was a member of the Byzantine Empire aristocracy, who became a monk and chronicler. He is venerated on March 12 in the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church ....
 was uncertain if they were still serving under Tervel or his eventual successor Kormesiy of Bulgaria
Kormesiy of Bulgaria

Kormesiy was a ruler of Danubian Bulgaria in the first half of the 8th century. Western chronicles name Kormesiy "the third ruler over the Bulgarians", and he is sometimes considered the direct successor of Tervel of Bulgaria....
. Unable to continue the siege in the face of the Bulgarian onslaught and lack of successes, the Arabs were forced to abandon their ambitions on Constantinople in August, 718. Sulayman himself had died the previous year and his successor Umar II
Umar II

Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz...
 would not attempt another siege. The siege had lasted 12 months.

Administration

Having thus preserved the Empire from extinction, Leo proceeded to consolidate its administration, which in the previous years of anarchy
Anarchy

Anarchy may refer to any of the following:* "No ruler ship or enforced authority." * "Absence of government; a state of lawlessness due to the absence or inefficiency of the supreme power; political disorder."...
 had become completely disorganized. In 718 he suppressed a rebellion
Rebellion

Rebellion is a refusal of obedience. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors from civil disobedience and mass nonviolent resistance, to violent and organized attempts to destroy an established authority such as the government....
 in Sicily
Sicily

Sicily is an Autonomous regions with special statute of Italy. Of all the regions of Italy, Sicily covers the largest land area at 25,708 km? and currently has just over five million inhabitants....
 and in 719 did the same on behalf of the deposed Emperor Anastasios II
Anastasios II (emperor)

Artemius Anastasius , known in English as Anastasios II or Anastasius II, , was Byzantine emperor from 713 to 715.Anastasios was originally named Artemios , and had served as a bureaucrat and imperial secretary for his predecessors....
. Leo secured the Empire's frontier
Frontier

A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a Border....
s by inviting Slavic settler
Settler

A settler is a person who has human migration to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonies the area. Settlers are generally people who take up Sedentary and agriculture it, as opposed to nomads....
s into the depopulated districts and by restoring the army to efficiency
Efficiency

Efficiency may refer to:...
; when the Ummayad Caliphate renewed their invasion
Invasion

An invasion is a Offensive consisting of all, or large parts of the armed forces of one geopolitics entity aggressively entering territory controlled by another such entity, generally with the objective of either conquering, liberating or re-establishing control or authority over a territory, altering the established government or gaining c...
s in 726 and 739, as part of the campaigns of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik

Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik 10th Umayyad caliph who ruled from 723 until his death in 743. When he was born in 691 his mother named him after her father....
, the Arab forces were decisively beaten, particularly at Akroinon
Battle of Akroinon

The Battle of Akroinon was fought at Akroinon in Phrygia, on the western edge of the Anatolian plateau, in 739 between an Umayyad Arab army of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, led by his brother Sulayman, and Byzantine Empire forces led by Leo III the Isaurian and his son, the future Constantine V....
 in 740. His military efforts were supplemented by his alliance
Alliance

An alliance is an agreement between two or more parties, made in order to advance common goals and to secure common interests. The Anglo-Portuguese Alliance, between the Kingdom of England and Portugal, is the oldest alliance in the world which is still in force....
s with the Khazars
Khazars

The Khazars were a semi-nomadic Turkic people who dominated the Pontic steppe and the North Caucasus from the 7th to the 10th century CE. The name 'Khazar' seems to be tied to a Turkic languages verb form meaning "wandering"....
 and the Georgians
Georgia (country)

Georgia is a transcontinental country in the Caucasus region, located at the dividing line between Europe and Asia. It is bordered by the Russia to the north, Azerbaijan to the east, Armenia to the south, and Turkey to the southwest....
.

Leo undertook a set of civil
Civil

Civil may refer to:*Civic virtue, or civility*Civilian, someone not a member of armed forces*Civil war*Civil disobedience*Civil law, multiple meanings...
 reforms including the abolition
Abolition

Abolition is the act of formally repealing an existing legal practice, either by making it illegal, or simply no longer allowing it to exist in any form....
 of the system of prepaying tax
Tax

To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon an individual or Legal person by a state or the functional equivalent of a state.Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entity....
es which had weighed heavily upon the wealth
Wealth

Wealth is an abundance of valuable material possessions or resources. The word is derived from the old English wela, which is from an Indo-European word stem....
ier proprietors, the elevation of the serf
SERF

A spin-exchange relaxation-free magnetometer achieves very high magnetic field sensitivity by monitoring a high density vapor of alkali metal atoms precessing in a near-zero magnetic field....
s into a class
Social class

Social class refers to the hierarchy distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures. Usually most societies have some notion of social class , but concretely defined social classes are not found in every known type of human societies....
 of free
Freedom (political)

Political freedom is the absence of interference with the sovereignty of an individual by the use of coercion or aggression. The members of a free society would have full dominion over their public and private lives....
 tenants and the remodelling of family
Family law

Family law is an area of the law that deals with family issues and domestic relations including, but not limited to:*the nature of marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships;...
 and of maritime law. These measures, which were embodied in a new code
Legal code

A legal code is a body of law written by a governmental body, such as a U.S. state, a Canada Provinces and territories of Canada or Germany States of Germany or a municipality....
 (the Ecloga) published in 740, met with some opposition on the part of the nobles and higher clergy
Clergy

Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. The term comes from the Greek language ?????? - kleros, "a lot", "that which is assigned by lot" or metaphorically, "heritage"....
. The emperor also undertook some reorganization of the "Theme" structure by creating new themata in the Aegean
Aegean Sea

The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea located between the southern Balkans and Anatolian peninsulas, i.e., between the mainlands of Greece and Turkey respectively....
 region.

Leo also published the Eclogue
Eclogue

An eclogue is a poem in a classical antiquity style on a pastoral subject. Poems in the genre are sometimes also called bucolics.The form of the word in contemporary English is taken from French language eclogue, from Old French, from Latin ecloga....
, a compilation of new imperial constitution
Constitution

A constitution is a system for government — often codified as a written document — that establishes the rules and principles of an autonomous political entity....
s.

Iconoclasm

But Leo's most striking legislative reforms dealt with religious matters, especially iconoclasm
Iconoclasm

Iconoclasm, Greek for "image-breaking," is the deliberate destruction of important symbolic images recognized within a culture, religion, or society....
. After an apparently successful attempt to enforce the baptism
Baptism

In Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted as a full member of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the particular Church in which the baptism is administered....
 of all Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
s and Montanists
Montanism

Montanism was an Early Christianity movement of the early 2nd century A.D., named after its founder Montanus. It originated at Hierapolis where Papias was bishop and flourished throughout the region of Phrygia, leading to the movement being referred to as Cataphrygian ....
 in the empire (722), he issued a series of edicts against the worship of images (726–729). This prohibition of a custom which had undoubtedly given rise to grave abuses seems to have been inspired by a genuine desire to improve public morality, and received the support of the official aristocracy and a section of the clergy. But a majority of the theologians and all the monks opposed these measures with uncompromising hostility, and in the western parts of the empire the people refused to obey the edict.

A revolt which broke out in Greece, mainly on religious grounds, was crushed by the imperial fleet in 727. In 730, Patriarch Germanos I of Constantinople
Patriarch Germanos I of Constantinople

Saint Germanos I was Patriarch of Constantinople from 715 to 730. He is regarded as a saint, with a feast day of May 12.Appointed by Emperor Anastasios II , Patriarch Germanos negotiated his abdication after the victory of Theodosios III in 715....
 resigned rather than subscribe to an iconoclast decree. Leo had him replaced by Anastasios
Patriarch Anastasius of Constantinople

Anastasios was the patriarch of Constantinople from 730 to 754. The patriarchate of Constantinople is a high position in the eastern branch of Christianity....
 who willingly sided with the emperor on the question of icons. Thus Leo suppressed the overt opposition of the capital.

In the Italian Peninsula
Italian Peninsula

The Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula is one of the three peninsulas of Southern Europe , spanning 1,000 km from the Po Valley in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in the south....
, the defiant attitude of Popes Gregory II
Pope Gregory II

Pope Saint Gregory II served as pope from May 19, 715 to his death on February 11, 731, succeeding Pope Constantine. Having, it is said, bought off the Lombards for thirty pounds of gold, he used the tranquillity thus obtained for vigorous missionary efforts among the Germanic tribes, and for strengthening the papal authority in the churches...
 and Gregory III
Pope Gregory III

Gregory III was pope from 731 to 741.A Syriacs by birth, he succeeded Pope Gregory II in March 731. His pontificate, like that of his predecessor, was disturbed by the Iconoclasm controversy in the Byzantine Empire, in which he vainly invoked the intervention of Charles Martel....
 on behalf of image-veneration led to a fierce quarrel with the emperor. The former summoned councils in Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
 to anathematize and excommunicate the iconoclasts (730, 732); Leo retaliated by transferring Southern Italy and Illyricum
Illyricum

Illyricum can refer to:* Illyricum * Diocese of Illyricum* Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum...
 from the papal diocese to that of the Patriarch of Constantinople
Patriarch of Constantinople

The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is the Archbishop of Constantinople ? New Rome ? ranking as primus inter pares in the Eastern Orthodox Church organization, which is seen by followers as the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church....
. The struggle was accompanied by an armed outbreak in the exarchate of Ravenna
Exarchate of Ravenna

The Exarchate of Ravenna or of Italy was a centre of Byzantine Empire power in Italy, from the end of the 6th century to 751, when the last Exarch was put to death by the Lombards....
 in 727, which Leo finally endeavoured to subdue by means of a large fleet. But the destruction of the armament by a storm decided the issue against him; his South Italian subjects successfully defied his religious edicts, and the Exarchate of Ravenna
Exarchate of Ravenna

The Exarchate of Ravenna or of Italy was a centre of Byzantine Empire power in Italy, from the end of the 6th century to 751, when the last Exarch was put to death by the Lombards....
 became effectively detached from the empire.

Family

By his wife Maria
Maria, wife of Leo III

Maria probably daugter of Bulgarian CAESAR Tervel was the Empress consort of Leo III the Isaurian of the Byzantine Empire....
, Leo III had four known children:
  • Anna
    Anna, wife of Artabasdos

    Anna was the wife of Artabasdos, one of two rival Byzantine Emperors in a civil war which lasted from June, 741 to November, 743. The other Emperor was her brother, Constantine V....
    , who married Artabasdus
    Artabasdos

    Artavasdos, latinized as Artabasdos or Artabasdus , was Byzantine Emperor from June 741 or 742 until November 743. His reign constitutes a usurpation against Constantine V, who had retained control of several thema in Asia Minor....
    .
  • Constantine V
    Constantine V

    Constantine V was List of Byzantine Emperors from 741 to 775; ); ....
    , who succeeded as emperor.
  • Irene
  • Kosmo

Footnotes


External links