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Artabasdos (Byzantium)

Συγγραφή : Venetis Evangelos (31/7/2003)
Μετάφραση : Velentzas Georgios

Για παραπομπή: Venetis Evangelos, "Artabasdos (Byzantium)",
Εγκυκλοπαίδεια Μείζονος Ελληνισμού, Μ. Ασία
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=7530>
Αρτάβασδος (Βυζάντιο) (6/5/2009 v.1) Artabasdos (Byzantium) (15/6/2009 v.1) 
 

1. Biography

Little information is available on Artabasdos in the sources, which are certain only about his Armenian origin. He was probably descended from Germanikeia. In 717 he got married to Anna, the daughter of Emperor Leo III the Isaurian, and had two sons, elder Nikephoros and younger Niketas. The same marriage must have produced seven daughters as well.1 The name of his Armenian cousin, the patrikios Teridates, is also known.2 By order of the Emperor Constantine V he was blinded and exiled with his family in 743 to the Chora monastery, in Constantinople, where he died at an unknown moment.

2. Career

2.1. Activities before 741

The first reference to Artabasdos’ career concerns the reign of Artemios-Anastasios II (713-715), when he was the strategos of the theme of Armeniakon. In 715-717, Artabasdos supported the rebellion of Leo the Isaurian against the new Emperor Theodosius III and, after they prevailed, he got married to Leo’s daughter and was awarded the titles of kouropalates and comes of Opsikion. The close relations between Artabasdos and the family of Leo III could be attributed to Artabasdos’ possible descent from Germanikeia, Leo’s birthplace.3 As comes of Opsikion, Artabasdos must have taken part in the defence of Nicaea against the Arabs, who besieged the city in 727, while his name is reported in an inscription referring to the repairs made to the fortifications of the city after the siege.4

2.2. Ascension to the throne

When Leo III died (June 18, 741), the throne was occupied by his son Constantine V, who was rather distrustful of Artabasdos. In June 742,5Artabasdos attacked suddenly the emperor at Krasos of Asia Minor and scattered his army. Then, with the help of the silentiarius Athanasios, the revolter joined the patrikios and magistros Theophanes Monotes, Constantine V’s representative in Constantinople. Monotes proclaimed Artabasdos emperor convincing the citizens of Constantinople that Constantine V had died during the campaign against the Arabs. As he wanted to consolidate his position, Artabasdos took advantage of the dispute between iconoclasts and icon worshippers and supported the second side, who were dominating Constantinople in that period.6

Apart from Theophanes Monotes and the patriarch of Constantinople Anastasios, Artabasdos managed to be recognised by Pope Zachary and therefore legalised his power. At the same time, he crowned his son Nikephoros co-emperor (they are depicted together on the coins he minted during his reign), while he possibly crowned his wife Anna and his younger son Niketas as well.7

2.3. The fall

The legal Emperor Constantine, who had escaped to his faithful theme of Anatolikon, reorganised his troops and reinforced them with those of the theme of Thrakesion under his cousin, strategos Sisinnios. In the early summer of 743, Artabasdos was defeated by Constantine in the battle of Sardis and had to return to Constantinople via Kyzikos. Niketas, Artabasdos’ younger son, was appointed monostrategos and was ordered by his father to confront Constantine in the theme of Armeniakon. In August 743, Artabasdos was defeated again in the area of Modrine (modern Mudrunum, Turkey).

In November of the same year, following a two-month siege of Constantinople by the troops of Constantine V and because of the famine afflicting the city, Artabasdos had to abandon the capital in his enemy’s hands and escaped to Nicaea of Bithynia, where he managed to gather a remarkable number of soldiers. Then he marched towards the fortress of Pousane, where he took cover. But he was soon captured and led chained to Constantinople, where he and his two sons were duly punished by Constantine V. The emperor ordered that they be exposed at the Hippodrome of Constantinople and be blinded.8 Artabasdos and his entire family were exiled to the monastery of Chora, Constantinople, where he remained in confinement until the end of his life.

1. Αccording to the Βίος Μιχαήλ Συγκέλλου, Cunningham, M. (ed.), Life of Michael Synkellos (Belfast Byzantine Texts and Translations 1, Belfast 1991), p. 108, which reports that Artabasdos was exiled to the monastery of Chora along with his wife and their nine children.

2. Θεοφάνης, Χρονογραφία, de Boor, C. (ed.), Theophanis Chronographia (Leipzig 1883), p. 418.2-4.

3. Hollingsworth, P.A., “Artabasdos”, in The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium 1 (New York - Oxford 1991), p. 192.

4. Schneider, A.M. – Karnapp, W., Die Stadtmauer von Iznik (Nicaea) (Berlin 1938), p. 49.

5. Speck, P., Artavasdos, der rechtgläubige Vorkämpfer der göttlichen Lehren. Untersuchungen zur Revolte des Artavasdos und ihrer Darstellung in der byzantinischen Historiographie (Ποικίλα Βυζαντινά 2, Bonn 1981), adopts the version of Patriarch Nikephoros, who believes that Artabasdos revolted immediately after the death of Leo III (June 741), while Theophanes one year later (June 742). Speck believes that Theophanes must have been misled by an unreliable source.

6. Θεοφάνης, Χρονογραφία, de Boor, C. (ed.), Theophanis Chronographia (Leipzig 1883), 415.21-22: “ὁ δὲ Ἀρτάυασδος κατὰ πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν τὰς ἱερὰ ς εἰκόνας ἀνεστήλωσεν”. Speck, P., Artavasdos, der rechtgläubige Vorkämpfer der göttlichen Lehren. Untersuchungen zur Revolte des Artavasdos und ihrer Darstellung in der byzantinischen Historiographie (Ποικίλα Βυζαντινά 2, Bonn 1981), supports that Artabasdos was never actually an icon worshipper and remained loyal to his emperor and father-in-law Leo III the Isaurian.

7. Hollingsworth, P.A., “Artabasdos”, in The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium 1 (New York - Oxford 1991), p. 192.

8. Νικηφόρος Πατριάρχης, Ιστορία Σύντομος, Mango, C. (ed.), Nikephoros, Patriarch of Constantinople, Short History (Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 13, Washington 1990), p. 66.23-29, reports that Artabasdos and his sons were not immediately blinded, but after the rebellious intentions of the strategos of Thrakesion Sisinnios were revealed, that is, 40 days after the prevalence of Constantine V.
     
 
 
 
 
 

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