Leo III the Isaurian

For homonyms, see Leo III (disambiguation).

Leo III the Isaurian
Leo III (left) and his son Constantine V
Emperor of the Byzantine Empire
Reign	25 March 717 – 18 June 741
Predecessor	Theodosios III
Successor	Constantine V

Born	c. 685
Died	18 June 741 (aged 55 or 56)
Spouse	Maria
Issue	Constantine V Anna Irene Kosmo
Dynasty	Isaurian dynasty

Isaurian dynasty

Chronology
Leo III		717–741
with Constantine V as co-emperor, 720–751
Constantine V		741–775
with Leo IV as co-emperor, 751–775
Artabasdos' usurpation		741–743
Leo IV		775–780
with Constantine VI as co-emperor, 776–780
Constantine VI		780–797
under Irene as regent, 780–790, and with her as co-regent, 792–797
Irene as empress regnant		797–802
Succession
Preceded by Twenty Years' Anarchy		Followed by Nikephorian dynasty

Leo III the Isaurian, also known as the Syrian (Greek: Λέων Γ΄ ὁ Ἴσαυρος, Leōn III ho Isauros, (c. 685 – 18 June 741), was Byzantine Emperor from 717 until his death in 741.^[1] He put an end to the Twenty Years' Anarchy, a period of great instability in the Byzantine Empire between 695 and 717, marked by the rapid succession of several emperors to the throne. He also successfully defended the Empire against the invading Umayyads and forbade the veneration of icons.^[2]

Life

A Leo III base gold solidus, minted in Rome.

Example of the miliaresion silver coins, first struck by Leo III to commemorate the coronation of his son, Constantine V, as co-emperor in 720.

Byzantine Empire 717 AD. 1. Ravenna 2. Venetia and Istria 3. Rome 4. Naples 5. Calabria 6. Hellas 7. Thrace 8. Opsikion 9. Thrakesion 10. Anatolikon 11. Karabisianoi 12. Armeniakon. Hatched area: Frequently invaded by Umayyad Caliphate

Early life

Leo, whose original name was Konon, was born in Germanikeia in the Syrian province of Commagene (modern Kahramanmaraş in Turkey). Some, including the Byzantine chronicler Theophanes, have claimed that Konon's family had been resettled in Thrace, where he entered the service of Emperor Justinian II, when the latter was advancing on Constantinople with an army of 100,000 horsemen provided by Tervel of Bulgaria in 705.

After the victory of Justinian II, Konon was dispatched on a diplomatic mission to Alania and Lazica to organize an alliance against the Umayyad Caliphate under Al-Walid I. Konon was appointed commander (stratēgos) of the Anatolic theme by Emperor Anastasius II. On his deposition, Konon joined with his colleague Artabasdus, the stratēgos of the Armeniac theme, in conspiring to overthrow the new Emperor Theodosius III. Artabasdus was betrothed to Anna,^[3] daughter of Leo as part of the agreement.

Siege of Constantinople

Main article: Siege of Constantinople (717–718)

Leo entered Constantinople on 25 March 717 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, which commenced in August of the same year. The Arabs were Umayyad forces sent by Caliph Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik and serving under his brother Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik. They had taken advantage of the civil discord in the Byzantine Empire to bring a force of 80,000 to 150,000 men and a massive fleet to the Bosphorus.^[4]

Careful preparations, begun three years earlier under Anastasius II, and the stubborn resistance put up by Leo wore out the invaders. An important factor in the victory of the Byzantines was their use of Greek fire.^[5] The Arab forces also fell victim to Bulgarian reinforcements arriving to aid the Byzantines. Leo was allied with the Bulgarians but the chronicler Theophanes the Confessor was uncertain if they were still serving under Tervel of Bulgaria or his eventual successor Kormesiy of Bulgaria.

Unable to continue the siege in the face of the Bulgarian onslaught, the impenetrability of Constantinople's walls, and their own exhausted provisions, the Arabs were forced to abandon the siege in August, 718. Sulayman himself had died the previous year and his successor Umar II 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 had become completely disorganized. In 718 he suppressed a rebellion in Sicily and in 719 did the same on behalf of the deposed Emperor Anastasios II.

Leo secured the Empire's frontiers by inviting Slavic settlers into the depopulated districts and by restoring the army to efficiency; when the Umayyad Caliphate renewed their invasions in 726 and 739, as part of the campaigns of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, the Arab forces were decisively beaten, particularly at Akroinon in 740. His military efforts were supplemented by his alliances with the Khazars and the Georgians.

Leo undertook a set of civil reforms including the abolition of the system of prepaying taxes which had weighed heavily upon the wealthier proprietors, the elevation of the serfs into a class of free tenants and the remodelling of family, maritime law and criminal law, notably substituting mutilation for the death penalty in many cases. The new measures, which were embodied in a new code called the Ecloga (Selection), published in 726, met with some opposition on the part of the nobles and higher clergy. The Emperor also undertook some reorganization of the theme structure by creating new themata in the Aegean region.

Iconoclasm

Leo's most striking legislative reforms dealt with religious matters, especially iconoclasm ("Icon-breaking," therefore an iconoclast is an "Icon-breaker").^[6] After an apparently successful attempt to enforce the baptism of all Jews and Montanists in the empire (722), he issued a series of edicts against the worship of images (726–729).^[7] This prohibition of a custom which had been in use for centuries 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. 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 (cf. Agallianos Kontoskeles). In 730, Patriarch Germanos I of Constantinople resigned rather than subscribe to an iconoclastic decree. Leo had him replaced by Anastasios,^[8] who willingly sided with the Emperor on the question of icons. Thus Leo suppressed the overt opposition of the capital.

In the Italian Peninsula, the defiant attitude of Popes Gregory II and Gregory III on behalf of image-veneration led to a fierce quarrel with the Emperor. The former summoned councils in Rome to anathematize and excommunicate the iconoclasts (730, 732); In 740 Leo retaliated by transferring Southern Italy and Illyricum from the papal diocese to that of the Patriarch of Constantinople.^[9] The struggle was accompanied by an armed outbreak in the exarchate of Ravenna 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 southern Italian subjects successfully defied his religious edicts, and the Exarchate of Ravenna became effectively detached from the Empire.

The emperor died of dropsy in June 741.

Family

With his wife Maria, Leo III had four known children:

Anna, who married Artabasdus.
Constantine V, who succeeded as emperor.
Irene
Kosmo

Footnotes

↑ Craig, Graham, Kagan, Ozment, and Turner. The Heritage of World Civilazations. Prentice Hall. p. 321. ISBN 978-0-205-80766-6.
↑ Gero, Stephen (1973). Byzantine Iconoclasm during the Reign of Leo III, with Particular Attention to the Oriental Sources. Louvain: Secrétariat du Corpus SCO. ISBN 90-429-0387-2.
↑ Treadgold, Warren (1997). A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford: University of Stanford Press. p. 346. ISBN 0-8047-2630-2.
↑ (French) Guilland, Rodolphe. "L’expédition de Maslama contre Constantinople (717–720)" in Études Byzantines. Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1959, pp. 109–133.
↑ Treadgold. History of the Byzantine State, p. 347.
↑ Ladner, Gerhart. "Origin and Significance of the Byzantine Iconoclastic Controversy." Mediaeval Studies, 2, 1940, pp. 127–149.
↑ Treadgold. History of the Byzantine State, pp. 350, 352–353.
↑ Treadgold. History of the Byzantine State, p. 353.
↑ Treadgold. History of the Byzantine State, pp. 354–355.

Literature

Ostrogorsky, George (1956). History of the Byzantine State. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Entry of "Leo III" in The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, ed. Alexander Kazhdan. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Leo III the Isaurian.

Regnal titles
Leo III the Isaurian Isaurian Dynasty Born: c. 685 Died: 18 June 741
Preceded by Theodosius III	Byzantine Emperor 25 March 717 – 18 June 741	Succeeded by Constantine V

Roman and Byzantine emperors

Principate 27 BC – 235 AD	Augustus Tiberius Caligula Claudius Nero Galba Otho Vitellius Vespasian Titus Domitian Nerva Trajan Hadrian Antoninus Pius Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus Commodus Pertinax Didius Julianus (Pescennius Niger) (Clodius Albinus) Septimius Severus Caracalla with Geta Macrinus with Diadumenian Elagabalus Severus Alexander

Crisis 235–284	Maximinus Thrax Gordian I and Gordian II Pupienus and Balbinus Gordian III Philip the Arab with Philippus II Decius with Herennius Etruscus Hostilian Trebonianus Gallus with Volusianus Aemilianus Valerian Gallienus with Saloninus and Valerian II Claudius Gothicus Quintillus Aurelian Tacitus Florian Probus Carus Carinus and Numerian Gallic Emperors: Postumus (Laelianus) Marius Victorinus (Domitianus II) Tetricus I with Tetricus II as Caesar

Dominate 284–395	Diocletian (whole empire) Diocletian (East) and Maximian (West) Diocletian (East) and Maximian (West) with Galerius (East) and Constantius Chlorus (West) as Caesares Galerius (East) and Constantius Chlorus (West) with Severus (West) and Maximinus Daia (East) as Caesares Galerius (East) and Severus (West) with Constantine the Great (West) and Maximinus Daia (East) as Caesares Galerius (East) and Maxentius (West) with Constantine the Great (West) and Maximinus Daia (East) as Caesares Galerius (East) and Licinius I (West) with Constantine the Great (West) and Maximinus Daia (East) as Caesares Maxentius (alone) Licinius I (West) and Maximinus Daia (East) with Constantine the Great (Self-proclaimed Augustus) and Valerius Valens Licinius I (East) and Constantine the Great (West) with Licinius II, Constantine II, and Crispus as Caesares (Martinian) Constantine the Great (whole empire) with son Crispus as Caesar Constantine II Constans I Magnentius with Decentius as Caesar Constantius II with Vetranio Julian Jovian Valentinian the Great Valens Gratian Valentinian II Magnus Maximus with Flavius Victor Theodosius the Great

Western Empire 395–480	Honorius (Constantine III with son Constans II) Constantius III Joannes as Western usurper in Ravenna Valentinian III Petronius Maximus with Palladius Avitus Majorian then Libius Severus then Anthemius then Olybrius Glycerius Julius Nepos (de jure) Romulus Augustulus (Usurper)

Eastern/ Byzantine Empire 395–1204	Arcadius Theodosius II Pulcheria Marcian Leo I the Thracian Leo II Zeno (first reign) Basiliscus with son Marcus as co-emperor Zeno (second reign) Anastasius I Dicorus Justin I Justinian the Great Justin II Tiberius II Constantine Maurice with son Theodosius as co-emperor Phocas Heraclius Constantine III Heraklonas Constans II Constantine IV with brothers Heraclius and Tiberius and then Justinian II as co-emperors Justinian II (first reign) Leontios Tiberios III Justinian II (second reign) with son Tiberius as co-emperor Philippikos Anastasios II Theodosius III Leo III the Isaurian Constantine V Artabasdos Leo IV the Khazar Constantine VI Irene Nikephoros I Staurakios Michael I Rangabe with son Theophylact as co-emperor Leo V the Armenian with Symbatios-Constantine as junior emperor Michael II the Amorian Theophilos Michael III Basil I the Macedonian Leo VI the Wise Alexander Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos Romanos I Lekapenos with sons Christopher, Stephen and Constantine as junior co-emperors Romanos II Nikephoros II Phokas John I Tzimiskes Basil II Constantine VIII Zoe (first reign) and Romanos III Argyros Zoe (first reign) and Michael IV the Paphlagonian Michael V Kalaphates Zoe (second reign) with Theodora Zoe (second reign) and Constantine IX Monomachos Constantine IX Monomachos (sole emperor) Theodora Michael VI Bringas Isaac I Komnenos Constantine X Doukas Romanos IV Diogenes Michael VII Doukas with brothers Andronikos and Konstantios and son Constantine Nikephoros III Botaneiates Alexios I Komnenos John II Komnenos with Alexios Komnenos as co-emperor Manuel I Komnenos Alexios II Komnenos Andronikos I Komnenos Isaac II Angelos Alexios III Angelos Alexios IV Angelos Nicholas Kanabos as usurper chosen by the Senate Alexios V Doukas

Empire of Nicaea 1204–1261	Constantine Laskaris Theodore I Laskaris John III Doukas Vatatzes Theodore II Laskaris John IV Laskaris

Eastern/ Byzantine Empire 1261–1453	Michael VIII Palaiologos Andronikos II Palaiologos with Michael IX Palaiologos as co-emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos John V Palaiologos John VI Kantakouzenos with John V Palaiologos and Matthew Kantakouzenos as co-emperors John V Palaiologos Andronikos IV Palaiologos John VII Palaiologos Andronikos V Palaiologos Manuel II Palaiologos John VIII Palaiologos Constantine XI Palaiologos

Italics usually indicate an usurper or co-emperor.

Authority control	WorldCat Identities VIAF: 172695250 LCCN: no2002039837 ISNI: 0000 0000 9298 0157 GND: 118779540 SUDOC: 073339687 BNF: cb12183014p (data)

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