Aëtios (eunuch)

Aëtios , Aetios or Aetius ( Greek  Ἀέτιος ) was a Byzantine eunuch and one of the most valued advisers to the Byzantine empress Irene (r. 797-802). After Irene's rise to sole rule, Aëtios developed a strong rivalry with the court ruler Staurakios . After Staurakios' death, Aëtios rose to be the leading man in the state. He tried to make his brother Leo emperor in a plot, but completely lost his influence after Irene was deposed in 802.

biography

Early years and rivalry with Staurakios

Golden solidus of Empress Irene, minted during her sole rule (r. 797–802).

Aëtios first appears in 790 as the protospatharius and confidante of Irene, the regent at the time for her underage son, the Emperor Constantine VI. (r. 780-797). In the fall of that year, Irene tried to bypass her son and gain sole rule over the Byzantine Empire. However, this led to a mutiny by the army, which would rather see itself commanded by the male heir to the throne. Constantine was made sole ruler and Irene was arrested in a palace in Constantinople and her eunuchs, including Aëtios, were exiled .

Aëtios was pardoned along with the other eunuchs when Irene was reappointed co-regent in 792. In August 797, Irene and her eunuchic court ruler Staurakios succeeded in winning the emperor Constantine VI. to blind (and perhaps kill) and thus take the affairs of state into their hands. The uncles of the deposed emperor (the surviving sons of Constantine V (r. 741–775)), who had already been involved in conspiracies against Irene in the past, posed a threat to the new rule. They were convinced that Cathedral Hagia Sophia church asylum to look where the people of Constantinople Opel then gather around them and should announce them to the Emperor one. But there was no such support, and Aëtios persuaded them to give up, after which they were exiled to Irene's hometown Athens .

Irene now showed her favor to both Staurakios, her long-time headmaster, and Aëtios. This led to a prolonged conflict between the two eunuchs and their followers. Both tried to put their relatives in positions of power so that they could gain power over the empire after Irene's death. The competition began in 797/798 and intensified in May 799 when Irene became seriously ill. Aëtios, who had won Niketas Triphyllios , the commander of the Scholai , as patron, accused Staurakios in front of the ears of the Byzantine empress of having planned a usurpation. Irene convened a council in the palace of Hieria , where she made serious accusations against Staurakios. But he was able to pull himself out of the affair with an apology.

Staurakios now began to distribute bribes among the soldiers of the Scholai and the Exkoubitores in order to gain their support for a coup. Aëtios informed Irene, who in February 800 forbade any member of the military to make contact with Staurakios. This, combined with Aëtios' appointment as strategos of the subject of Anatolia , restored the balance of power between the two camps. Shortly afterwards, Staurakios fell ill, but did not tire of scheming against Aëtios. He managed to spark a revolt against Aetios in Cappadocia , but he died in June 800.

Primacy and Fall of Aetios

The revolt was resolutely and bloodily suppressed, and after the death of his rival, Aëtios rose to supreme power at Irene's court. He probably succeeded Staurakios in his office as Logothetes tou Dromou , while adding the command over the Opsikion to his existing command over the Anatolicon . In the same year his troops won a victory against the Abbasids , but were defeated again in 801. In 801 or 802 Aëtios appointed his brother Leon to be the monostrategos of Thrace and Macedonia . Since he thus controlled the armies closest to Constantinople, which made up about a third of the Byzantine troops, he was able to make Leon emperor. In the words of the chronicler Theophanes , he "ruled at Irene's side and usurped power on behalf of his brother". Consequently, in 802 Aëtios played an important role in rejecting Charlemagne's offer of marriage , which Irene seemed to have been seriously considering.

Aëtios' plan to elevate his brother to the throne failed due to opposition from other dignitaries at court, who feared his influence and were humiliated by him. The leader of this party were Nikephoros , Irenes finance minister ( Logothetes tou Genikou ) and also Niketas Triphyllios, Aëtios former ally, and Leo Sarantapechos, a relative of the Byzantine empress. Fearing an impending coup d'état by Aëtios, the conspirators gained access to the Grand Palace on the morning of October 31, 802 and proclaimed Nikephorus emperor. Irene was deposed and banished to a convent .

The further fate of Aëtios is unclear. He lost power and possibly his life with the accession of Nikephorus to the throne, but he could also be that Patrikios Aëtios, who was killed together with Nikephoros in the battle of Pliska on July 26, 811.

literature

• Lynda Garland: Byzantine Empresses. Women and Power in Byzantium, AD 527-1204 . Routledge, London / New York 1999, ISBN 0-415-14688-7 .
• Alexander P. Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York NY 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 .
• Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Vol. 1: Aaron - Azarethes . Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2007, ISBN 978-2-503-52303-3 , pp. 66-67.
• Warren Treadgold : A History of the Byzantine State and Society . Stanford University Press, Stanford CA 1997, ISBN 0-8047-2630-2 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lynda Garland: Byzantine Empresses. London et al. 1999, p. 82; The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Volume 1, p. 30.
2. ↑ Lynda Garland: Byzantine Empresses. London et al. 1999, p. 83; The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Volume 1, p. 30.
3. ↑ Lynda Garland: Byzantine Empresses. London et al. 1999, pp. 86-87; The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Volume 1, p. 30.
4. ↑ Lynda Garland: Byzantine Empresses. London et al. 1999, p. 88; The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Volume 1, p. 30; Volume 3, p. 1945.
5. ↑ Lynda Garland: Byzantine Empresses. London et al. 1999, p. 88; Warren Treadgold: A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford 1997, p. 423.
6. ↑ Lynda Garland: Byzantine Empresses. London et al. 1999, p. 88; Warren Treadgold: A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford 1997, p. 423.
7. ↑ Lynda Garland: Byzantine Empresses. London et al. 1999, p. 89; The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Volume 1, p. 30.
8. ↑ Lynda Garland: Byzantine Empresses. London et al. 1999, p. 89; Warren Treadgold: A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford 1997, p. 424; The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Volume 1, p. 30.
9. ↑ Lynda Garland: Byzantine Empresses. London et al. 1999, pp. 89-90.
10. ^ The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Volume 1, p. 30.