Leo II (Byzantium)

left: tremissis of Leo II and Zenons, obverse with bust of Leo; right: back of a solidus with the enthroned emperors Leo II (left) and Zenon.

Leo II ( Middle Greek Λέων Βʹ , * August / September 467 , † November 17, 474 ) was a short time (474) Byzantine emperor .

Leo was the son of Zenon and Ariadnes (daughter of Leo I and Verina ). A few months after the removal of Patricius , he was the next male relative of Leo I in October 472 to Caesar and heir to the throne. A year later, probably on November 17, 473, the boy advanced to Augustus and co-emperor. It is testified in this connection that the people of Constantinople cheered him in Greek, while the assembled soldiers cheered him in Latin.

After the death of his grandfather on January 18, 474, the young Leo nominally assumed sole rule, but on January 29, his father Zenon was crowned co-emperor by him. During his ten-month reign, Julius Nepos became the last legitimate Western Roman emperor. Leo died of an unknown disease in November 474, leaving Zeno as sole ruler in the east.

literature

• Brian Croke: The Imperial Reigns of Leo II . In: Byzantine Journal . Volume 96, 2003, pp. 559-575 ( abstract ).

Web links

• Hugh Elton: Short biography (English) at De Imperatoribus Romanis (with references).

Remarks

1. ↑ Croke, Imperial Reigns , p. 563 f.

predecessor	Office	successor
Leo I.	Eastern Roman Emperor 474	Zeno