Leon (brother of Aëtios)

Leon ( Middle Greek Λέων ; † after 802) was a Byzantine general who appeared as a pretender to the throne in 801/802 .

Life

Leon was the brother of the eunuch Aetios , who after the death of his rival Staurakios in June 800 at the court of Empress Irene in Constantinople had gained an extraordinary amount of power. In 801 or 802 Leon was appointed Monostrategos of Thrace and Macedonia by his brother . Since he thus controlled the armies closest to the capital, which made up about a third of the Byzantine troops, Leon was in a good starting position to avoid the death of Constantine VI. 797 formally vacant seats on the imperial throne. In the words of the chronicler Theophanes , Aetios "ruled at Irene's side and usurped power on behalf of his brother". Since Aëtios apparently hoped to arrange a marriage between Irene and Leon, he thwarted Charlemagne's offer of marriage in 802 , which the empress had apparently seriously considered accepting.

Leon's ambitions for the imperial throne ultimately failed due to the resistance of the other dignitaries at court, who feared his brother's influence and were humiliated by him. The leaders of this party were Nikephoros , Irenes Minister of Finance ( Logothetes tou Genikou ), and also Niketas Triphyllios, Aëtios' former ally, and Leon Sarantapechos, a relative of the Byzantine empress. To forestall a coup d'état by Leon and 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 . From this point on, Leon disappears from the sources.

swell

• Theophanes , pp. 475–476 (in the edition by Carl de Boor )
• John Zonaras 15, 13

literature

• Ralph-Johannes Lilie , Claudia Ludwig, Thomas Pratsch, Ilse Rochow, Beate Zielke: Prosopography of the Middle Byzantine Period . 1st department: (641−867). Volume 3: Leon (# 4271) - Placentius (# 6265). Created after preliminary work by F. Winkelmann . Published by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. De Gruyter, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-11-016673-9 , pp. 36-37 No. 4405.
• Ilse Rochow: Byzantium in the 8th century as seen by Theophanes. Source-critical historical commentary on the years 715–813 (= Berlin Byzantine works. Vol. 57). Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-05-000700-1 , p. 275.
• Warren Treadgold : A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford University Press, Stanford CA 1997, ISBN 0-8047-2630-2 , p. 424.