Markian the Younger

Markian the Younger ( ancient Greek Μαρκιανός , actually Flavius Marcianus ; † after 484), was 479-480 usurper against Emperor Zenon in the Eastern Roman Empire .

Life

Marcianus came from an influential family. His father Anthemius was a Western Roman emperor, his grandfather of the same name, Markian, an Eastern Roman emperor. In addition, through his marriage to Leontia , he was the son-in-law of Emperor Leo I from 471 onwards . Further ancestors held the highest public offices for many generations.

Marcianus accompanied his father Anthemius to the West in 467 and held the consulate there in 469 . Around 470/71, presumably in connection with the fall of Aspar , he must have returned to Constantinople , where he married the daughter of the emperor and perhaps again served as consul in 472.

In 474 passed over by the succession of Leo I, Marcianus rose up against Zeno, incited by the emperor's widow Verina and the army master Theoderich Strabo , 479 with his brothers Anthemius and Romulus against Zeno and claimed the throne for himself. His partisans stormed the Imperial Palace but were repulsed by loyal Isaurian troops under the command of Illus . Marcianus was ordained a presbyter and banished to Tarsus (according to another tradition to Caesarea in Cappadocia ), his wife Leontia entered the monastery of the Akoimetes . Fled with the help of monks, he instigated a renewed uprising in Galatia in 480 , which was crushed by Trocundes . Marcianus was caught again and imprisoned in the fortress Papyrios in Isauria .

The last sign of life of Marcianus dates from the year 484, when Illus, who was now also rebelling against Zeno, freed him from custody and wanted to proclaim him again as anti-emperor. Illus then decided in favor of Leontius and sent Marcianus to Italy to Odoacer with an (unsuccessful) request for help .

swell

Euagrios Scholastikos , Historia ecclesiastica 3 , 26
John of Antioch , fragment 211, 3-4; 214, 2
Theodorus Lector 116, 10-19
Theophanes 126-127

literature

Gerard Friell, Stephen Williams: The Rome That Did Not Fall. The survival of the East in the fifth century. Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-415-15403-0 .
Dirk Henning: Periclitans res Publica. Empire and elites in the crisis of the Western Roman Empire 454 / 5–493 AD (= Historia - individual writings. Vol. 133). Steiner, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-515-07485-6 .
Clemens Heucke: The rule of the Eastern Roman emperor Zenon. An example of integration? In: Mathias Beer , Martin Kintzinger , Marita Krauss (eds.): Migration and Integration. Acceptance and integration in times of historical change (= Stuttgart contributions to historical migration research. Vol. 3). Steiner, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-515-07190-3 , pp. 45-54.
John Robert Martindale: Marcianus 17. In: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (PLRE). Volume 2, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1980, ISBN 0-521-20159-4 , pp. 717-718.
Klaus-Peter Todt: Zenon, Roman Emperor. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 14, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-073-5 , Sp. 418-427. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )

Web links

Ralph W. Mathisen: Short biography (English) at De Imperatoribus Romanis (with references). (Anthemius)

Remarks

↑ Marcianus mentioned in the fasts could also be an otherwise unknown person. For in no inscription or papyri is Marcianus referred to as consul II ; see Consuls of the later Roman Empire .

personal data
SURNAME	Markian the Younger
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Marcianus, Flavius (real name); Μαρκιανός (Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Western Roman consul and Eastern Roman usurper
DATE OF BIRTH	5th century
DATE OF DEATH	after 484

[1] Marcianus mentioned in the fasts could also be an otherwise unknown person. For in no inscription or papyri is Marcianus referred to as consul II ; see Consuls of the later Roman Empire .