Petros

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Petros (disambiguation) .

Petros (Latin Petrus ; † 602 in Constantinople?) Was a brother of Maurikios , who was emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire from 582 to 602 and one of the most important early Byzantine rulers.

Along with Priskos and Komentiolos, Petros was one of the three generals who operated as military leaders during Maurikios' Balkan campaigns .

Although Petros as a general could not hold a candle to the much more talented Priscus , he succeeded him in 594 as commander of the Roman armed forces in Moesia . The reason for this was at the end of 593 the refusal of the Priscus to winter with his army north of the Danube and to continue to fight the Slavs there . With a victory at Marcianopolis in 594, Petros was able to prevent the Slavs from breaking into the Balkans again and inflict further defeats north of the Danube, especially at Helibacia . In 601 he even advanced into the heartland of the Avars and defeated them in several battles.

When his brother again ordered the soldiers to winter north of the Danube in 602, Petros, unlike Priskos, made no move nine years earlier to disregard this order. The result was a mutiny which, despite Petros' attempts to appease, degenerated into a revolt that led to the overthrow of Maurikios.

Although Theophylactus Simokates , who primarily had Priskos available as a source, portrays Petros as incompetent, Petros' experience must have been great enough to discuss his authorship of the Strategikon in research.

literature

• Michael Whitby : The Emperor Maurice and his Historian. Theophylact Simocatta on Persian and Balkan Warfare. Clarendon Press, Oxford et al. 1988, ISBN 0-19-822945-3 .
• See also article Maurikios .