Pseudo-Tiberios

Pseudo-Tiberios ( Middle Greek Τιβέριος ; † after 737 in Edessa ) was a Byzantine pretender to the throne in the reign of Emperor Leo III. His real name was Beser (Besher, Bâshîr, Bēseros) .

Life

Beser-Tiberios, who is mentioned mainly in Syrian sources (the common source may have been the now lost Chronicle of Theophilos of Edessa ), was either captured by the Arabs at Pergamon in 737 or voluntarily defected to them. He was treated with imperial honors by Caliph Hisham and assigned to Edessa as his residence. Even Emperor Leo III. is said to have feared his claim to the throne, which the alleged Tiberios also tried to assert in the Byzantine Empire. However, the arrogant was crucified at an undisclosed point in time when his true identity was revealed.

It is unclear under whose identity the pseudo-Tiberios made his claims. According to the Syrian sources, he used the name of his father "Constantine". The only emperor of the epoch in question for whom this name has been passed down and who had an otherwise unknown heir to the throne is Theodosius III. , who appears in Pseudo-Dionysius under the double name Theodosios-Konstantinos . According to the Greek sources, the pretender pretended to be the son of Justinian II , who, however, was murdered in Blachernae in December 711 and then buried in Constantinople .

swell

Bar-hebraeus 110
Chronicle of 1234 , chap. 165
Kedrenos 1, 800
Michael the Syrian 2, 503–504
Pseudo-Dionysius 11
Theophanes AM 6229 (p. 411 in the edition by Carl de Boor )

literature

Ralph-Johannes Lilie , Claudia Ludwig, Thomas Pratsch, Ilse Rochow, Beate Zielke: Prosopography of the Middle Byzantine Period . 1st department: (641−867). Volume 5: Theophylaktos (# 8346) - az-Zubair (# 8675), Anonymi (# 1001- # 12149). Created after preliminary work by F. Winkelmann . Published by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. De Gruyter, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-11-016675-5 , p. 52 No. 8491.

Remarks

↑ These circumstances were certainly still known to contemporaries two decades later and, if this version were to be correct, are likely to have confronted the pretenders with a considerable problem of credibility a priori. See also PmbZ , No. 2593 and 8166.

personal data
SURNAME	Pseudo-Tiberios
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Tiberios; Τιβέριος (Middle Greek); Beser (real name); Besher (real name); Bâshîr (real name); Bēseros (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Byzantine pretender to the throne and usurper
DATE OF BIRTH	7th century or 8th century
DATE OF DEATH	after 737
Place of death	Edessa

[1] These circumstances were certainly still known to contemporaries two decades later and, if this version were to be correct, are likely to have confronted the pretenders with a considerable problem of credibility a priori. See also PmbZ , No. 2593 and 8166.