Everything about Leo Iii The Isaurian totally explained
» For homonyms, see Leo III
Leo III the Isaurian or
the Syrian (
Greek: Λέων Γ΄,
Leōn III), (c.
685–
June 18,
741) was
Byzantine emperor from 717 until his death in 741. He put an end to a period of instability, successfully defended the empire against the invading
Umayyads, and forbade the veneration of icons (see
Iconoclasm).
Life
Early life
Leo, whose original name was Konon, was born in Germanikeia (
Maraş) in the Syrian province of
Commagene. Some, including the Greek chronicler Theophanes, have claimed that Konon's family had been resettled in
Thrace, where he entered the service of Emperor
Justinian II, when the latter was advancing on
Constantinople with an army of 15,000 horsemen provided by
Tervel of Bulgaria in 705, but such an assertion isn't supported by the writings of Patriarch Nicephorus nor is it found in other oriental sources.
After the victory of Justinian II, Leo was dispatched on a diplomatic mission to
Alania and
Lazica to organize an alliance against the
Umayyad Caliphate under
Al-Walid I. Leo was appointed commander (
stratēgos) of the Anatolic
theme by Emperor
Anastasius II. On his deposition Leo joined with his colleague
Artabasdus, the
stratēgos of the Armeniac theme, in conspiring to overthrow the new Emperor
Theodosius III. Artabasdus was betrothed to
Anna, daughter of Leo as part of the agreement.
Siege of Constantinople
Leo entered Constantinople on
March 25,
717 and forced the abdication of Theodosios III, becoming emperor as Leo III. The new emperor was immediately forced to attend to the
Second Arab siege of Constantinople, which commenced in August of the same year. The Arabs were Ummayad forces sent by Caliph
Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik and serving under
Maslama. They had taken advantage of the civil discord in the Roman Empire to bring a force of 80,000 men and a massive fleet to the
Bosphorus.
Careful preparations and the stubborn resistance put up by Leo wore out the invaders. An important factor in the victory of the Romans was their use of
Greek fire. The Arab forces also fell victim to Bulgarian reinforcements arriving to aid the Romans. Leo was allied with the Bulgarians but the chronicler
Theophanes the Confessor was uncertain if they were still serving under Tervel or his eventual successor
Kormesiy of Bulgaria. Unable to continue the siege in the face of the Bulgarian onslaught and lack of successes, the Arabs were forced to abandon their ambitions on Constantinople in August, 718. Sulayman himself had died the previous year and his successor
Umar II wouldn't attempt another siege. The siege had lasted 12 months.
Administration
Having thus preserved the Empire from extinction, Leo proceeded to consolidate its
administration, which in the previous years of
anarchy had become completely disorganized. In 718 he suppressed a
rebellion in
Sicily and in 719 did the same on behalf of the deposed Emperor
Anastasios II. Leo secured the Empire's
frontiers by inviting
Slavic settlers into the
depopulated districts and by restoring the
army to
efficiency; when the Ummayad Caliphate renewed their
invasions in 726 and 739, as part of the campaigns of
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik, the Arab forces were decisively beaten, particularly at
Akroinon in 740. His military efforts were supplemented by his
alliances with the
Khazars and the
Georgians.
Leo undertook a set of
civil reforms including the
abolition of the system of prepaying
taxes which had weighed heavily upon the
wealthier
proprietors, the elevation of the
serfs into a
class of
free tenants and the remodelling of
family and of
maritime law. These measures, which were embodied in a new
code (the
Ecloga) published in 740, met with some opposition on the part of the
nobles and higher
clergy. The emperor also undertook some reorganization of the "Theme" structure by creating new themata in the
Aegean region.
Leo also published the
Eclogue, a
compilation of new imperial
constitutions
(External Link
).
Iconoclasm
But Leo's most striking legislative reforms dealt with religious matters, especially
iconoclasm. After an apparently successful attempt to enforce the
baptism of all
Jews and
Montanists in the empire (722), he issued a series of edicts against the worship of images (726–729). This prohibition of a custom which had undoubtedly given rise to grave abuses seems to have been inspired by a genuine desire to improve public morality, and received the support of the official aristocracy and a section of the clergy. But a majority of the theologians and all the monks opposed these measures with uncompromising hostility, and in the western parts of the empire the people refused to obey the edict.
A revolt which broke out in Greece, mainly on religious grounds, was crushed by the imperial fleet in 727. In 730,
Patriarch Germanos I of Constantinople resigned rather than subscribe to an iconoclast decree. Leo had him replaced by
Anastasios who willingly sided with the emperor on the question of icons. Thus Leo suppressed the overt opposition of the capital.
In the
Italian Peninsula, the defiant attitude of Popes
Gregory II and
Gregory III on behalf of image-veneration led to a fierce quarrel with the emperor. The former summoned councils in
Rome to anathematize and excommunicate the iconoclasts (730, 732); Leo retaliated by transferring
Southern Italy and
Illyricum from the papal diocese to that of the
Patriarch of Constantinople. The struggle was accompanied by an armed outbreak in the
exarchate of Ravenna in 727, which Leo finally endeavoured to subdue by means of a large fleet. But the destruction of the armament by a storm decided the issue against him; his South Italian subjects successfully defied his religious edicts, and the
Exarchate of Ravenna became effectively detached from the empire.
Family
By his wife
Maria, Leo III had four known children:
Further Information
Get more info on 'Leo Iii The Isaurian'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://leo_iii_the_isaurian.totallyexplained.com">Leo III the Isaurian Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
