Person:Basiliscus (1)

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Basiliscus (Basilískos; died 476/477) was Eastern Roman emperor from 9 January 475 to August 476. He became in 464, under his brother-in-law, Emperor Leo (457–474). Basiliscus commanded the army for an invasion of the Vandal Kingdom in 468, which was defeated at the Battle of Cape Bon. There were accusations at the time that Basiliscus was bribed by Aspar, the ; many historians dismiss this, instead concluding that Basiliscus was either incompetent or foolish for accepting Vandal King Gaiseric's offer of a truce, which the latter used to construct fireships. Basiliscus's defeat cost the Eastern Empire of gold, causing the empire to hover above bankruptcy for 30 years. When Basiliscus returned to Constantinople, he sought refuge in the Church of St. Sophia. His sister, Empress Verina, secured him a pardon and he left the church to retire in Neapolis.

When Emperor Leo died in 474, his grandson Emperor Leo II (474) took power, but soon died; his father, Zeno (474–475, 476–491) ascended the throne in the same year, in a politically precarious position. Verina conspired to install the Patricius, her lover, as emperor. This plot was supported by Basiliscus, who succeeded in recruiting Isaurian brothers Illus and Trocundes, as well as Verina's nephew Armatus. Zeno fled on 9 January 475, either after learning of the plot or after Verina warned him that his life was in danger. Although Patricius was Verina's intended successor, Basiliscus convinced the Eastern Roman Senate to acclaim him instead.

Basiliscus quickly lost the support of the people after a combination of heavy taxes, heretical policies, and a natural disaster viewed as divine wrath for said heretical views. In an attempt to increase support, he embraced the miaphysites, restoring Timothy Ailuros as the Patriarch of Alexandria and Peter the Fuller as Patriarch of Antioch. He heeded their advice and issued an encyclical on 9 April 475 which promoted the first three ecumenical councils of the church: Nicaea, Constantinople, and Ephesus, and condemned the Council of Chalcedon and the Tome of Leo. The Patriarch of Constantinople, Acacius, strongly opposed him, and together with Daniel the Stylite, turned the population of Constantinople against Basiliscus.

Basiliscus quickly lost his allies, losing Verina almost immediately as a consequence of executing Patricius. Illus and Trocundes, who were besieging Zeno in his homeland of Isauria, were convinced by Zeno to defect, and soon the three of them marched their troops toward the capital. Hearing this, Basiliscus ordered Armatus to take a number of troops and intercept them. Armatus betrayed Basiliscus after Zeno promised him the position of for life, and that his son, Basiliscus, would be made . Armatus then directed his army away from the road which Zeno was traveling along, allowing Zeno to enter Constantinople unopposed in August 476. Basiliscus and his family hid in a church until Zeno promised not to execute them, and they were exiled to Limnae in Cappadocia, where they were either beheaded or imprisoned in a dried-up cistern and left to starve to death.

1. ↑ Basiliscus, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.