THE CAMBRIDGE MEDIEVAL HISTORY I 249

The Isaurian War and the Death of Zeno

16.12. The Isaurian War and the Death of Zeno

Theodoric was now sent with a force of Romans and Goths to join John the Scythian; but Zeno changed his mind and recalled him, though his Goths remained with the army; and in his place Hermanric the son of Aspar, who had once revealed a conspiracy to Zeno and had married a daughter of his illegitimate son, was sent with a contingent of Rugians.

When the force which Illus sent against the imperial army was defeated, he hastily summoned Leontius from Antioch in September, and they fled to the stronghold of Cherris, to which Verina had already been sent. His confederates then shut themselves up in different fortresses, and many of his men deserted. Zeno recalled the Goths, who were no longer needed, and made the Isaurian Cottomenes magister militum in place of Theodorie, while another Isaurian, Longinus of Cardala, was made master of the offices. Nine days after the beginning of the siege Verina died, and a month later Marsus, and Illus left the defence to the owner of the fortress, Indacus, Trocundes' brother-in-law. Trocundes, who had been sent to collect reinforcements, was captured by John and beheaded, and Zeno's brother Longinus was allowed to escape (485).

Theodoric had perhaps been occupied during 485 by a Bulgarian invasion; but in 486 he raided Thrace, and Odovacar in spite of his previous refusal shewed signs of wishing to assist Illus, who now in vain made proposals for peace, while Zeno stirred up the Rugians against Odovacar.

In 487 Theodoric advanced close to Constantinople, and an agreement was made under which he set out to wrest Italy from Odovacar, who had defeated the Rugians, and the East was rid of the Goths for ever (488) All hope for the besieged was now at an end; Pamprepius, who had prophesied success, was put to death, and at last Indacus and others betrayed the fort. Illus's requests with regard to the burial of his daughter, who had died during the siege, and the treatment of his family were granted, and he and Leontius were beheaded, and their heads exposed at Constantinople (488). The traitors were all killed during the assault, perhaps by the besieged. Verina's body was taken to Constantinople and buried with Leo. Most of the Isaurian fortresses were dismantled. As the satraps of the five provinces had been in communication with lllus, the hereditary tenure of the four most important satrapies was abolished, though the satraps retained their native forces.

Zeno had by his first wife a son, also named Zeno; but he had killed himself by his excesses at an early age, and the Emperor wished to leave the crown to his brother Longinus. The infamous character of Longinus and the unpopularity of the Isaurians hindered him from declaring him Caesar; but he appointed him magister militum, in the hope that his military authority and the strength of the Isaurians in the army would secure him the succession. On 9 April 491 Zeno died of dysentery at the age of 60. In accordance with the precedent of 450 the choice of a successor was left to the Augusta Ariadne; and on the next morning, by the advice of Urbicius, she nominated the silentiary Anastasius of Dyrrachium, a man of 61, who had shortly before been one of the three candidates selected for the see of Antioch. He was crowned the next day; and, when he appeared before the people, they greeted him with the acclamation “Reign as you have lived.” On 20 May he married Ariadne.

The new Emperor began by the popular measures of remitting arrears of taxation and refusing facilities to informers, and he is credited with abolishing the sale of offices; but his reign was constantly disturbed by serious outbreaks. No immediate opposition was offered to his elevation; but in Isauria a revolt on a small scale broke out, and at Constantinople some unpopular notion on the part of Julian the city-praefect led to an uproar; and on an attempt to restore order by force the rioters threw down the pedestals on which stood the busts of the Emperor and Empress in front of the circus, and many were killed by the soldiers. To avoid more bloodshed Anastasius deposed Julian, who had been appointed by Ariadne on the day of Zeno's death, and named his own brother-in-law Secundinus to succeed him. Thinking that peace was impossible while the Isaurians were in the city, he expelled them and deprived them of the pay assigned by Zeno.

Longinus the brother of Zeno was compelled to take orders and exiled to the Thebaid, where he died, it is said, of hunger, eight years later, while his wife and daughter retired to Bithynia and lived the rest of their life on chanty. The property of the late Emperor, even his imperial robes, was sold by auction, and the castle of Cherris, which had not yet been occupied by the rebels, was dismantled Longinus of Cardala and a certain Athenodorus, who were among those who had been expelled from the capital, joined the insurgents in Isauria, among whom were now to be found Linginines, count of Isauria, Conon the ex-bishop, and another Athenodorus. Reinforced by discontented Romans and others who served under compulsion, they advanced to Cotyaeum. Here John the Scythian and John the Hunchback, who had succeeded Longinus as magister militum in praesenti met and defeated them. Linginines fell in the battle, and the Isaurians fled to their native mountains but the generals waited till spring before crossing the Taurus. In 493 Diogenes, a kinsman of Ariadne, took Claudiopolis, but was besieged in it by the Isaurians, and his men were nearly starved.

John the Hunchback however forced the passes, and by a sudden attack, aided by a sortie on the part of Diogenes, routed the enemy, Bishop Conon being mortally wounded. The Isaurians were henceforth confined to their strongholds, and a certain Longinus of Selinus, who resided in the strong coast town of Antioch and had a large fleet, supplied them with provisions by sea.

The Emperor's attention was now distracted by an incursion of barbarians, perhaps Slavs, in Thrace, during which Julian, the magister militum of Thrace, was killed. Moreover, as his Monophysite opinions made his rule distasteful to the Chalcedonians, who were strong in Constantinople, there was perhaps communication between them and the insurgents, a charge on which the patriarch Euphemius was deprived in 495. At last in 497 Longinus of Cardala and Athenodorus were taken and beheaded by John the Scythian and their heads sent to Constantinople, while the head of the other Athenodorus, who was captured the same year, was exhibited at the gates of Tarsus. Longinus of Selinus held out till 498, and was then made prisoner by Priscus, an officer serving under John the Hunchback, exhibited in chains at Constantinople, and tortured to death at Nicaea. Large numbers of Isaurians were settled in Thrace, and the population of Isauria, which had been greatly thinned by the two wars, was thereby yet further reduced, so that the necessity which had made the mountaineers the terror of Asia Minor no longer existed. The Isaurians had done their work of saving the East from the fate of the West; and, though they still provided useful recruits for the army, their day of political power was over. The importance of looking at home for soldiers instead of trusting to the barbarians had been learned and was never forgotten.

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