page_title: Tiberius III
section_title: Rule
hierarchical_section_title: Tiberius III / History / Rule
caption_attribution_description: English: Central and Eastern Europe (with focus on Balkans) around 700 AD. It depicts the Byzantine Empire, Daco-Romans, Eurasian Avars, Slavs (incl. Serbs and Croats), Magyars. Created by Hxseek based on information from Euratlas
context_page_description: Tiberius III was Byzantine emperor from 15 February 698 to 10 July or 21 August 705 AD. Little is known about his early life, other than that he was droungarios, a mid-level commander, of the Cibyrrhaeots, and that his birth name was Apsimar. In 696, Tiberius was part of an army led by John the Patrician sent by Byzantine Emperor Leontios to retake the city of Carthage in the Exarchate of Africa, which had been captured by the Arab Umayyads. After seizing the city, this army was pushed back by Umayyad reinforcements and retreated to the island of Crete; some of the officers, fearing the wrath of Leontios, killed John and declared Tiberius emperor. Tiberius swiftly gathered a fleet, sailed for Constantinople, and deposed Leontios. Tiberius did not attempt to retake Byzantine Africa from the Umayyads, but campaigned against them along the eastern border with some success. In 705 former Emperor Justinian II, who had been deposed by Leontios, led an army of Slavs and Bulgars to Constantinople, and after entering the city secretly, deposed Tiberius. Tiberius fled to Bithynia, but was captured several months later and beheaded between August 705 and February 706.
context_section_description: Tiberius was crowned by Patriarch Callinicus shortly after seizing control of Constantinople and deposing Leontios. Once in power, Tiberius did not attempt to retake Byzantine Africa from the Umayyads but rather focused his attention upon the eastern border of his empire. Tiberius appointed his brother, Heraclius, as patrikios and monostrategos (head general) of the Anatolian themes. Heraclius invaded the Umayyads in late autumn of 698, crossing into the mountain passes of the Taurus Mountains into Cilicia before marching for northern Syria. Heraclius defeated an Arab army sent from Antioch, then raided as far as Samosata before pulling back to the safety of Byzantine lands in spring of 699.
  Heraclius' military successes led to a series of punitive Arab attacks, with the Umayyad generals Muhammad ibn Marwan and Abdallah ibn Abd al-Malik launching a string of campaigns which conquered the remainder of Byzantine Armenia, which Heraclius was unable to effectively respond to. However, the Armenians launched a large revolt against the Ummayads in 702, requesting Byzantine aid. Abdallah ibn Abd al-Malik launched a campaign to reconquer Armenia in 704 but was attacked by Heraclius in Cilicia. Heraclius defeated the Arab army of 10,000–12,000 men led by Yazid ibn Hunain at Sisium, killing most and enslaving the rest; however, Heraclius was not able to stop Abdallah ibn Abd al-Malik from reconquering Armenia.
  Tiberius attempted to strengthen the Byzantine military by reorganizing its structure, as well as reorganizing the Cibyrrhaeotic Theme, and repairing the sea walls of Constantinople. Tiberius also focused his attention on the island of Cyprus, which had been underpopulated since much of the populace was moved to the region of Cyzicus under Justinian: Tiberius successfully negotiated with Abd al-Malik in 698/699 to allow the Cypriots who had been moved to Propontis, and those who had been captured by the Arabs and brought to Syria, to return to their homelands, as well as strengthened the garrison of the island with Mardaite troops from the Taurus Mountains. Tiberius attempted to contain the Arabs at sea by way of creating new military provinces, with the creation of the Theme of Sardinia and separating the Theme of Sicily from the Exarchate of Ravenna. Tiberius also banished the future emperor Philippikos Bardanes, the son of a patrician, to the island of Cephalonia, according to Byzantine chronicler Theophanes the Confessor he was exiled for spreading word that he had had a dream in which he was emperor.
  In 693 Justinian escaped from Cherson and gained the support of Khagan Busir, leader of the Khazars, who gave Justinian his sister Theodora as a bride, and welcomed him to his court in Phanagoria. In 703 reports that Justinian was attempting to gain support to retake the throne reached Tiberius, who swiftly sent envoys to the Khazars demanding that Justinian be handed over to the Byzantines, dead or alive. Justinian eluded capture, and sought the support of the Bulgar king Tervel. In 705 Justinian led an army of Slavs and Bulgars to Constantinople and laid siege to it for three days before scouts discovered an old and disused conduit which ran under the walls of the city. Later, Justinian and a small detachment of soldiers used this route to gain access to the city, exiting at the northern edge of the wall near the Palace of Blachernae, and quickly seizing the building. Tiberius fled to the city of Sozopolis in Bithynia, and eluded his pursuers for several months before being captured. The exact timing of Justinian's siege and Tiberius' capture is convoluted. According to the numismatist Philip Grierson, Justinian entered the city on 21 August, however, according to Byzantist Constance Head, Justinian seized the city on 10 July, and the 21 August date is instead the date where Tiberius was captured in Sozopolis, or else the date when he was transported back to Constantinople. On some date between August 705 and February 706, Justinian had both Leontios and Tiberius dragged to the Hippodrome and publicly humiliated, before b
caption: Map of the Byzantine Empire and the Balkans in 700 AD
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