 This rivalry intensified when Irene fell seriously ill in May 799. With the backing of the Domestic of the Schools, Niketas Triphyllios, Aetios accused Staurakios to Irene of planning to usurp the throne. Irene held a council at the Palace of Hieria, where her powerful minister was rebuked but got off with an apology. Staurakios now began preparing his own counter stroke, bribing members of the tagmata, although he seems to have lacked supporters among the higher command echelons. Although a eunuch was legally barred from the imperial throne, Staurakios nevertheless seems to have aspired to seize it for himself. Warned by Aetios, Empress Irene issued orders in February 800 that no one from the military should have any contact with Staurakios. This measure curbed the latter's designs, and introduced a precarious balance between Staurakios and Aetios, the latter still supported by Niketas Triphyllios. Soon after, Staurakios fell fatally ill, reportedly coughing up blood. Nevertheless, persuaded by doctors, monks and soothsayers that he would live and become Byzantine emperor, he instigated a revolt in Cappadocia against his adversary Aetios, who had by then secured the post of strategos of the Anatolic Theme (the highest-ranked military position in the Byzantine Empire). However, even before news of the revolt, which was swiftly suppressed, reached the capital, Staurakios died on 3 June 800.
