 In 471 and 472, Basiliscus helped Leo I to get rid of the Germanic influence in his court, helping in the murder of the Alan Magister militum Aspar. The death of Aspar caused a revolt in Thrace, led by the Thracian Ostrogoth Theodoric Strabo, and Basiliscus was dispatched to suppress the revolt, something he successfully did with the aid of his nephew Armatus. In 474 he received the rank of caput senatus, "first among the senators".
