Tiberius II Constantine

**Tiberius II Constantine** (Latin: *Flavius Tiberius Constantinus Augustus*) (520 – 14 August 582) was Eastern Roman Emperor from 574 to 582.

## Early Career and the Avar War of 570

Born in Thrace in the mid-sixth century, Tiberius was appointed to the post of Notarius where sometime after 552 he was introduced by the Patriarch Eutychius to the future emperor Justin II with whom he became firm friends. Under Justin’s patronage, Tiberius was promoted to the position of *Comes excubitorum*, which he held from approximately 565 through to 574. He was present during Justin’s Imperial accession on 14 November 565 and also attended the Emperor’s inauguration as Consul on 1 January 566.

Justin ceased making payments to the Avars implemented by his predecessor Justinian. In 569, he appointed Tiberius to the post of *Magister utriusque militiae* with instructions to deal with the Avars and their demands. After a series of negotiations, Tiberius agreed to allow the Avars to settle on Roman territory in the Balkans in exchange for male hostages taken from various Avar chiefs. Justin, however, rejected this agreement, insisting on taking hostages from the family of the Avar Khan himself. This condition was rejected by the Avars, so Tiberius mobilized for war. In 570 he defeated an Avar army in Thrace and returned to Constantinople. While attempting to follow up this victory, however, in late 570 or early 571 Tiberius was defeated in a subsequent battle where he narrowly escaped death as the army was fleeing the battlefield. Agreeing to a truce, Tiberius provided an escort to the Avar envoys to discuss the terms of a treaty with Justin. On their return, the Avar envoys were attacked and robbed by local tribesmen, prompting them to appeal to Tiberius for help. He tracked down the group responsible and returned the stolen goods.

In 574 Justin had a mental breakdown, forcing the empress Sophia to turn to Tiberius to manage the empire, which was fighting the Persians to the east and dealing with the internal crisis of the plague. To achieve a measure of breathing space, Tiberius and Sophia agreed to a one-year truce with the Persians, at the cost of 45,000 nomismata. On December 7, 574, Justin, in one of his more lucid moments, had Tiberius proclaimed Caesar and adopted him as his own son. Tiberius added the name Constantine to his own. Although his position was now official, he was still subordinate to Justin. Sophia was determined to remain in power and kept Tiberius tightly controlled until Justin died in 578.

## Elevation as *Caesar* (574–578)

The day after his appointment as Caesar, the plague abated, giving Tiberius more freedom of movement than Justin was able to achieve. Tiberius also charted a very different course from his predecessor, and proceeded to spend the money which Justin had doggedly saved in order to defend the imperial frontiers and win over the populace who had turned against Justin. According to Paul the Deacon, Tiberius found two treasures: the treasure of Narses and 1,000 *centenaria*, that is 100,000 pounds of gold or 7,200,000 solidi (*nomismata*), under a slab. These treasures were given away to the poor, to the consternation of Sophia.