Filepicus

Emperor of the Romans
 King of Kings

* Life
* Names
* Reign

**Filepicus** (Greek: Φιλεπικός, *translit.* *Philepikós*; died 20 January 714), born as **Flavius Bardanes** (Greek: Φλάβιος Βαρδάνης, *translit.* *Phlábios Bardánēs*; Armenian: Ֆլավիոս Վարդան, *translit.* *Flavios Vardan* or *Vartan*) and nicknamed **"the Armenian"**, was Eastern Roman emperor from 711 to 713. While his real regnal name was Filepicus, as proven by contemporary coins and documents, modern historians use the alternative spelling **Philippicus** (Greek: Φιλιππικός, *translit.* *Philippikós*; Armenian: Փիլիպպիկոս, *translit.* *P̕ilippikos* or *P̕ilibbigos*), which has become standard in historiography.

Born to Armenian nobles, Bardanes was well-educated and eloquent, and had imperial ambitions as early as the reign of Tiberius III, who thus exiled him in response. He was recalled by Justinian II in order to quash a rebellion in Crimea in 711, but ended up joining it and unseated Justinian by the end of that year. After two decades, Bardanes – now Filepicus – was emperor at last.

And yet, despite this feat (which it is, considering the brutal regime propped up by Justinian), Filepicus proved to be one of the most ineffective and unremarkable emperors that the empire had seen in centuries. He showed a complete lack of interest in governance and legislature, spending most of his time and the empire's treasury on extravagant banqueting and partying. In religious matters – the only part of administration where Filepicus was truly invested – he infuriated his subjects by reviving Monothelitism and revoking the Sixth Ecumenical Council. Confronted with Bulgar attacks up until the walls of Constantinople, Filepicus transferred eastern troops westwards to police the Balkans, allowing the Arabs to advance further in Anatolia.

Before long, Filepicus was himself ejected from the throne; by the third of June in 713, he was made blind after a lavish celebration of his own birthday. He died on 20 January the next year. One of his chief secretaries, Flavius Artemius, succeeded him as Anastasius II.

## Background

Bardanes, as the emperor was originally named, was born somewhere in the 7th century to Nicephorus of Pergamum, a patrician who had served on the eastern front and in the Exarchate of Africa under emperor Constans III. Father and son were both of Armenian extract, though born within the borders of the empire in Pergamum (now Bergama, İzmir Province, Turkey). Nicephorus was possibly related to the Armenian Mamikonian family, but no concrete evidence supports this claim. From early on in his life, Bardanes was tutored, in the Greek language, on various scholarly subjects, and subsequently he was a well-read and cultured man. He was also educated by a certain Stephen, a pupil of Macarius, who convinced the emperor of Monothelitism.

During the reign of Tiberius III, Bardanes – now a distinguished general – had a dream wherein he was the Roman emperor. He confided in this to a friend, but the news soon reached the emperor Tiberius who, in order to secure his own position, exiled Bardanes to Cephalonia. In 705, Tiberius was overthrown by a vengeful Justinian II. The city of Cherson, on the Crimean Peninsula, continually revolted against Justinian's authority, and by 710 had accepted a Khazar as their governor. Seeking to bring the city back into his fold, Justinian assembled a large fleet under the command of Stephen Asmictus (or "Stephen the Savage"), with orders to take the city, massacre its inhabitants, and establish the *spatharius* (military chamblerlain) Elias as its new governor. Bardanes was one of the generals sent on this expedition, though Justinian reportedly intended to keep him in Cherson as a form of exile, owing to his designs on the throne.

After the fleet arrived in Cherson, Stephen inflicted a carnage among the people on his emperor's orders; some were tied to heavy rocks and thrown into the water to drown, twenty others were drowned by placement on a boat stuffed with boulders, and at least seven inhabitants were first impaled and then roasted over a fire, while the rest was beheaded. The Khazar governor, the chief magistrate Zoilus, forty of his colleagues, and all of their families were sent in chains to Justinian. Stephen could not, however, bring himself to slay the children, despite Justinian's orders to kill them; he instead sought to meet Justinian midway by deporting them to Constantinople and selling the children into slavery. Thus, the expedition left for the capital, while Elias and Bardanes were left behind in Cherson.

### Rebellion

When Stephen arrived back at Constantinople, Justinian was furious at him for not massacring the children, and ordered him to return to finish the job. This prompted the Chersonites to revolt once more, and both Elias and Bardanes joined the rebellion. After Stephen's fleet sunk during a storm, Justinian ordered a new fleet to be sent under George the Logothete, John the Prefect, and a certain Christopher, with orders to assume governorship of the city and return Elias and Bardanes to Constantinople. The citizenry pretended to admit the force, but closed the gates after they entered the city and lynched George and John; the rest of the force was handed over to the Khazars. Bardanes rose up as the leader of the rebellion, supported by Elias, and formally adopted the name Filepicus.

Justinian's fury was unquenchable, and he promptly had Elias's infant children slain before their mother, who was forcibly remarried to her Indian chamberlain. He then assembled a third fleet under Maurus Bessus, equipped with siege engines, and bestowed with orders to raze Cherson to the ground and slaughter every last inhabitant, with no survivors allowed. Filepicus fled to the Khazars for his own safety, while Maurus captured two of the city's towers; however, Cherson was too well-fortified for him to advance further, and the city held firm. Aware that failure would mean his own demise at the hands of Justinian, Maurus defected to Filepicus and convinced him to return from the Khazars, reportedly using a handsome sum of money.

The fleet sailed back to Constantinople, where Justinian was not present at the time due to him being on campaign; the city welcomed the rebels with open arms, and Filepicus was coronated as emperor. Maurus and his ally John located Justinian's son, Tiberius, and slew him. Upon hearing of these events, Justinian hurried back to Constantinople, but on the way, he ran into Elias, who beheaded him after convincing his army to defect. The patrician Romanus brought Justinian's head to Constantinople and presented it to Filepicus; he sent it to the city of Rome, where it would be put on public display.

## Reign

In a sense of irony, Filepicus's reign – in essence "hyped up" for twenty years – proved short and unremarkable. The emperor was a convinced Monothelite, and thus believed that Jesus Christ had only one will. This denomination had been declared heretical in the Sixth Ecumenical Council around 680, but had not been fully stamped out yet. Filepicus burnt several records of this council and removed its depiction from the Great Palace of Constantinople. He also had the names of all clerics condemned in the council restored to the diptychs. When Patriarch Cyrus of Constantinople would not condone the religious policy of Filepicus, the latter had him outright deposed and confined to a monastery, and appointed a more pliable cleric, John VI. He followed this up by hosting a gathering of Eastern bishops (no Western ones), which abolished the canons of the Sixth Ecunemical Council, and sent many opponents to this decision into exile.

This policy caused outrage in Italy, where the Romans retaliated by placing a picture of the Sixth Council in Saint Peter's Basilisk and ceasing use of the emperor's name. The Pope Constantine refused to recognize emperor Filepicus and his patriarch. Filepicus responded by appointing a certain Petrus as Duke of Rome and dispatching him to the city in order to defuse the situation; the citizens of Rome, however, attacked him in the streets, forcing Petrus to flee and convincing him to retire. Filepicus's remaining officers were then expelled from Rome as well, and the Pope convinced exarch Scholasticus to cease from asserting imperial authority. Around the same time, the Arabs carried out a raid on Sardinia.

Meanwhile, Filepicus expelled a large amount of Armenians from their homeland and resettled them in Armenia Quarta and the district of Melitene, which the Arabs had evacuated. Around the same time, the Bulgarians under Khan Tervel began raiding into the empire, even reaching the outskirts of Constantinople, where they committed arson. Filepicus decided to deal with this by transferring a large amount of troops away from the eastern front in order to police the Balkans. This allowed the Arabs to further advance into Anatolia, where they captured many key cities and enslaved the population, who were carried off to the caliphate. In 713, the Arabs invaded Isauria, which was uncomfortably close to the capital.

## Downfall

By summer 713, Filepicus's popularity had tanked; the populace deemed him a heretic, he was seen as an ineffective ruler, he neglected military affairs, and the emperor squandered the empire's money and his own time on excessive feasting and other forms of recreation. The final straw came on his birthday, 3 June. That day, Filepicus partied lavishly by hosting games in the Hippodrome, parading through the streets of Constantinople with a procession of a thousand men with banners and trumpets, relaxing in the bathhouse of Zeuxippus, and entertaining his nobles with a sumptous banquet in his palace. There, Filepicus downed far more alcohol than he could take, and became intoxicated, going to sleep shortly after. This was the final straw for the Romans, and soon a rebellion erupted against the emperor under Count Georgius Buraphus and Theodorus Myzacius.

As Filepicus lay dormant in his room, a disgruntled officer by the name of Rufus, acting on the orders of Georgius and Theodorus, entered his room and put his eyes out, whereafter he was banished and Anastasius II became emperor. Filepicus died on 20 January the next year.

## Footnotes

1. ↑ His name is alternatively Latinized as *Bardanus*.
2. ↑ His full name is usually given as *Flavius Philippicus Bardanes*. This contradicts Roman naming customs, which ascribe that additional names taken should be appended, and not prepended, to the original name. Thus, "Philippicus Bardanes" should really be "Bardanes Philippicus", given that Bardanes is not a hereditary surname. Since Philippicus is a neologism (see intro paragraph), this would make the emperor's full name *Flavius Bardanes Filepicus*. More rarely, his regnal name is attested simply as *Flavius Philippicus* (Flavius Filepicus).

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