SPQR Round Two (Actually Round 9): Chapter 1: Ignis in Morte

Note from lucky7: Our framing device for my achievement run is a book  written by a scholar in the Roman Empire of 2017 CE about the Isaurian dynasty's rise to prominence. Author's Notes will be in italics and are asides written by Dr. Mazatl Argyros. My own asides will be in bold italics. The timeline stops being actual history in 769, which I felt I should mention because our first Emperor (Konstantinos V) has been ruling for a few decades by this point.

The fall of Western Rome destroyed a people. The decadence of the West, coupled with religious disunity and series of usurper generals had weakened the Empire. As the Goths, Angles, Saxons, and Vandals swarmed over the old provinces, carving their own kingdoms out of the bloated carcass of once-might Rome. Thus began what was known as the Rotting.

The Fall of Rome in 476 CE.

Almost half a century later, however, came hope in the form of a young man named Gaius Flavius Petrus. Born a peasant, his uncle Justin ascended to the throne after the death of Anastasius I. Upon Justin's death, Petrus took the Purple for himself, renaming himself "Justinian" after all his uncle had done for him. With the help of a brilliant council, Justinian reclaimed the Old City of Rome, only for plague and misfortune to tear it away from him.

After Justinian's passing, the era of what we consider Byzantine history began; Emperors focused not on reclaiming the West, but on consolidating their power in Constantinople. Theodosius, Leontius, Heraclius I...all were either unable or unwilling to seize the Empire's destiny.

Then came Leon III. The Isaurian.

While he does not exactly inspire confidence, his descendants would shape the course of history.

Born in Syria (the modern-day province of Syria-Palestine) as a peasant named Konon, Leo III was appointed by the Basileus Justinian II as the governor of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). Upon Justinian II's death, Konon kept his position, and successfully overthrew Theodosios III. Crushing his rivals among the strategoi, Leo the Isaurian earned a reputation as one of the foremost leaders of the Iconoclast movement, then considered a heresy.

Leo III died of edema in June of 741, paving way for his heir: Konstantinos V.

A portrait of Konstantinos V made in 770.

Konstantinos' early reign was troubled, as the Umayyad Caliphate broke apart under the Abbasids and fled to Hispania. Seeing a power vacuum in Asia Minor, Konstantinos waged war on some of the powers that had fragmented away from the Arabian Empire. His brother in law Artabasdos took advantage of the Emperor's absence, briefly seizing the throne. When Konstantinos returned with the support of his loyal strategoi, he had Artabasdos and his co-conspirators blinded, castrated, or executed.

We leave off our prologue with a bitter 50-year-old Emperor, filled with a burning desire to see the Franks in the West and the Arabs in the East under his heel. Although none truly knew it, the year 769 was going to be the start of what historians call the Restoration of Rome.

A statue of Augustus II, made during his reconquest of Brittania.