S. B. Dashkov. Emperors of Byzantium. Anastasius I Dikor. Anastasius I Emperor Anastasius

XXIX. ANASTASIUS II (713–715) Chapter 1. Restoration of Orthodoxy and a new rebellion So, on June 4, 713, on Trinity Day, Constantinople suddenly learned of the change of emperor. Obviously, the candidacy of the new ruler was determined in advance by a group of conspirators, most of them representing

Years in Dyrrhachium.

Due to the different colors of his eyes (blue and black), he received the nickname Δίκορος (Greek - with two pupils). He served as decurion of the Silentiaries at court and had a reputation as an honest man and an impeccable servant.

The installation of the new Patriarch Timothy was accompanied by repressions against the Orthodox party, especially the Akimite monks. In response, a riot broke out in the capital, at the height of which Anastasius appeared at the hippodrome and expressed his readiness to resign from the imperial rank. The crowd calmed down and shouted praises to the emperor, and order was restored in the city. Unrest caused by clashes between parties swept through Syria and Palestine with particular force, not bypassing Egypt. This led to a violent confrontation with Rome: the popes, with the exception of Anastasius II, took an irreconcilable position in relation to the policies of Constantinople. In Thrace, under the banner of defending Orthodoxy, the military leader Vitalian () rebelled against Anastasius.

The accession of Anastasius put an end to the dominance of the Isaurians in Constantinople: they were expelled from the capital, and their resistance in Isauria itself was suppressed. Under Anastasia, unrest of the capital's residents repeatedly occurred, caused by the rivalry of circus parties.

Emperor Anastasius I died on the night of July 10 in Constantinople.

After the death of Anastasius, 350 thousand pounds of gold remained in the treasury, which was the result of a well-thought-out policy in the field of financial management. Anastasia’s merit is both the streamlining of the activities of the courts and the reform of the prefecture. Under him, a very burdensome tax, the so-called. chrysargyron. Anastasius also from time to time exempted the population of cities and localities affected by natural disasters and enemy invasions from taxes.

The construction of the Dara fortress on the Persian border and the failure to pay the Persians the amount due under the 422 treaty caused severe Byzantine-Persian wars. Neutral relations were maintained with the western kingdoms during the reign of Anastasius. The country was constantly invaded across the northern border by the Goths, Huns and Heruli; in the city there also took place the first known invasion of the Danube by Slavic tribes, called “getae” in the sources of that time. To the beginning V. the Danube lands were greatly desolate; the invasions of the northern barbarians began to extend so deep into the empire that, 70 km from the capital, it was necessary to build the so-called. Long walls.

Portraits of Anastasius are known from coins from his reign. According to R. Delbrück, Anastasius was depicted on the door of the so-called. Barberini diptych made of ivory (1st half of the 6th century. Louvre, Paris), where the triumphant emperor is represented on horseback. However, many researchers, primarily A. Grabar, do not agree with this interpretation.

Literature

• Bolotov. Lectures. T. 4. P. 331-332;
• Kulakovsky. Story. T. 1. P. 357-423;
• Uspensky. Story. T. 1. P. 220-242;
• Kartashev. Cathedrals. pp. 308-312;
• Charanis P. The Religious Policy of Anastasius (491-518). Madison, 1939. Thessaloniki, 19742;
• Ostrogorsky. Geschichte. S. 40f.;
• Peeters P. Hypatius et Vitalien // Mélanges H. Grégoire. P., 1950. T. 2. P. 5-51;
• Dvornik F. Pope Gelasius and the Emperor Anastasius I // BZ. 1951. Bd. 44. S. 111-116;
• Moeller Ch. Le "Type" de l'empereur Anastase I // Studia Patristica. 1961. Vol. 3. P. 240-247;
• Capizzi C. L "imperatore Anastasio I (491-518): Studio sulla sua vita, la sua opera e la sua personalità. R., 1969.
• Delbrueck R. Die Consulardiptychen und verwandte Denkmäler. B.; Lpz., 1929. N 48;
• Head C. Imperial Byzantine Portraits: A Verbal and Graphic Gallery. New Rochelle; N.Y., 1982. P. 27-29;
• Byzance: L "art byzantin dans les collections publiques françaises / Musée du Louvre. P., 1992. P. 63-66, 166-167. N 20, 111;
• Grabar A. Emperor in Byzantine art. M., 2000. S. 29, 34, 67, 171.

Used materials

• M. V. Gratsiansky, O. E. Etingof. Anastasius I// Orthodox Encyclopedia, vol. 2, p. 245-246

When Zeno died, Empress Ariadne, accompanied by senior courtiers, went to the hippodrome and addressed the people. Augusta promised to gather the Senate and the military to elect a new sovereign. Since none of the children of Zinon were alive, the legitimate contender for the throne turned out to be the brother of the deceased Longinus, an angry, rude and intemperate man. Neither the army nor the senate wanted such a ruler, and Ariadne, whose recommendation to Augusta was decisive, proposed making the palace Silentiary Anastasius emperor. He came from Dyrrachium (in Illyricum), was widely educated, famous for his intelligence, respectable behavior and enjoyed the favor of the empress. However, the choice made was opposed by the party of Isaurians who rose to prominence under Zinon, supporting Longinus. The situation in Constantinople became heated to the limit, and when on April 11, 491 Anastasia was proclaimed emperor at the hippodrome, the established enthronement ceremony had to be slightly disrupted. First, Anastasius, in an embroidered gold surplice, belted and wearing red imperial campagia shoes, was raised on a shield and shown to the people and army. At the same time, the campidductor of the lanciarii, according to tradition, placed his chain on his head instead of a crown (which was worn only with the imperial mantle). And only after hearing noisy cries of approval not only from the soldiers, but also from the people, and thus finally becoming convinced of the citizens’ support for the new basileus, the patriarch placed a mantle and a crown on him. Anastasius was presented to the audience for the second time already in full regalia, symbolizing the completion of the official coronation. People, shouting from their benches, wished Augustus many years to come and to remain in purple the same highly moral person as they knew him in private life.

Soon Ariadne married the new emperor, who, in addition to all his advantages, retained his external attractiveness - he was tall, black-haired with graying hair and beautiful features. His eyes were of different colors - black and blue, which was the basis for the nickname Dikor (“different eyes” in Greek).

Having ascended the throne, Anastasius immediately announced that he considered the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon to be the basis of his faith, although he himself did not hide his sympathy for Monophysitism. Longinus began to stir up enmity among the residents of the capital; Fierce fighting began between supporters of Anastasius and the Isaurian party, as a result of which the hippodrome and the best part of the city burned down. In total, these feuds, aggravated by the mutual hostility of the Monophysites and Orthodox Christians, lasted several years (the so-called “plebeian war”), and it happened that even statues of the reigning couple were dragged on ropes through the streets of Constantinople.

The emperor, extremely dissatisfied with the machinations of the Isaurian nobility, ordered Longinus to be seized and tonsured as a monk, and all his supporters were expelled from the capital (493). In response, the Isaurians rebelled. John the Scythian opposed them and won a series of victories over them, after which the surviving rebels fled to the mountains of Isauria. The rebels hid there until 496, when John the Scythian managed to capture the leaders of the uprising, behead them and, according to custom, send their heads as a gift to the basileus.

Since the time of Anastasius, reports have appeared about the first raids of the Avars, Slavs and Bulgarians (the name “Bulgars” was borne by one of the Hunnic tribes) on the lands of the empire. In 493, the commander Julian, in a night battle, “was defeated by the Scythians [perhaps meaning the Slavs. - S.D.] rod" . In 499, the “getae” (Bulgars) destroyed a fifteen-thousand-strong detachment of Romans in Thrace, Thrace was left without protection, and in 502 the Bulgarians plundered it again, and fifteen years later they reached Macedonia and Epirus. It was also restless in the southern possessions, where from the end of the 5th century. The destructive campaigns of the Arabs began.

On March 5, 493, Theodoric captured Ravenna, and Odoacer, who was captured, was executed ten days later. The Goths proclaimed Theodoric king (ruler) of Italy, without waiting for Constantinople's consent to this step (the embassy of the Roman Senate was sent to Zeno on this issue). Anastasius recognized Theodoric and sent him imperial regalia only in 497. Theodoric himself was an adherent of the policy of cooperation with the East, nominally recognizing the primacy of Constantinople: “Our kingdom is yours [Byzantine. - S.D.] likeness, form of a beautiful example... Let there always be the thought of a united Roman Empire... “- he wrote to Anastasia around 508. This was necessary for the wise Theodoric, for in Italy during the Ostrogothic power there was an old Roman population, a senate and a visiting king were in a state of constant political struggle. The Aryan-Goths turned out to be very interested in supporting Byzantium, since both Zinon and Anastasius on issues of faith were in conflict with the Roman Church, the top of which was formed from the ranks of the aristocracy.

In 502, the Persian Shah Kavad demanded monetary tribute from Anastasius. The emperor mockingly replied that if the Shah wants to borrow money, he should send a receipt. Kavad responded by moving troops into Armenia and quickly captured Feodosiopolis (Erzurum). The Persians then approached the important fortress of Amida and began its siege. The citadel put up serious resistance - its defenders at night, through tunnels, carried away earth from under the embankments erected by the Persians, made forays and repelled numerous attacks of the enemy. The stone throwers of the Byzantines caused enormous damage to the Persian troops, winter began and the Persians were ready to retreat, when suddenly one night one of the main fortress towers, which was defended by the monks, fell. After this, Amida was doomed, but for several more days the city residents and the garrison fought courageously in the streets. Having occupied Amida, the Persians carried out several tens of thousands of corpses from the fortress - the Romans and their own.

The heroic defense of Amida delayed the enemy's advance into the interior of the country for a long time and allowed the Byzantines to gather their strength. In the spring of 503, an army under the command of Areovind, son of Dagalife, defeated the Persians, but by the summer the commanders of this army quarreled, and the Persians again began to defeat the Romans. Anastasius, quickly and correctly assessing the situation, changed the leadership of the army. Patrick Koehler became the new commander-in-chief, military operations were more successful, and by 506 the defeated Kavad agreed to a seven-year truce.

At the end of the war, the emperor carried out a detailed analysis of it, the result of which was the construction of Anastasiopolis (Dara) - a powerful fortress on the Persian border. In a matter of months, not only walls and water pipes were built, but also water tanks, public buildings - even baths and churches.

Anastasia's domestic policy was very active and was accompanied by major and far-sighted reforms.

The most important event was the abolition in 497 - 498. the hated chrysargir - a tax in gold and silver that existed since 314, levied once every five years on citizens engaged in trade and craft, and which by the end of the 5th century had turned into a real brake on the economy. In fact, this tax was imposed on any property, even a donkey and a dog. Even the orator Livanius, addressing Theodosius the Great, pointed out the harm of chrysargir: “Let's talk about that evil that has surpassed all other troubles. This is an unbearable tax in gold and silver, causing trepidation as the formidable fifth anniversary approaches. The name given to this source of income is plausible; supposedly a tax is collected from traders, but since these same sea merchants elude the tax, those people who are barely able to feed themselves by their craft perish. Even a shoe darner does not escape this tax. I have seen more than once how, raising their cutter to the heavens, shoemakers swore that all hope lay in it. But even this does not save them from the collectors who come to them, bark and almost bite. Under such conditions, sir, cases of transition into bondage are becoming more frequent, children are being deprived of their free fortune, sold by their fathers, not so that the money received for them will go into the money box, but so that before their eyes this money will go into the hands of a persistent tax collector.”

The church historian Evagrius tells a remarkable story about the abolition of chrysargir. According to him, Anastasius first ordered to burn all the accounting books in which for many years the property of each (!) citizen subject to this tax was recorded. Officials, fed from the collection, hid some of the documents, hoping for a quick revival of Chrysargir. Then the emperor called them to the palace, publicly announced the cancellation of his decision and instructed them to find and bring all documents that had any bearing on the collection procedure, supposedly to restore the accounting books. The overjoyed publicans carried out the order on the named day, but Anastasius ordered that what was brought be put on fire and the ashes scattered to the wind. Upon learning of the abolition of Chrysargir, the inhabitants of the empire rejoiced for several days. To replenish the monetary treasury, Anastasius introduced another tax in coin - chrysotelium, which was levied only on land property, and eliminated the tax in kind that had previously been collected from landowners and the supply of recruits.

In 498, a monetary reform was carried out, copper coins were added to silver and gold coins.

Around 500, a decree was issued that after thirty years of use by a tenant of a government-owned land plot, this plot becomes the property of the cultivator.

In 501, the emperor, by a special edict, prohibited the sale of government positions.

The result of Anastasius’s innovations was that by the time of the sovereign’s death, the treasury had accumulated huge funds - 320,000 pounds of gold, and this despite extensive construction activity!

Although the situation of the empire as a whole was not bad under Anastasia, various kinds of riots and unrest broke out in the state.

Around 501, during a competition at the hippodrome, a brawl broke out, during which the illegitimate son Anastasia died. The angry emperor ordered the execution of many of its participants. In 508, another riot began in Alexandria, this time by supporters of the Orthodox Patriarch Macedonius II. Three years later, at the capital’s hippodrome, a crowd of Orthodox Christians chanted the slogan: “Another emperor for the Romans!” Anastasius’s patience ran out; he either imprisoned particularly zealous adherents of Macedonius or expelled them from the capital, and removed the patriarch himself. In November 512, using a slight change of words in one of the church hymns as a formal pretext for discontent, the inhabitants of Constantinople began a major rebellion, which the elderly basileus barely managed to prevent without much bloodshed. Anastasius went “to the horse lists without a crown and sent a herald to announce to the [gathered there] people that he was ready to relinquish supreme power, but it was impossible for everyone to accept it - it does not tolerate multitudes, and that after him only one would be the ruler of the state.” The crowd, seeing the emperor so peacefully disposed, listened to his reasonable arguments, calmed down and dispersed.

But the largest uprising against the basileus was the uprising of Vitalian, suppressed with great difficulty and not completely. In 513, the imperial commander Vitalian declared himself a defender of the Orthodox faith and opposed the Monophysite Anastasius. The emperor was forced to hide in the outskirts near Blachernae (the north-eastern quarter of Constantinople), fearing Vitalian's supporters in the city. The same, having enlisted the support of the Bulgarians and Slavs, outraged the federates of the Danube regions, who demanded an increase in salaries. The head of the Thracian troops, Hypatius, the nephew of Augustus, refused to do this, the federates rebelled, and Hypatius had to flee. In 514, the rebels already controlled Mysia, Scythia and Thrace, and then approached the walls of Constantinople. In the city, numerous crosses and proclamations were hung on the walls of houses, convincing residents of the emperor’s Orthodoxy.

Vitalian set the condition for the truce to be the restoration of the deposed Macedonius II and the convening of a new Ecumenical Council. Anastasius hesitated for a long time to answer, meanwhile bribing Vitalian’s commanders. Finally, the emperor agreed with the demands of the rebels and Vitalian urgently withdrew the troops destroyed by the imperial gold.

Basileus began to clearly demonstrate his reluctance to fulfill the terms of the agreement, while at the same time gathering forces for further struggle. In response to accusations of deception, he coolly noted that the ruler, if necessary, has the right to break any oath.

Commander Cyril set out against Vitalian with a huge army, but at the very beginning of the campaign he was stabbed to death in his own tent by guards bribed by the enemy. Hypatius took the place of Cyril, and soon his army of eighty thousand was defeated, and he himself was captured. The authority of the emperor fell so much that the officials sent with a ransom for Hypatius were robbed and beaten by Vitalian's people. The latter accepted the imperial title from the troops and approached the capital a second time, threatening an assault from land and sea.

Anastasius again asked for peace. Having concluded another agreement, he himself treacherously violated the truce by sending a fleet against Vitalian’s ships. In a naval battle (515), Vitalian was defeated and disappeared, and the remnants of his armies swore allegiance to the emperor.

It is noteworthy that the so-called Long Wall, erected ten years earlier, forty kilometers from the capital, which ran 420 stadia (80 km) from the Sea of ​​Marmara near Olivria to the Black Sea near Dergon, could not serve as protection for the city.

For his Monophysitism, Anastasius received the nickname Impious from some historians and chroniclers, but the activities of this far from ordinary person hardly deserve such a sharply negative assessment. In any case, despite the obvious unprincipledness of the utilitarian emperor in politics, he cannot be accused of cruelty, neglect of state affairs or inability to govern the state.

Anastasius died on July 8 or 9, 518, at night, during a terrible thunderstorm, which gave rise to Orthodox chroniclers subsequently asserting that God punished the emperor for his sins by killing him with lightning.

Zinon's eldest son from his first marriage followed in his father's footsteps in debauchery, but excesses undermined his health, and he died young.

For example, for humane reasons, he forbade showing people fighting wild animals in circuses (which, by the way, caused open discontent among the Romans).

Anastasius I (lat. Anastasius) (430, Dyrrachium - July 1, 518, Constantinople), Byzantine emperor from April 11, 491. Anastasius ruled after the last Ravenna emperor, Romulus, was deposed in 476. The western provinces, together with the city of Rome, actually cut off from the empire, were settled by barbarian tribes, but the power of Anastasius in the eyes of the then world was still the power of the Roman emperor.

A palace official, Anastasius was elected emperor at the request of Emperor Zeno's widow, Ariadne. Coming from Dyrrhachium, he was considered a “born Roman,” which, after the reign of the Isaurian Zeno, in itself seemed a considerable virtue. His election caused a revolt of the Isaurians who wanted to defend their privileges, which was suppressed only in 496.

Anastasy turned out to be a wise and far-sighted administrator. Among his deeds, especially memorable was the abolition of the chrysargir, a national tax in gold and silver on all crafts and trades, levied every 5 years from the time of Constantine the Great. Chrysargir was one of the most burdensome taxes on citizens, which was called an evil that surpassed all evils. Its cancellation caused great joy throughout the empire. This is how the chronicler described the news of this meeting in the city of Edessa, where the annual levy of chrysargir reached 140 pounds of gold: “The whole city rejoiced, and they [the inhabitants] all put on white clothes; everyone, big and small, carried lighted candles and censers full of burning incense, and walked forward with psalms and hymns, thanking the Lord and praising the emperor...” The tax books, in which the property of every citizen of the empire was recorded for many years, were burned. In 500, a decree was issued on the transfer of ownership of a government-owned land plot to the tenant after 30 years of its lease. This law turned out to be one of the most durable; Byzantine jurists appealed to him back in the 10th-11th centuries.

Although Anastasius often granted tax relief to cities and entire provinces, which primarily suffered from long wars with the Persians in the East, he carried out large-scale fortress construction, and the state under him had enormous cash. After his death, the treasury contained more than 32 million solids (almost 150 tons of gold). In 498, Anastasius carried out a monetary reform - copper coins and follis appeared in circulation, again reaching the weight of ancient Roman aces. This reform is considered the birth of the Byzantine monetary system.

The next war with the Persians (502-506) ended generally successfully for the empire. After it, Anastasius strengthened the eastern border with the construction of the powerful citadel of Dara (Anastasiopolis), which became the stronghold of the Byzantines in the East for a whole century. To protect the immediate surroundings of Constantinople, the Long Wall was built at the beginning of the 6th century.

The rejection of the population of the capital was caused by the church policy of Anastasia, which was based on Monophysite the emperor's sympathy. According to legend, he demanded from the patriarch and destroyed the protocols of the Council of Chalcedon. The revolt of the Constantinoples (512), which almost cost Anastasius the throne, was provoked by the emperor’s attempt to introduce a Monophysite addition to the text of the Trisagion. In 513, under the banner of defending Orthodoxy, the commander Vitalian rebelled against him, and the last years of Anastasius’s reign were fought against him.