Anastasios II

678 – 719 · Generation XVI · usurper (r. 713–715)

Anastasios (AD null – 719). usurper (r. 713–715). Born Artemios; no blood link to Heraclians. Bent on steadying the empire, he reversed the appointment of a Monothelete patriarch of Constantinople and installed Germanus I in his place — a return to orthodoxy calculated to win the goodwill of Pope Constantine. He devoted his energies to fortifying the realm, yet was toppled by Theodosius III while a campaign against the Umayyad Caliphate was underway. Four years later he tried to reclaim the throne, rising against Leo III with soldiers and funds supplied by Tervel of Bulgaria; when he failed to force his way into Constantinople, the Bulgarians answered Leo's request and gave him up, and he was executed alongside his fellow rebels.