Constantine IV
652 – 685 · Generation XV · Emperor (r. 668–685) · Heraclian
Constantine (AD 652 – 685). Emperor (r. 668–685). Married Anastasia. Son of Constans II and Fausta. His reign brought the first serious check to half a century of Arab expansion. He began by crushing the Sicilian usurpation of Mezezius that had followed his father's murder, then withstood the Umayyad assault on Constantinople itself, holding the capital until disease and failing supplies broke the besiegers. He named his newborn son Justinian II, deliberately invoking the old dynasty and its dream of imperial renewal. By summoning the Sixth Ecumenical Council he ended the monothelite controversy within the empire, for which the Eastern Orthodox Church venerates him as a saint. In 680 the Bulgars under Khan Asparukh crossed the Danube into imperial territory, while the drawn-out Arab wars of the 670s had already obliged him to come to terms with the Lombards, who had taken Brindisi and Taranto.
One of 7 people of Heraclian (575–711) in this archive. The house that met the Arab conquests and made Greek the language of the empire.
Line of descent: Heraclius the Elder → Heraclius → Heraclius Constantine → Constans II → Constantine IV.
Parents
- Constans II (630 – 668)
- Fausta (630 – ?)
Siblings
Partners
- Married Anastasia (660 – ?) — one child together
Children
- Justinian II (669 – 711)