Leontius

660 – 706 · Generation XV · usurper (r. 695–698)

Leontius (AD null – 706). usurper (r. 695–698). No blood link to Heraclians; from Isauria. Made patrician and commander of the Anatolic Theme under Constantine IV, he campaigned so successfully through Armenia, Iberia, Media, and Caucasian Albania that the caliph Abd al-Malik sued for peace on tributary terms in 688. The crushing defeat at Sebastopolis in 692 landed him in prison; released three years later and given a command in Greece, he rose instead against Justinian II and took the throne, reigning under the name Leo with support from aristocrats and peasants alienated by Justinian’s policies. When his expedition failed to hold recaptured Carthage, the returning fleet proclaimed the officer Apsimar emperor; Leontius was deposed, his nose and tongue were cut off, and he was confined to the Monastery of Dalmatou. After Justinian II regained power, he and his supplanter were executed together.