Tiberius
655 – ? · Generation XV · Co-emperor (r. 659–681)
Tiberius was the youngest son of the emperor Constans II and his wife Fausta, a daughter of the patrician Valentinus, and a co-emperor for twenty-two years. In 659, shortly before Constans left for Italy, he crowned Tiberius and his brother Heraclius as co-emperors beside their eldest brother, Constantine IV, who had held the title since 654. In 663 Constans tried to bring his sons to Sicily, but a popular uprising in Constantinople kept them in the capital.
After Constans died in 668, Constantine IV ruled as senior emperor with his two brothers for thirteen years. When he tried to demote them, the army of the Anatolic theme marched to Chrysopolis and demanded that the brothers stay emperors, arguing that as heaven was ruled by the Trinity, so the empire should have three emperors. Constantine praised the soldiers, promised to consider their wishes and invited their leaders into the city, then had the leaders hanged.
Late in 681 Constantine had both brothers’ noses slit, struck their images from the coinage and their names from official documents, clearing the way for his own son, Justinian II. Neither Tiberius nor Heraclius appears in the record again.
Line of descent: Heraclius the Elder → Heraclius → Heraclius Constantine → Constans II → Tiberius.
Parents
- Constans II (630 – 668)
- Fausta (630 – ?)
Siblings
- Constantine IV (652 – 685)
- Heraclius (653 – ?)
Sources
- Tiberius (son of Constans II) · Wikipedia
- Constantine IV · Wikipedia