Illus
Encyclopedia
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
general, who played an important role in the reigns of the Byzantine Emperors Zeno
Zeno (emperor)
Zeno , originally named Tarasis, was Byzantine Emperor from 474 to 475 and again from 476 to 491. Domestic revolts and religious dissension plagued his reign, which nevertheless succeeded to some extent in foreign issues...
and Basiliscus
Basiliscus
Basiliscus was Eastern Roman Emperor from 475 to 476. A member of the House of Leo, he came to power when Emperor Zeno had been forced out of Constantinople by a revolt....
.
Illus supported the revolt of Basiliscus against Zeno, then switched sides, supporting the return of Zeno (475-476). Illus served Zeno well, defeating the usurper Marcian
Marcian (usurper)
Marcian was a member of the House of Leo and an usurper against Emperor Zeno in 479.- Biography :Marcian was a member of several Roman imperial families...
, but came into conflict with the dowager Empress Verina
Verina
Aelia Verina was the Empress consort of Leo I of the Byzantine Empire. She was a sister of Basiliscus. Her daughter Ariadne was Empress consort of first Zeno and then Anastasius I. Verina was the maternal grandmother of Leo II.-Family:...
, and supported the revolt of Leontius
Leontius (usurper)
Leontius was a general of the Eastern Roman Empire and claimant to the throne who led a rebellion against emperor Zeno in 484–488.- Biography :Leontius was of Syrian origin, coming from Dalisandus...
, but the rebellion failed and Illus was killed.
Origins
Illus was an IsauriaIsauria
Isauria , in ancient geography, is a rugged isolated district in the interior of South Asia Minor, of very different extent at different periods, but generally covering what is now the district of Bozkır and its surroundings in the Konya province of Turkey, or the core of the Taurus Mountains. In...
n, but the time and place of his birth are unknown; he had a brother, called Appallius Illus Trocundus
Trocundus
Flavius Appallius Illus Trocundus was a general of the Eastern Roman Empire, involved in the rise and fall of Emperor Basiliscus and the rebellion against Emperor Zeno.Trocundus was the brother of Illus, another Roman general, both from the region of Isauria....
. Illus is said to have held various offices under the Emperor Leo I
Leo I (emperor)
Leo I was Byzantine Emperor from 457 to 474. A native of Dacia Aureliana near historic Thrace, he was known as Leo the Thracian ....
(457—474), and to have been an intimate friend of Zeno, apparently before his accession. John Malalas
John Malalas
John Malalas or Ioannes Malalas was a Greek chronicler from Antioch. Malalas is probably a Syriac word for "rhetor", "orator"; it is first applied to him by John of Damascus .-Life:Malalas was educated in Antioch, and probably was a jurist there, but moved to...
considered Illus an uncle of Zeno. But we first read of him in Zeno's reign and in hostility to that emperor.
Under Basiliscus
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
in 475 and sent an army in pursuit of him under Illus and his brother Trocundus
Trocundus
Flavius Appallius Illus Trocundus was a general of the Eastern Roman Empire, involved in the rise and fall of Emperor Basiliscus and the rebellion against Emperor Zeno.Trocundus was the brother of Illus, another Roman general, both from the region of Isauria....
into Isauria, where Zeno had taken refuge. The brothers defeated the fugitive emperor (July 476) and blockaded him on a hill ironically named by the locals "Constantinople". Illus also captured Zeno's brother, Longinus
Longinus (consul 486)
Flavius Longinus was a politician of the Eastern Roman Empire, brother of Emperor Zeno and twice consul .- Biography :Longinus came from the region of Isauria, in Asia Minor...
, as a tool to keep Zeno under control.
During the blockade, Illus and Trocondus were enjoined by the senate of Constantinople to support Zeno against Basiliscus, with whom they had fallen into odium and contempt; Illus himself was discontent with the usurper, as he had allowed the killing of the Isaurians who remained in the capital after Zeno's flight. So Illus and Trocundus were prevailed on by the promises and gifts of Zeno to embrace his side, and to march with united forces towards the capital. At Nicaea
Iznik
İznik is a city in Turkey which is primarily known as the site of the First and Second Councils of Nicaea, the first and seventh Ecumenical councils in the early history of the Church, the Nicene Creed, and as the capital city of the Empire of Nicaea...
in Bithynia they were met by the troops of Basiliscus under his nephew and general Armatus
Armatus
Flavius Armatus was a Byzantine military commander, magister militum under Emperors Leo I, Basiliscus and Zeno, and consul. He was instrumental in the rebellion of Basiliscus against Zeno, and in his subsequent fall.- Origin and early career :...
; but he too was overcome and Basiliscus, forsaken by his supporters, was dethroned and put to death (477).
Against Marcian
Illus was sole consulConsul
Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...
in 478, and in 479 he was instrumental in crushing the dangerous revolt of Marcian
Marcian (usurper)
Marcian was a member of the House of Leo and an usurper against Emperor Zeno in 479.- Biography :Marcian was a member of several Roman imperial families...
, grandson of the Byzantine emperor of that name
Marcian
Marcian was Byzantine Emperor from 450 to 457. Marcian's rule marked a recovery of the Eastern Empire, which the Emperor protected from external menaces and reformed economically and financially...
, and son of Anthemius
Anthemius
Procopius Anthemius was Western Roman Emperor from 467 to 472. Perhaps the last capable Western Roman Emperor, Anthemius attempted to solve the two primary military challenges facing the remains of the Western Roman Empire: the resurgent Visigoths, under Euric, whose domain straddled the Pyrenees;...
, emperor of the West. Marcian had married Leontia
Leontia
Leontia was the Empress consort of Phocas of the Byzantine Empire.-Empress:Maurice reigned in the Byzantine Empire from 582 to 602. He led a series of Balkan campaigns and managed to successfully re-establish the Danube as a northern border for his state. By Winter 602, his strategic goals included...
, daughter of the late Emperor Leo by Verina, and sister of Ariadne, Zeno's wife. His revolt took place at Constantinople, where he defeated the troops of Zeno with the support of the mob, and besieged him in the palace. For a moment Illus wavered, but his failing courage or fidelity was restored by the assurances of an Egyptian soothsayer whom he patronised. Marcian's forces were corrupted by Illus; and Marcian himself, with his brothers Procopius and Romulus, was taken. The brothers escaped, but Marcian was sent, either to Tarsus in Cilicia, and made a priest in the church there, or to the foot of Papurius, or Papyrius, a stronghold in Isauria, then used as a state prison.
Trocondus, the brother of Illus, was consul 482; and Illus himself enjoyed the dignities of patricius and magister officiorum
Magister officiorum
The magister officiorum was one of the most senior administrative officials in the late Roman Empire and the early centuries of the Byzantine Empire...
. He is said to have employed his power and influence well, and to have rendered good service to the state in peace as well as in war. He assiduously cultivated science and literature.
Patronage of Pamprepius and contrast with Verina
Pamprepius
Pamprepius was a philosopher and a Pagan poet who rebelled against the Eastern Roman Emperor Zeno....
, for whom he obtained a salary from the public revenue, and to whom also he made an allowance from his private resources. Pamprepius was a native of Thebes, or, according to others, of Panopolis in Egypt, an avowed heathen, and eminent as a poet, a grammarian, and especially for his skill in divining the future. Pamprepius was hated both by Zeno and by the dowager empress Verina, and during the absence of Illus, who had gone on some business into Isauria, they banished him on a charge of attempting to divine future events in favour of Illus and against the emperor. Illus, knowing that his intimacy with him had been the real cause of his banishment, received him into his household, and, on his return to the capital, took him with him. The date of these events is doubtful: it is possible that they occurred before Marcian's revolt, though a later date is on the whole more probable.
As the weakness of Zeno's character made him jealous of all persons of influence and talent, it is not wonderful that the commanding position and popular favour of Illus rendered him an object of suspicion, and that the emperor in various ways sought to rid himself of him. The ambitious Verina, the dowager empress, was also his enemy, and formed a plot against his life. The assassin, an Alan, employed by her, is said to have wounded Illus; but this is doubtful, as historians have confounded her plot with the later one of her daughter Ariadne. At any rate Verina's attempt was defeated, and Zeno, equally jealous of her and of Illus, banished her at the instance of the latter, and confined her in the fort of Papurius
Papurius
Papurius or Papyrius was a fortress in Cilicia Campestris, near Tarsus.It was in this fortress that the usurper Marcian was held prisoner after his failed revolt in 479, and where Leontius and his general and king-maker Illus were besieged between 484 and 488 by the army of Emperor Zeno.- Sources...
. There is some doubt as to the time of these events also. Candidus
Candidus
In Latin, candidus/candida means "clear and white". Candidus became a common Roman cognomen. Candidus may also refer to:- Pen names :*Pen name of Alexander Campbell, Restoration Movement Leader*Pen-name of Loyalist Lt. Col...
places the banishment of Verina before the revolt of Marcian, and Theodore Lector assigns as the cause of it her share in the revolt of Basiliscus. It is not unlikely, indeed, that this turbulent woman was twice banished, once before Marcian's revolt, for her connection with Basiliscus, and again after Marcian's revolt, for her plot against Illus. From her prison she managed to interest her daughter Ariadne, the wife of Zeno, in her favour, and Ariadne endeavoured to obtain her release, first from Zeno, and then from Illus, to whom the emperor referred her. Illus not only refused her request, but charged her with wishing to place another person on her husband's throne. This irritated her; and she, like her mother, attempted to assassinate Illus. Jordanes
Jordanes
Jordanes, also written Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th century Roman bureaucrat, who turned his hand to history later in life....
ascribes her hatred to another cause: he says that Illus had infused jealous suspicions into Zeno's mind which had led Zeno to attempt her life, and that her knowledge of these things stimulated her to revenge. The assassin whom she employed failed to kill Illus, but cut off his ear in the attempt. The assassin was taken, and Zeno, who appears to have been privy to the affair, was unable to prevent his execution.
Usurpation of Leontius and death of Illus
Leontius (usurper)
Leontius was a general of the Eastern Roman Empire and claimant to the throne who led a rebellion against emperor Zeno in 484–488.- Biography :Leontius was of Syrian origin, coming from Dalisandus...
, another well-known officer of Syrian origin, either accompanied him or joined him in the East. Illus's brother Trocondus probably also joined them. Having traversed Asia Minor they raised the standard of revolt in 483 or 484. Illus declared Leontius emperor, defeated the army of Zeno near Antioch, and having drawn over the Isaurians to his party and obtained possession of Papurius
Papurius
Papurius or Papyrius was a fortress in Cilicia Campestris, near Tarsus.It was in this fortress that the usurper Marcian was held prisoner after his failed revolt in 479, and where Leontius and his general and king-maker Illus were besieged between 484 and 488 by the army of Emperor Zeno.- Sources...
, released Verina, and induced her to crown Leontius at Tarsus, and to send a circular letter to the imperial officers at Antioch, in Egypt, and the East by which they were prevailed on to join Illus. This important service did not, however, prevent Illus from sending Verina back to Papurius, where she soon after closed her restless life.
In 485 Zeno sent against the rebels a fresh army, said to consist of Macedonians
Macedonia (Roman province)
The Roman province of Macedonia was officially established in 146 BC, after the Roman general Quintus Caecilius Metellus defeated Andriscus of Macedon, the last Ancient King of Macedon in 148 BC, and after the four client republics established by Rome in the region were dissolved...
and Scythians (Tillemont conjectures, not unreasonably, that these were Ostrogoths) under John the Hunchback
John the Hunchback
John the Hunchback or John Gibbo was a general and a politician of the Eastern Roman Empire.- Biography :John was a native of Selymbria, modern Silivri in Turkey....
, or, more probably, John the Scythian
John the Scythian
John the Scythian was a general and a politician of the Eastern Roman Empire who fought against the usurper Leontius and in the Isaurian War .- Biography :John was an officer of the East Roman army...
, and Theodoric the Amal
Theodoric the Great
Theodoric the Great was king of the Ostrogoths , ruler of Italy , regent of the Visigoths , and a viceroy of the Eastern Roman Empire...
, who was at this time consul. John defeated the rebels near Seleucia (which town of that name is not clear, perhaps the Isaurian Seleucia) and drove them into the fort of Papurius where he blockaded them. In this difficulty Trocondus attempted to escape and gather forces for their relief, but was taken by the besiegers and put to death. Illus and Leontius were ignorant of his fate, and, encouraged by Pamprepius who gave them assurances of Troconcus's return and of ultimate victory, held out with great tenacity for over three years. In the fourth year the death of Trocondus was discovered, and Illus, enraged at the deceit practised on him by Pamprepius, put him to death. The fort was soon after taken by the treachery of Trocondus's brother-in-law, who had been sent for the purpose from Constantinople by Zeno, and Illus and Leontius were beheaded (488) and their heads sent to the emperor.
Tillemont and Le Beau regard the revolt of Illus as an attempt to re-establish paganism; but for this view there seems no foundation. We do not know that Illus was a pagan, though Pamprepius was one: it is more likely that Illus was a man of no fixed religious principles, and that his revolt originated either in ambition, or in a conviction that his only prospect of safety from the intrigues of his enemies and the suspicions of Zeno was the dethronement of the emperor. It is remarkable that Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon was an English historian and Member of Parliament...
does not mention the name of Illus, and scarcely notices his revolt.