Isaac the Armenian was an Exarch of Ravenna hailing from the Kamsarakan

Kamsarakan

Kamsarakan was an Armenian noble family that was an offshoot of the Karen-Pahlav Clan, one of the seven great houses of Parthia of Persian Arsacid origin.Most of their lands were acquired by the Bagratuni during the last quarter of the eight century....

 clan. The chronology of the Exarchate in this period is uncertain: either he succeeded Euselnus and served c. 625 - 644; he succeeded Eleutherius

Eleutherius (exarch)

Eleutherius was Exarch of Ravenna . A eunuch, he succeeded John I Lemigius as exarch.Early in his reign, nearly the entire exarchate was unstable. In Ravenna, there was obvious discontent with the Byzantines; in Naples, a certain John of Conza, separated the city from the exarch's control...

, and served 620 - 637.

The Chronicle of Fredegar

Chronicle of Fredegar

The Chronicle of Fredegar is a chronicle that is a primary source of events in Frankish Gaul from 584 to around 641. Later authors continued the history to the coronation of Charlemagne and his brother Carloman on 9 October 768....

records a story of how Isaac slew Tasso, duke of Tuscany

Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....

 by deceit for the benefit of the Lombard

Lombards

The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...

 king Arioald

Arioald

Arioald was the Lombard king of Italy from 626 to 636. Duke of Turin, he married the princess Gundeberga, daughter of King Agilulf and his queen Theodelinda. He was, unlike his father-in-law, an Arian who did not accept Catholicism....

. However according to Paul the Deacon

Paul the Deacon

Paul the Deacon , also known as Paulus Diaconus, Warnefred, Barnefridus and Cassinensis, , was a Benedictine monk and historian of the Lombards.-Life:...

, it was the patriarch Gregory who killed Tasso

Tasso of Friuli

Tasso was the joint Duke of Friuli with his younger brother Kakko from their father's death to their own. Their father was Gisulf II. In or around 611, Gisulf was killed fending off an Avar invasion....

, and Tasso was instead the Duke of Friuli

Duke of Friuli

The dukes and margraves of Friuli were the rulers of the Duchy and March of Friuli in the Middle Ages.The dates given below, when contentious, are discussed in the articles of the respective dukes.-Lombard dukes:* 568–c.584 Grasulf I...

 with his brother Kakko

Kakko of Friuli

Kakko was the joint duke of Friuli with his elder brother Tasso from their father's death to their own. Their father was Gisulf II...

.

In 638 the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius

Heraclius

Heraclius was Byzantine Emperor from 610 to 641.He was responsible for introducing Greek as the empire's official language. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, successfully led a revolt against the unpopular usurper Phocas.Heraclius'...

 demanded that the new Pope Severinus

Pope Severinus

Pope Severinus was pope in the year 640 who became caught up in a power struggle with the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius over the ongoing Monothelite controversy.-Election and struggle with Constantinople:...

 sign his Ecthesis, a Monothelite profession of faith. Severinus refused; Heraclius denied recognition to the pope and sent an official named Maurice

Maurikios Chartoularios

Maurikios Chartoularios , Latinized as Mauricius Chartularius , was a Byzantine rebel in Italy.In 638 the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius demanded that the newly elected Pope, Severinus sign his assent to the Ecthesis, a document which defined monotheletism as the official imperial form of Christianity...

 to negotiate with the papacy. Maurice, after arriving in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, seized the Lateran

Lateran

Lateran and Laterano are the shared names of several architectural projects throughout Rome. The properties were once owned by the Lateranus family of the former Roman Empire...

 and encouraged Isaac to come to the city. Isaac did so; he then briefly resided in the Lateran and with Maurice plundered the palace. Some of the treasure was sent to Heraclius; much of the rest went to the exarch. Some time later Maurice attempted to repeat the action, but in order to avoid sharing the wealth he denied recognition to the exarch. Isaac then captured Maurice and had him executed.

The Lombard king Rothari

Rothari

Rothari , of the house of Arodus, was king of the Lombards from 636 to 652; previously he had been duke of Brescia. He succeeded Arioald, who was an Arian like himself, and was one of the most energetic of Lombard kings...

 conquered all of the imperial possessions in Liguria

Liguria

Liguria is a coastal region of north-western Italy, the third smallest of the Italian regions. Its capital is Genoa. It is a popular region with tourists for its beautiful beaches, picturesque little towns, and good food.-Geography:...

, as well as much Emilia

Emilia (region of Italy)

Emilia is a historical region of northern Italy which approximately corresponds to the western and north-eastern portions of today’s Emilia-Romagna region...

, in around 643. A battle fought between the Lombards and troops of the Exarchate on the banks of the Panaro ended in defeat for the Byzantines, with several thousand soldiers killed. Although Isaac himself probably met his death fighting the Lombards, the author of the life of Pope Theodore

Pope Theodore

Pope Theodore may refer to:*Pope Theodore I , Palestinian-born Greek*Pope Theodore II, Pope in 897 AD, son of Photius, the patriarch of Constantinople*Antipope Theodore, antipope in 687 AD...

 in the Liber Pontificalis writes that Isaac died of a stroke. There is a sarcophagus

Sarcophagus

A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σαρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos...

 of Isaac's located in the Sancta Sanctorum, which contains depictions of Daniel

Daniel

Daniel is the protagonist in the Book of Daniel of the Hebrew Bible. In the narrative, when Daniel was a young man, he was taken into Babylonian captivity where he was educated in Chaldean thought. However, he never converted to Neo-Babylonian ways...

, the adoration of the Magi, and Lazarus

Lazarus of Bethany

Lazarus of Bethany, also known as Saint Lazarus or Lazarus of the Four Days, is the subject of a prominent miracle attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus restores him to life four days after his death...

.