Constantine V

Constantine V Copronymus ("The Dung-named") was Byzantine emperor from 741-775. He was supposedly given his nickname when he defecated in his baptismal font in 718.

He was opposed by his father's chamberlain Artabasdus, who attacked Constantine's army while they were on campaign against the Arabs in Anatolia. Artabasdus declared that Constantine had been killed in battle and seized power in Constantinople. Constantine, however, fled to Isauria, rallied his surporters, and besieged the capital in 742. By the end of 743 he had retaken the city and had Artabasdus blinded.

After this he reorganized the themes, the military districts of the empire, and created new divisions called tagmata. He organized these so that they would be more difficult to use in conspiracies. With this reorganized army he recaptured land from the Arabs in 751, who were involved in a civil war of their own. He also defeated the Bulgars in 763.

Constantine continued the iconoclasm of his father Leo III, actively persecuting iconophiles and monasteries. In 753 he called a council of iconoclast bishops and clergy, one of the smallest councils ever, to proclaim the veneration of icons a heresy. This was very unpopular among the general population. In 766 he persecuted iconophile monks and nuns by forcing them to hold hands together in the Hippodrome, and had a mob lynch an iconophile hermit named Stephen. He also proclaimed that relics and prayers to the saints were heretical.

While on campaign against the Bulgars, Constantine died on September 14, 775. Iconophiles considered this a divine punishment. They spread the rumour of his baptism and began to use the "Copronymus" nickname. In the 9th century he was disinterred and thrown into the sea.

This is a list of Byzantine Emperors.

Note: It is difficult to determine when exactly the Roman Empire ends and the Byzantine Empire begins; Diocletian split the Roman Empire into eastern and western halves for administrative purposes in 284. Candidates for the "first" Byzantine emperor include Constantine I (the first Christian emperor, who moved the capital to Constantinople), Valens (the Battle of Adrianople (378) provides one of the traditional cut-off events to mark the start of the medieval period), Arcadius (treating Theodosius I as the last emperor of a single Roman Empire), and Zeno I (as the last western emperor Romulus Augustus was deposed during his reign). Others date the beginning of the Empire even as late as Heraclius (who replaced the traditional Roman imperial title of "Augustus" with "Basileus", the Greek word for "Emperor", and discontinued the use of Latin by making Greek the official language). Numismatists note the monetary reforms of Anastasius I in 498, which used the Greek numbering system. Of course, the Byzantines themselves continued to think of their empire as "Roman" for over a millennium.


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Constantine V

Constantinian dynasty

Non-dynastic

Valentinian-Theodosian dynasty

Dynasty of Leo

Justinian dynasty

Non-dynastic

Heraclian dynasty

Non-dynastic

Isaurian dynasty

Non-dynastic

Amorian (or Phrygian) dynasty

Macedonian dynasty

Non-dynastic

Ducaian-Comnenan dynasty

Angelan dynasty

Lascaran dynasty (in exile in the Empire of Nicaea during the time of the Latin Empire)

Palaeologan Dynasty (restored at Constantinople)