User:Iazyges/Marcus (son of Basiliscus)

Marcus (Latin: Flavius Marcus Augustus) (died August 476) was the son of the East Roman or Byzantine general and usurper Basiliscus and Zenonis. He was acclaimed Caesar in 475 and later promoted to Augustus, ruling as junior co-emperor to his father. Coins were issued in his and Leo II's names. When Zeno reoccupied Constantinople in late August 476, Marcus, with his parents, took refuge in a church. Zeno promised not to spill their blood, so he exiled them to Limnae in Cappadocia and subsequently starved them to death.

Rise to power
Marcus was the son of Basiliscus and Zenonis. When Byzantine Emperor Leo (457–474) fell ill in 473, he had his grandson, Leo II ((r. undefined – undefined) 474), the son of Zeno (474–475, 476–491) and Ariadne, crowned as emperor in October 473. Leo died on 8 January 474, and Leo II took the throne. Zeno was installed as co-emperor, crowned on 9 February, and when Leo II died in Autumn, Zeno became the sole eastern emperor. Zeno was very unpopular, among both the common people and the senatorial class, in part simply because he was an Isaurian, a race that had acquired a poor reputation under Emperor Arcadius ((r. undefined – undefined) 383–408), and also because his rule would induce a promotion of fellow Isuarians to high positions. Although Verina had supported Zeno's elevation as co-emperor to Leo II, she turned against him once he became sole emperor. Verina conspired with others to remove him as emperor, and historians generally accept that she planned to install her lover, the magister officiorum Patricius, as emperor and to marry him. She was supported in this plot by the general Theoderic Strabo, angered by Zeno's coronation, and Basiliscus, who succeeded in recruiting Illus and Trocundes, Isaurian brothers, as well as her nephew Armatus. The plot had the backing of the military, bolstered by Basiliscus' popularity, and that of Illus and Trocundes, and also the support of the Eastern Roman Senate. The position of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Acacius, is unclear, although the historian Kamilla Twardowska considers it likely that he would have withheld support from either side until the outcome was clear. The exact date the conspiracy began is unknown: historian Maciej Salamon argues it began around 473, whereas Twardowska argues it began only after Zeno took sole power. The conspiracy was successful, as Zeno fled to his native Isauria on 9 January 475, either after learning of the conspiracy or after being convinced by Verina that his life was in danger. Basiliscus convinced the senate to acclaim him emperor, instead of Patricius, and Basiliscus was crowned at the Hebdomon palace. Basiliscus immediately had Marcus, crowned as Caesar, and later raised him to co-emperor.

Reign with Basiliscus
Basiliscus quickly lost support in Constantinople, through a combination of heavy taxes and heretical ecclesiastical policies, as well as a natural disaster. A large fire broke out in the quarter of Chalkoprateia in 475/476, before quickly spreading. Illus and Trocundes, laying siege to Zeno in his native lands, defected to him. This has usually been ascribed to a failure to fulfill unspecified promises made to them, as given by Theophanes the Confessor, which many historians identify as a promise to make them both magister militum, but historian Mirosław Leszka challenges this, arguing that Theophanes does not specify the promises because he invented them as the most likely explanation. Leszka questions that Basiliscus would entrust military command to men he had lied to, and argues that they were motivated instead by fear that Basiliscus would be overthrown, or else religious opposition. From February/March 476, Basiliscus remained in the Hebdomon, out of fear of the capital's populace; this news may have motivated them, along with letters received from ministers of the capital. These letters informed them that the city was now ready to restore Zeno, as the people had become even less supportive of Basiliscus due to the "fiscal rapacity of his ministers", as Bury puts it. Illus, possibly buoyed by his hold over Zeno, by way of his imprisonment of his brother, arranged to ally with him and they began to march towards Constantinople with their combined forces.

Basiliscus ordered Armatus to take command of all the troops in Thrace and Constantinople, as well as the palace guard, and lead them against the three. In spite of his oath of loyalty, Armatus betrayed Basiliscus when Zeno offered to have him made magister militum praesentalis for life, and his son, Basiliscus, crowned as caesar. He allowed Zeno to pass to Constantinople unhindered, and Zeno entered Constantinople unopposed in August 476. Basiliscus and his family fled and took refuge in a church, only leaving once Zeno promised not to execute them. Zeno exiled them to Limnae in Cappadocia, where they were imprisoned in a dried-up cistern, and left to starve to death. According to some sources, they were instead beheaded.