Konstantinos 2

Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire
SexM
FloruitM/L VII
Dates662 (taq) / 685 (ob.)
PmbZ No.3702
Variant NamesConstantinus;
Constantine IV
ReligionChristian;
Anti-monothelete
LocationsItaly;
Gallia (Narbonensis);
Holy Apostles (Church of the, Constantinople) (burialplace);
Constantinople (officeplace);
Sicily;
Constantinople (residence);
Constantinople
TitlesAugustus (office);
Emperor (office)
Textual SourcesBar Hebraeus, Chronographia, tr. E. A. W. Budge, The Chronography of Abu 'l-Faraj (London, 1932; repr. Amsterdam, 1976) (history);
Chronicon Anonymi ad annum 1234 pertinens, ed. and tr. J.-B. Chabot, I = CSCO 81-82 (Paris, 1916-20), II = CSCO 109 (Louvain, 1937) (chronicle);
Chronicon Maroniticum, ed. E. W. Brooks, CSCO 4, Scriptores Syri 4 (Louvain, 1904), tr. J.-B. Chabot (Louvain, 1955), pp. 36-55; also tr. A. Palmer, The Seventh Century in West-Syrian Chronicles (chronicle);
Chronique de Denys de Tell-Mahré, ed. and tr. J.-B. Chabot (Paris, 1895); tr. A. Palmer, The Seventh Century in West-Syrian Chronicles (Liverpool, 1993), pp. 54-65 (chronicle);
Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio, ed. G. Moravcsik, trans. R. J. H. Jenkins (Washington, D.C., 1967) (history);
Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Ceremoniis Aulae Byzantinae Libri II, ed. J. J. Reiske, CSHB (Bonn, 1829); also ed. (in part) A. Vogt (Paris, 1935, repr. 1967) (history);
Liber Pontificalis, ed. L. Duchesne, Le liber pontificalis. Texte, introduction et commentaire, 2 vols. (Paris, 1886-92); re-issued with 3rd vol. by C. Vogel, (Paris, 1955-57) (chronicle);
Michael the Syrian, Chronicle, ed. and tr. J.-B. Chabot, La chronique de Michel le Syrien (Paris, 1899-1904) (chronicle);
Necrologium Imperatorum, ed. R. Cessi, Origo Civitatum Italiae seu Venetiarum , Fonti per la storia d' Italia 73 (Rome, 1933), pp. 102-119 (list);
Nicephorus, Breviarium Historiae, ed. C. Mango, Nikephoros, Patriarch of Constantinople: Short History; prev. ed. C. de Boor Nicephori ArchiepiscopiConstantinopolitani Opuscula Historica Leipzig 1880 (history);
Paulus Diaconus, Historia Gentis Langobardorum, ed. L. Bethmann and G. Waitz, MGH, Scr. Rer. Lang., pp. 12-187; also in MGH, Scr. Rer. Ger. 48, pp. 49-242 (history);
Theophanes Confessor, Chronographia, ed. C. de Boor, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1883-85, repr. Hildesheim/NewYork, 1980); tr. and comm. C. Mango and R. Scott, The Chronicle of Theophanes Confessor, Oxford 1997 (chronicle);
Zonaras = Ioannis Zonarae Epitome Historiarum, libri XIII-XVIII, ed. Th. Büttner-Wobst, (Bonn, 1897) (history)

Konstantinos 2 was nicknamed Pogonatos (Πωγωνᾶτος), supposedly after his return from Sicily (see below); he was clean shaven when he went but sported a beard when he returned: Zon. XIV 20. 1. 4.

Konstantinos 2 was a descendant of the emperor Heraklios I: Const. Porph., Cer. II 42 (Reiske, 644), Photius, Ep. 1, lines 358ff. (I 12 Laourdas-Westerink). Son of the emperor Constans II (Konstans 1) and brother of Heraklios 1 and Tiberios 1: Theoph. AM 6153 (καὶ τοὺς τρεῖς υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ, Κωνσταντῖνον, Ἡράκλειον καὶ Τιβέριον), Theoph. AM 6159 (Κωνσταντῖνος, ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ βασιλέως), Theoph. AM 6160 (τοὺς τρεῖς υἱοὺς ... ἀκούσας δε Κωνσταντῖνος τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς ἀποβίωσιν ... καὶ βασιλεύει τῶν Ῥωμαίων μετὰ Τιβερίου καὶ Ἡρακλείου, τῶν ἰδίων ἀδελφῶν), Theoph. AM 6173 (τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς αὐτοῦ τῆς βασιλείας, Ἡράκλειον καὶ Τιβέριον), Nic. Brev. de Boor 32, Mango 34, Zon. XIV 19. 31, 20. 2, Chron. 1234, §138 (p. 283), §139 (p. 287), §140 (p. 287), §142 (pp. 288-289), Paul. Diac., Hist. Lang. V 30. Cf. also Phausta 1. Husband of Anastasia 1 (q. v. and see below; she was the mother of Ioustinianos 1). Father of Justinian II (Ioustinianos 1): Theoph. AM 6173 (Ἰουστινιανῷ τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ), Theoph. AM 6177 (Ἰουστινιανὸς ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ), Nic. Brev. de Boor 36, Mango 38, Zon. XIV 21. 22, Chron. 1234, §142 (p. 288), §145 (p. 292), Lib. Pont. 83. 3. Paul. Diac., Hist. Lang. VI 11. He apparently had a second son, Heraklios 5: Lib. Pont. 83. 3 (he sent locks of his sons' hair to Rome - "mallones capillorum domni Iustiniani et Heraclii filiorum clementissmi principis").

In c. 661/662 Konstantinos 2 and his brothers were in Constantinople when their father tried to transfer the seat of empire to the West; the inhabitants of Constantinople refused to allow them to leave for the West to join him: Theoph. AM 6153, cf. AM 6160, Zon. XIV 19. 31-33, and see Andreas 1. In 667/668 (while his father was occupied in the West) he sent the koubikoularios Andreas 1 as envoy to the caliph Mu`awiya 1 to try and prevent the caliph from giving military aid to the rebel Saborios 1; he was unsuccessful and on learning that an Arab force had been sent under Fadalas 1 he sent an army under the command of Nikephoros 1 against Saborios 1; later he sent Andreas 1 to recover Amorium from the Arabs: Theoph. AM 6159, cf. Chron. 1234, §138 (pp. 283, 286).

Konstantinos 2 was crowned emperor by his father: Zon. XIV 20. 2. After his father's murder (in 668) he sailed to Sicily to overthrow Mizizios 1 and returned to Constantinople to rule with his two brothers: Theoph. AM 6160, Zon. XIV 20. 1-3, Chron. 1234, §139 (p. 287), Mich. Syr. II 451, 454. The historical reality of his voyage to Sicily has been questioned; see Ostrogorsky, History, p. 123, n. 1.

Konstantinos 2 was successor of his father as emperor: Paul. Diac., Hist. Lang. V 30. According to the Liber Pontificalis, in 678 he and his two brothers Heraklios 1 and Tiberios 1 were all Augusti: Lib.Pont. 81. 3.

In c. 682 (the thirteenth year of his reign) Konstantinos 2 drove his brothers from the throne and ruled alone with his son Justinian (Ioustinianos 1): Theoph. AM 6173, Zon. XIV 20. 5-8, Chron. 1234, §142 (pp. 288-289). In 678/679 he made peace with Mu`awiya on favourable terms, after the Arab failure to capture Constantinople: Theoph. AM 6169, Zon. XIV 20. 21-22. In 684/685 he agreed to make peace with the caliph `Abd al-Malik (Abdulmalik 1): Theoph. AM 6176, Chron. 1234, §145 (p. 292). He died in 685 after a reign of seventeen years and was succeeded by his son Justinian (Ioustinianos 1): Theoph. AM 6177, Nic.Brev. de Boor 36, Mango 38, Zon. XIV 21. 22, Chron. 1234, §145 (p. 292), Paul. Diac., Hist. Lang. V 30, VI 11. He suffered from gout: Zon. XIV 21. 16.

According to the Liber Pontificalis Konstantinos 2 was succeeded as emperor after his death by his son, Justinianus (Ioustinianos 1), in early September 685: Lib. Pont. 84. 3. According to the Necrologium he died on 10 July and was buried with his wife Anastasia 1 in the Mausoleum of Justinian in the Church of the Holy Apostles after a reign lasting seventeen years; on the date, see Grierson, "Tombs and Obits", p.50 and Mango and Scott, Theophanes p.505, n. 1. He was buried like his father Konstantinos Pogonatos (sic; i.e. Constans II, Konstans 1) in the Mausoleum of Justinian at the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople: Const. Porph., Cer. II 42 (Reiske, 644).

In the year 970 Sel. (658/659) he was left on the throne at Constantinople when his father Constans (Konstans 1) took the queen and the army and left to make war on foreign peoples in the North after angry protests at the murder of Theodosios 1: Chron. Maron., p. 70, 24 = p. 71, 3 = p. 55. Son of Konstans 1 and brother of Tiberios 1 and Heraklios 1; he and his brothers were made autokratores at Constantinople while their father was in Sicily: Bar Hebr., p. 99, Mich. Syr. II 451. In the year 977 Sel. (665/666) he sent Andreas 1 as envoy to the caliph Mu'awiya 1, when the rebel Sapor (Saborios 1) sent his own envoy, Sergios 2: Bar Hebr., p. 100. In the year 981 Sel. (669/670) he ordered that the Romans should be subject equally to himself and his brothers Tiberios 1 and Heraklios 1 and had the images of all three of them stamped on the coinage; he is also said to have gone to Gallia and to Italy and reduced the nations of the West to submission; later he sent brigands called Lipore, or Gargumaye in Syria, to attack the lands from Galilee to the Black Mountain, including the Lebanon: Bar Hebr., p. 101.

Konstantinos 2 was father of Ioustinianos 1; when his son was born he dismissed his brothers from their imperial role and when they refused to abandon their position he had them exiled by the senate: Bar Hebr., pp. 101-102, Mich. Syr. II 455-456. He died in the year 997 Sel. (685/686) and was succeeded by his son: Bar Hebr., p. 103, Mich. Syr. II 473.

In the year 992 Sel. (680/681) Konstantinos 2 succeeded Konstantinos (Konstans 1) as emperor of the Romans and reigned for sixteen years: Pseudo-Dion., Chron., pp. 153, 25-154, 2 = p. 115. In the year 1008 Sel. (696/697) Konstantinos died and was succeeded by Ioustinianos 1: Pseudo-Dion., Chron., p. 155, 25-27 = p. 116. Son of Pogonatos (Konstans 1); he sent Ioannes 3 Pitsikaudes as envoy to Mu`awiya 1 to negotiate a peace treaty: Const. Porph., DAI 21, 10. Son of Pogonatos (Konstans 1), he ruled the Romans for 17 years: Const. Porph., DAI 21, 46.

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