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350 LEO III. LEO V. pedition against Genseric, king of the Vandals in Africa. Under the command of Basiliscus more than 1,000 ships, each with 100 men, came to land near Carthage, but were attacked by night with fire ships, and the whole fleet was destroyed or dispersed. This disastrous result was charged upon Aspar, who with one of his sons escaped from a popular tumult only to be assassinated by a band of the emperor's body guard within the precincts of the palace. The Arian followers of Aspar encouraged the intrigues of Ricimer in the West, and incited the Goths to invade Thrace, and for two years to threaten Constantinople. Among the ex- traordinary events of this reign were the de- struction of Antioch by an earthquake (458), a conflagration in Constantinople (465), im- mense and destructive inundations (469), and an eruption of Vesuvius (472), which, accord- ing to all the historians, was not only felt at Constantinople, but caused showers of ashes which covered the roofs of houses with a coat three inches thick. LEO III., Flavins, surnamed the Isaurian, a Byzantine emperor, born in Isauria about 680, died June 18, 741. The son of a farmer who emigrated from Asia Minor to Thrace, he joined the army under Justinian II., was rap- idly promoted, and in 713 was appointed by Anastasius II. to the supreme command of the troops in Asia, where he held the field against the Saracens. When in 716 the crown was seized by Theodosius III., Leo declared him a usurper, outwitted and avoided the Arab gen- eral Muslima, marched upon Constantinople, forced him to resign (March, 718), and became himself master of the empire. The Saracens immediately appeared with an immense army and fleet before Constantinople. This siege, under Omar II., the third by the Saracens, lasted two years, and so powerful were the Mohammedan armaments that the provinces expected the downfall of Leo, the western kingdoms heard that a caliph had ascended the Byzantine throne, and two schemes of rebellion were plotted, which were quickly suppressed when the triumph of the emperor was known. The Arab fleet was routed in two engagements, and partially consumed by the Greek fire, and few of the ships regained the harbors of Syria. In 726 Leo promul- gated an edict for the removal of images from all the churches of the empire, and thus in- augurated the party of the iconoclasts, and a conflict of nearly 120 years. He was opposed by Germanus, patriarch of Constantinople, John the Damascene, and John Chrysorrhoas in the East, and by Popes Gregory II. and III. in the West. The iconoclasts were condemned in 732 by a council assembled at Rome; an expedition sent by the emperor into Italy to reduce the cities opposed to the edict failed in its object, and the exarchate of Ravenna was transferred from the Greeks to the Lombards (734). In the East, there was a rebellion in the Peloponnesus and the Cyclades, and a re- volt in the capital, the latter of which was quelled only after much bloodshed. The pro- fessors in the schools of Constantinople fa- vored the use of images, and the emperor is said to have therefore ordered the library of St. Sophia to be burned. It is more probable, however, that this library of 36,000 volumes was accidentally destroyed in some conflagra- tion. After the check which his forces expe- rienced in Italy, he transferred Greece and Illyria from the spiritual authority of the popes to that of the patriarchs of Constantinople. The latter years of his reign were occupied with violent wars with the Saracens. An ad- venturer, who claimed to be Tiberius, a son of Justinian II., was supported by the caliph, and made his entry into Jerusalem in the garb of a Roman emperor. In 739 the Arab general Solyman invaded the Roman territories with 90,000 men, in three divisions, but retreated into Syria after the defeat of one of the bodies in a pitched battle in Phrygia. In 740 an earthquake caused calamities throughout the empire, demolishing a part of the walls of Con- stantinople, and destroying whole towns in Thrace and Egypt. LEO V., Flavins, surnamed the Armenian, a Byzantine emperor, reigned from 813 to 820. He was of noble Armenian descent, distinguish- ed himself as a general under Nicephorus I. (802-811), was exiled for treachery, but soon recalled by Michael 1., and appointed com- mander of the troops in Asia. Michael was chiefly unpopular as the husband of the mas- culine and presuming Procopia, and his down- fall and the elevation of Leo had been fore- told by an Asiatic prophetess. In 813 Leo and the emperor led an expedition against the Bulgarians, and were defeated in a battle near Adrianople. Michael withdrew to Constantino- ple, leaving a disaffected army under the com- mand of Leo, who was the secret cause of the defeat, and whose friends now persuaded the soldiers to proclaim him emperor. The rebel army marched toward the capital, and to avoid civil war Michael resigned to the conspirators the keys of the city and the palace, and retired to a convent. The Bulgarians immediately appeared before Constantinople, desolated its suburbs, captured Adrianople, and reduced Thrace to a desert, but suffered a terrible de- feat by Leo at Mesembria in 814. In 815 he invaded their territory, obtained a truce for 30 years, and by his fierce onsets left such an impression on these hereditary enemies of the Byzantine empire that they remained quiet du- ring 74 years. Educated in a camp, he re- formed the civil government by introducing into it the strictness of military discipline, and his incessant oversight and formidable punish- ments improved the administration both in the capital and the provinces. He protected the iconoclasts, and his severity against the advo- cates of images created numerous enemies. Michael the Stammerer had contributed largely to his elevation, and had been his stanch ad-