Editing Philippicus (section)

==Biography==
Philippicus was originally named '''Bardanes''' ({{Langx|el|Βαρδάνης|Bardánēs}}; {{langx|hy|[[wikt:Վարդան|Վարդան]], Vardan |italic=yes }}); he was the son of the patrician Nicephorus, who was of [[Armenians|Armenian]] extraction from an Armenian colony in [[Pergamum]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Charanis |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Charanis |title=Ethnic Changes in the Byzantine Empire in the Seventh Century |journal=Dumbarton Oaks Papers |volume=13 |pages=23–44 |publisher=Dumbarton Oaks |year=1959 |jstor=1291127 |doi=10.2307/1291127}}</ref> The Armenian background of Philippicus has been supported by [[Byzantine Studies|Byzantinist]] historians [[Peter Charanis]] and [[Nicholas Adontz]],{{sfn|Charanis|1961|pp=197, 205}} and disputed by [[Anthony Kaldellis]].<ref name="Kaldellis">{{Cite book|last=Kaldellis|first=Anthony|authorlink=Anthony Kaldellis|title=Romanland: Ethnicity and Empire in Byzantium|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2019|isbn=978-0674986510|page=185}}</ref> Kaldellis adds that Bardanes was probably born and raised in the Byzantine realm, as his father Nicephorus possibly was. Contemporaneous sources attest to Bardanes' tutoring, scholarly interests, learning and eloquence, all of which were in Greek.<ref name="Kaldellis"/> Byzantine historians [[Leslie Brubaker]] and [[John Haldon]] suggested Bardanes had some connection or affiliation with the Armenian [[Mamikonian]] family,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brubaker |first1=Leslie |author-link1=Leslie Brubaker |last2=Haldon |first2=John |author-link2=John Haldon |date=2011 |title=Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era, c. 680–850: A History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=saTPtrgLTQoC |location=Cambridge, England |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |page=587 |isbn=978-0-521-43093-7}}</ref> which Kaldellis also denies. Byzantine researcher Toby Bromige felt Kaldellis was too dismissive of the Armenian ancestry of certain Byzantine individuals.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/byzantine-and-modern-greek-studies/article/anthony-kaldellis-romanland-ethnicity-and-empire-in-byzantium-cambridge-ma-the-belknap-press-of-harvard-university-press-2019-pp-xv-373/EB3A909992BB8876011F96E88D605EA9 |title=Anthony Kaldellis, Romanland: Ethnicity and Empire in Byzantium |last=Bromige |first=Toby |date=8 March 2021 |website=[[Cambridge Core]] |doi=10.1017/byz.2020.30 |s2cid=233600380 |access-date=8 March 2021|doi-access=free }}</ref> {{citation needed span|Kaldellis disputes this view, pointing to his anti-Armenian policies such as his decision to expel all Armenians from the empire, forcing them to seek refuge among the Arabs, (though this wasn't fully enforced) and his later [[decree]] ordering all Armenians to accept the authority of the [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople|Patriarch of Constantinople]]. According to Kaldellis, this "shows that despite his ancestry he was not, and did not consider himself to be, 'an Armenian,' as some modern historians call him" and speculated that he may have been [[Persians|Persian]].|date=January 2025}}

Relying on the support of the [[Monothelite]] party, he made some pretensions to the throne on the outbreak of the first great rebellion against Emperor [[Justinian II]]. Instead, the position of emperor was taken first by [[Leontius]] and then by  [[Tiberius III]], who relegated Bardanes to [[Cephalonia]]. When Justinian regained power Bardanes was banished to [[Chersonesus Taurica|Cherson]], where he took the name Philippicus and incited the inhabitants to revolt with the help of the [[Khazars]]. The successful rebels drove Justinian out of [[Constantinople]], and Philippicus took the throne. Justinian was subsequently seized and beheaded; his son Tiberius was likewise apprehended by Philippicus's officers, Ioannes and [[Mauros]], and killed in a church. Justinian's principal officers, such as [[Barasbakourios]], were also massacred. 
[[File:46-manasses-chronicle.jpg|thumb|Philippicus (left) apprehending [[Tiberius (son of Justinian II)]] for execution. Scene from the 12th century [[Manasses Chronicle]]]]

===Reign===
Among the first acts of Philippicus were the deposition of [[Patriarch Kyros of Constantinople|Cyrus]] (the orthodox [[patriarch of Constantinople]]) in favour of [[Patriarch John VI of Constantinople|John VI]] (a member of his own sect), and the summoning of a [[conciliabulum]] of Eastern bishops, which abolished the canons of the [[Sixth Ecumenical Council]]. In response, the [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Church]] refused to recognize the new emperor and his patriarch. Meanwhile, the Bulgarian ruler [[Tervel]] plundered up to the walls of Constantinople in 712. When Philippicus transferred an army from the [[Opsikion]] [[Theme (Byzantine district)|theme]] to police the [[Balkans]], the [[Umayyad]] [[Caliphate]] under [[Al-Walid I]] made inroads across the weakened defenses of [[Asia Minor]].

In late May 713 the Opsikion troops rebelled in [[Thrace]]. Several of their officers penetrated the city and [[Political mutilation in Byzantine culture|blinded]] Philippicus on June 3, 713 while he was in the hippodrome.<ref name="Theophanes p. 79">[[#refTheophanes1982|Theophanes 1982]], p. 79.</ref> He was succeeded for a short while by his principal secretary, Artemius, who was raised to the purple as Emperor [[Anastasios II|Anastasius II]]. He died in the same year.