Editing Anastasius I Dicorus (section)

== Death and succession ==
[[File:730654 ANASTASIUS I Gold Tremissis.jpg|thumb|Gold ''[[tremissis]]'' (one-third of a solidus) of Anastasius I|upright=1.2]]
The ''[[Anonymous Valesianus]]'' gives a (most likely fictional) account of Anastasius attempting to predict his successor. Anastasius did not know which of his three nephews would succeed him and so he put a message under one of three couches and had his nephews take seats in the room. He believed that the nephew who sat on the couch with the message would be his heir. However, two of his nephews sat on the same couch, and the one with the concealed message remained empty. After putting the matter to God in prayer, he determined that the first person to enter his room the next morning would be the next emperor, and that person turned out to be [[Justin I|Justin]], the commander of the [[Excubitors]] (''comes excubitorum'').<ref>''[[Anonymous Valesianus]]'' II, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Excerpta_Valesiana/2*.html#74 ''Pars Posterior'' 74.]</ref>

Anastasius died childless in Constantinople on 9 July 518.<ref>[[Marcellinus Comes]] [https://books.google.com/books?id=SNMuDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA27 518]: "The emperor Anastasius died suddenly, aged more than eighty. He reigned for twenty-seven years, two months and twenty-nine days [<nowiki/>[[Inclusive counting|inclusive]]]."</ref><ref>[[Zacharias Rhetor]] [[iarchive:cu31924027994726/page/n195|VII, xiv]]: "Anastasius died on the ninth of July."</ref><ref>[[Theophanes Confessor]] [[iarchive:chronicle-of-theophanes-the-confessor/page/249/mode/1up|518]]: "On 9 April of the ninth indiction Anastasios the impious emperor died after ruling for 27 years and 7 months." (partially inaccurate)</ref> He was 90 and a half years old according to the later chronicles of [[John Malalas]] ({{Circa}} 491–578) and the ''[[Chronicon Paschale]]'' ({{Circa}} 630).<ref>''[[Chronicon Paschale]]'' [[iarchive:chronicon-p/page/103/mode/1up|518]]: "Anastasius fell sick... gave up the spirit, aged 90 years and five months. [<nowiki/>[[Justin I|Justin]]] became emperor in the consulship of [[Flavius Anastasius Paulus Probus Moschianus Probus Magnus|Magnus]], in the month Panemus, which is also July, on the 9th."</ref><ref>[[John Malalas]] [https://es.calameo.com/read/000675905f2f4bf509d49 XVI, 22]. "He was terrified and breathed his last, at the age of 90 years and five months."</ref> The early 6th-century historian [[Victor of Tunnuna]] states that he died at the age of 88,<ref>[[Victor of Tunnuna]], [https://www.dmgh.de/mgh_auct_ant_11/#page/196/mode/1up s.a. 518]. "anno viae suae III." [In his 88th year of life, i.e. born in 431]</ref> a figure accepted by most modern historians.{{sfn|Martindale|1980|p=78}}

He became the last emperor known to be [[Roman imperial cult#The imperial cult and Christianity|consecrated as divus]] on his death. Anastasius left the Imperial treasury with 23,000,000 ''solidi'', which is 320,000 pounds of gold or {{convert|420|LT|MT}}.{{sfn|Norwich|1988|pp=188–9}} Justin then became the next emperor.{{sfn|Durant|1950|p=104}}