Originally a Christian, Beser 1 apostatised from Christianity and became a Muslim while a prisoner in Syria; shortly before 724 he abandoned the Islamic faith and returned to the Roman empire; there he was held in high honour by the emperor Leo III (Leo 3) partly because of his physical strength but also because he shared the emperor's hostility towards sacred images; he helped Leo III (Leo 3) with his iconoclastic policies (cf. also Konstantinos 73): Theoph. AM 6215. This is recorded under the year 724, where Leo 3's adoption of iconoclasm is associated with the action of the caliph Yezid (Yezid 2) (who died in that year).

Ally of Leo 3 in the war on icons, Beser 1 is styled the denier of God (Βησὴρ τὸν ἀρνησίθεον); he and Leo 3 are described as ignoramuses and uneducated (ἄμφω γὰρ ἀπαιδευσίας ἦσαν ἔμπλεοι καὶ πάσης ἀμαθίας), which was why they caused so much trouble: Theoph. AM 6218 (in the year 726). Described as a patrikios who held Arabic beliefs (πατρίκιον Βησὴρ τὸν σαρακηνόφρονα: Theoph. AM 6233) and as a patrikios (Βίσηρον τὴν ἀξίαν πατρίκιον: Nic.), Beser 1 was killed by the followers of Artabasdos 1 in 742 in the plain of Krasos; his murder alerted the emperor Constantine V (Konstantinos 7) to the rebellious intentions of Artabasdos 1: Nic. Brev. de Boor 60, Mango 64, Theoph. AM 6233. He was patron (or perhaps employer) of David 1, who apparently once served under him as spatharios (and who was also komes of the Opsikion: Δαβὶδ σπαθάριος κατὰ τὸν Βησὴρ καὶ κόμης τοῦ Ὀψικίου): Theoph. AM 6257. This person has been dismissed by some scholars as legendary, but was most probably a real individual; cf. Rochow, Theophanes, p. 106. The origin of his name is disputed; it may be Arabic, though this is uncertain; cf. Winkelmann, Quellenstudien, pp. 201-202, Rochow, Theophanes, pp. 106-107.

Beser 1 is possibly identical with Beser or Biser, the owner of a seal dateable to the early or middle eighth century: Zacos and Veglery 2835. Obv.: circular inscription reading +ἐξελοῦ με κ[ύρι]ε ἐξ ἀνθρ...., around a cruciform monogram with the letters β, ς, η and ρ, and possibly ι. Rev.: circular inscription reading +ἀπὸ ἀ[νδρὸ]ς ἀδίκου καὶ δολίου ῥῦσε [μ]ε, around a cruciform monogram of πατρικιου, with στ - ρα - τη - γου in the corners. His titles read: πατρικίου καὶ στρατηγοῦ. On the solution of the monogram and the attribution of this seal to Beser, see W. Seibt, Review of Zacos and Veglery, in ByzSlav 36 (1975), 212. See also Rochow, Konstantin V, pp. 210-11, and R.-J. Lilie, Byzanz unter Eirene und Konstantin VI (780-802) (Berliner byzantinische Studien 2, Frankfurt am Main-New York, 1996), p. 389..

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