Elpidios 2 | Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire |
Sex | M |
Floruit | L VIII |
Dates | 781 (taq) / 802 (tpq) |
PmbZ No. | 1515 |
Variant Names | 'lpydy |
Locations | Sicily (officeplace); Sicily (residence); Africa (residence); Constantinople; Sicily; Africa |
Titles | Patrikios (dignity); Strategos, Sicily (office) |
Textual Sources | Bar 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); 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) |
Seal Sources | Schlumberger, G., "Sceaux byzantins inédits", REG 13 (1900), pp. 467-492 |
Elpidios 2 was a patrikios; he was a former strategos of Sicily in February 781 when the empress Eirene 1 appointed him to the same post again (προεβάλετο δὲ Ἐλπίδιον τὸν πατρίκιον στρατηγὸν ἐν Σικελίᾳ, ὡς καὶ προστρατηγήσαντα τῶν ἐκεῖσε: Theoph. AM 6273); he was sent out in February 781, but in April allegations were made against him of supporting the cause of the Caesars (i.e. of Nikephoros 5 and the other surviving half-brothers of the emperor Leo IV (Leo 4)) (ὡς τὰ τῶν καισάρων φρονῶν: Theoph. AM 6273); Eirene 1 sent Theophilos 2 to bring Elpidios 2 back but the people of Sicily refused to give him up; the empress therefore seized Elpidios 2's wife (Anonyma 26) and sons (Anonymi 28) and had them beaten and tonsured and imprisoned: Theoph. AM 6273, cf. Zon. XV 10. 17-19.
Perhaps owner of a seal; see Winkelmann, Rangstruktur, p. 86 ("SSceaux 148 = Ermitaz M-7990, 8. Jh., von V. Shandrovskaia (VV 29, 1968, 253) 2. H. 8. /1. H. 9. Jh. datiert, Elpidios Patr. u. Strat. Siz.").
Nothing is known about the date or duration of his first tenure as strategos of Sicily.
In 782 he was defeated after a struggle by large imperial forces under the command of Theodoros 13; taking the contents of his treasury and accompanied by the doux Nikephoros 6 he fled to Africa where he obtained promises of safety from the Arabs and joined them; they recognised him as emperor and crowned him accordingly: Theoph. AM 6274, cf. Zon. XV 10. 20-22. According to the Chron. 1234, in 792 the emperor Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8) "was angry with Elpidios ("
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