Leo 12 | Prosopography of the Byzantine Empire |
| Sex | M |
| Floruit | L VIII-E IX |
| Dates | 801 (taq) / 802 (tpq) |
| PmbZ No. | 4405 |
| Locations | Macedonia (officeplace); Thrace (officeplace); Thrace; Macedonia |
| Titles | Strategos (monostrategos), Thrace and Macedonia (office) |
| Textual Sources | 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) |
Leo 12 was the brother of the eunuch Aetios 1: Theoph. AM 6294 (τὸν ἴδιον ἀδελφὸν, unnamed), Theoph. AM 6295 (τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἀδελφὸν Λέοντα), Zon. XV 13. 24. In 801/802 Leo 12's brother, Aetios 1, now free from the opposition of Staurakios 1 (died June 800), aimed to secure the imperial throne for him and had him appointed sole strategos of the themata of Thrace and Macedonia (τὸ κράτος εἰς τὸν ἴδιον ἀδελφὸν μετενέγκαι ἔσπευδεν ὃν καὶ προεβάλετο μονοστράτηγον εἴς τε τὴν Θρᾴκην καὶ Μακεδονίαν): Theoph. AM 6294, cf. Zon. XV 13. 24-25 (μόνος αὐτὸς στρατηγὸς Θρᾴκης καὶ Μακεδονίας). In 802, when Nikephoros 8 seized the throne (on 31 October), the claim that Aetios 1 was forcing the empress Eirene 1 to proclaim Leo 12 as emperor was used to win support for the revolt: Theoph. AM 6295.
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