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{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Artabasdos<br>Արտավազդ
| image        = Solidus of Artabasdos.png
| caption      = [[Solidus (coin)|Solidus]] of Artabasdos
| succession   = [[Byzantine emperor]]
| reign        = June 741 – 2 November 743
| full name    = Artabasdus <br/> Artabasdos <br/> Արտավազդ <br/> Artavazd
| predecessor  = [[Constantine V]]
| successor    = Constantine V
| reg-type2    = Co-emperor
| regent2      = [[Nikephoros (son of Artabasdos)|Nikephoros]]
| queen        = [[Anna (wife of Artabasdos)|Anna]]
| issue        = [[Nikephoros (son of Artabasdos)|Nikephoros]]<br />[[Niketas (son of Artabasdos)|Niketas]]
| dynasty      = [[Byzantine Empire under the Isaurian dynasty|Isaurian]]
| birth_date   = Before 713
| death_date   = 743
| title        = [[List of Byzantine emperors|Emperor of the Romans]]
}}
{{Isaurian dynasty}}
'''Artabasdos''' or '''Artavasdos''' ({{langx|el|{{lang|grc|Ἀρταύασδος}}}} or {{lang|grc|Ἀρτάβασδος}}, from {{Langx|hy|Արտավազդ}}, {{Transliteration|hy|Artavazd}}, {{Transliteration|hy|Ardavazt}}, [[Latinisation of names|Latinized]] as ''Artabasdus''), was a [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] general of [[Armenians|Armenian]]<ref>{{harvnb|Beckwith|2009|p=142}} "...the Armenian general Artavasdos. [...] Because Artavasdos was Armenian.."
</ref> descent who seized the throne from June 741 until November 743, in usurpation of the reign of  [[Constantine V]].

== Rise to power ==
In about 713, Emperor [[Anastasius II (emperor)|Anastasius II]] appointed Artabasdos as governor ([[strategos|''stratēgos'']]) of the [[Armeniac Theme]] (Θέμα Άρμενιάκων, ''Thema Armeniakōn''), the successor of the Army of Armenia, which occupied the old areas of the Pontus, Armenia Minor, and northern Cappadocia, with its capital at Amasea. After Anastasius' fall, Artabasdos made an agreement with his colleague [[Leo III the Isaurian|Leo]], the governor of the [[Anatolic Theme]], to overthrow the new Emperor [[Theodosius III]].  This agreement was sealed with the engagement of Leo's daughter [[Anna (wife of Artabasdos)|Anna]] to Artabasdos, and the marriage took place after Leo III ascended the throne in March 717.

Artabasdos was awarded the rank of ''[[kouropalates]]'' ("master of the palace") and became commander (count, ''komēs'') of the [[Opsikion]] Theme, while retaining control of his original command. In June 741, after the accession of Leo's son [[Constantine V]] to the throne, Artabasdos resolved to seize the throne and attacked his brother-in-law while the latter was traversing [[Asia Minor]] to fight the [[Arab]]s on the eastern frontier. While Constantine fled to [[Amorium|Amorion]], Artabasdus seized [[Constantinople]] amid popular support and was crowned emperor in the summer of 742.<ref>{{harvnb|Treadgold|1997|p=356 (n. 12, 939)}} "The previously accepted date of June 742 for the beginning of the revolt of Artavasdus is almost certainly wrong."</ref>{{sfn|Auzépy|2008|p=258}}

== Reign and downfall ==
While according to [[Theophanes the Confessor]] and Patriarch [[Nikephoros I of Constantinople]], Artabasdos abandoned his predecessor's religious policy of [[iconoclasm]] and authorised the cult of images with some support, there is actually little support from contemporary sources.{{sfn|Auzépy|2008|p=283}}{{sfn|Brubaker|Leslie|2011|p=159}} Soon after his accession, Artabasdus crowned his wife [[Anna, wife of Artabasdos|Anna]] as ''[[Augusta (title)|augusta]]'' and his son Nikephoros as co-emperor, while putting his other son [[Niketas (son of Artabasdos)|Niketas]] in charge of the Armeniac Theme. Artabasdos was supported by the themes of Opsikion and [[Thrace (theme)|Thrace]] along with the Armeniacs, while Constantine was supported by the fleet of the [[Cibyrrhaeot Theme]] and the armies of the Anatolic and [[Thracesian Theme|Thracesian]] themes.{{sfn|Auzépy|2008|p=258}}

The inevitable clash came in May 743, when Artabasdos led the offensive against Constantine but was defeated.  Later the same year Constantine defeated Niketas, and on 2 November 744, Artabasdus' reign came to an end as Constantine V entered Constantinople.{{sfn|Auzépy|2008|p=258}} Artabasdos, accompanied by his close associate [[Baktangios]] fled to the castle of Pouzanes in [[Opsikion]] ([[Asia Minor]]), where they were apprehended and brought to Constantinople. Artabasdos and his sons were [[Political mutilation in Byzantine culture|publicly blinded]] and relegated to the [[Chora Monastery]] on the outskirts of Constantinople.{{sfn|Garland|2006|p=9}}

==Family==
By his wife Anna, the daughter of Emperor Leo III, Artabasdos had nine children, including:
* [[Nikephoros (son of Artabasdos)|Nikephoros]], made co-emperor by his father.
* [[Niketas (son of Artabasdos)|Niketas]], who was ''strategos'' of the [[Armeniac theme]]

==See also==
{{portal|Byzantine Empire}}
* [[List of Byzantine emperors]]

==Bibliography==
;Notes
{{reflist}}

;References
*{{cite book |last=Auzépy |first=Marie-France |date=2008 |editor-last=Shepard |editor-first=Jonathan |title=The Cambridge history of the Byzantine Empire (c. 500–1492) |publisher=Cambridge University Press |chapter=State of emergency (700–850) |isbn=978-0-521-83231-1}}
*{{cite book | last=Beckwith | first=Christopher I. | title=Empires of the Silk Road | publisher=Princeton University Press | publication-place=Princeton (N.J.) | date=2009-04-05 | isbn=978-0-691-13589-2}}
*{{Cite book|title=Byzantium in the Iconoclast Era|last1=Brubaker|first1= Haldon|last2=Leslie|first2= John|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-1-107-62629-4|location=Cambridge|pages=159}}
* {{cite book |last=Garland|first=Lynda | author-link=Lynda Garland |title = Byzantine women: varieties of experience 800–1200|edition= 2006|year=2006| publisher = [[Ashgate Publishing]]| isbn= 0-7546-5737-X }} <small>- Total pages: 226 </small>
*{{Cite book |last=Treadgold |first=Warren |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nYbnr5XVbzUC&pg=PA949 |title=A History of the Byzantine State and Society |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-8047-2630-6 |author-link=Warren Treadgold}}

==Further reading==
* [[Evangelos Venetis]] {{cite encyclopedia|title=Artabasdos (Byzantium) |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor |date=31 July 2003 |url=http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=7530 |access-date=2010-04-27 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721081243/http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=7530 |archive-date=21 July 2011 }}

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{{succession box | before=[[Constantine V]] | title=[[Byzantine Emperor]] | years=741/2–743 | after=[[Constantine V]]}}
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{{Roman Emperors}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Artabasdos}}
[[Category:Isaurian dynasty]]
[[Category:743 deaths]]
[[Category:8th-century Byzantine emperors]]
[[Category:Byzantine Iconoclasm]]
[[Category:Byzantine people of Armenian descent]]
[[Category:Armenian Byzantine emperors]]
[[Category:Eastern Orthodox monks]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:8th-century Armenian people]]
[[Category:Governors of the Armeniac Theme]]
[[Category:Leo III the Isaurian]]
[[Category:Kouropalatai]]
[[Category:Monastery prisoners]]