CONSTANS II POGONATUS, BYZANTINE EMPEROR

Reigned 641 to Sept. 15, 668; b. 630; d. Syracuse. Constans, the son of Constantine III, became emperor late in the year 641 at a time when the Empire was gravely troubled from within by the Monothelitic controversy (see monothelitism) and pressed from without by formidable enemies. The Arabs, who had just taken Alexandria, repeatedly invaded northern Africa, Armenia, and Asia Minor. Increasing the pressure, they organized a navy, plundered Cyprus, Rhodes, and Crete and shattered Byzantine naval supremacy in 655 off the coast of Lycia by their decisive victory over the Byzantine fleet, commanded by Constans himself. But the civil war that broke out among the Arabs after 656 gave the Empire some respite and enabled Constans to chastise the Slavs in Macedonia. Meanwhile Constans sought to end the Monothelitic controversy by his typos decree (648), prohibiting discussion on the question of the divine will or energy. This led to a rift with Rome, to Pope martini's arrest, imprisonment, and exile to far-off Cherson (Crimea), where he died. In 662, for reasons not entirely clear, Constans left for Italy, and visited Rome, but finally settled in Syracuse, where he was murdered in his bath.

Bibliography: f. dÖlger, Corpus der griechischen Urkunden des Mittelalters und der neueren Zeit, series A, Regesten (Munich 1924–32) 1:26–27. g. ostrogorsky, History of the Byzantine State, tr. j. hussey from 2d German ed. (Oxford 1956); American ed. by p. charanis (New Brunswick, N.J. 1957) 98–110.

[p. charanis]