Artavasdos of Byzantium (685-745) was the Emperor of the Byzantine Empire from 1 July 742 to 2 November 743, between the terms of Constantine V of Byzantium.
Biography[]
Artavasdos was born in 685 to the Armenian Orthodox Christian House of Artavazd. He was promoted to strategos of the Theme of Armenia by Emperor Anastasius II of Byzantium in 713, and he helped Leo III of Byzantium to overthrow Theodosius III of Byzantium. Leo married his daughter Anna to Artavasdos as a reward.
However, in 741 he rivalled his brother-in-law Constantine V of Byzantium for the title of Emperor of the Byzantine Empire. Artavasdos seized Constantinople as Constantine fled to Amorium, and he was crowned Emperor. He abandoned Iconoclasm and restored the rights of monks, but he could only rely on the Theme of Thrace and Theme of Opsikion, and in May 743 Artavasdos' attack against Constantine failed. On 2 November 743 he was apprehended when Constantine entered Byzantium and was blinded, and he died in 745.