Basiliscus (Caesar)

Basiliscus (Greek: Βασιλίσκος) was the only son of the Eastern Roman military commander Armatus and was briefly caesar of the Eastern Roman Empire in 476–477/478. After the death of Eastern Roman Emperor Leo (r. 457–474) in 474, his grandson Leo II (r. 474) took the throne. Leo II died in the same year and his father, Zeno (r. 474–475, 476–491), ascended the throne. Soon after Zeno's ascension, Basiliscus' great-uncle, similarly named Basiliscus (r. 475–476), forced Zeno into exile and took the throne himself. However, Basiliscus soon lost support with Armatus, who betrayed him by arranging a deal with Zeno: Armatus would hold the rank of magister militum praesentalis for life, and the younger Basiliscus would be made caesar. Caesar was a senior imperial title, and implied that the holder was the heir to the throne. Although Basiliscus was crowned in late 476, Zeno soon moved against Basiliscus's father, executing Armatus and exiling Basiliscus to Blachernae on the Golden Horn as a church lector. Later in his life, Basiliscus became a priest and the bishop of Cyzicus. He may have survived into the reign of Justinian (r. 527–565).

He is involved in the chronicle of Victor of Tunnuna, who suggests that Basiliscus and Leo II are the same person, claiming that Leo II's mother Ariadne (r. 474–475, 476–515) faked his death. The historian Brian Croke argues the story was false, considering this an attempt by Victor to explain the existence of a living Leo, as this was possibly the regnal name of the younger Basiliscus.