biography
| name: |
Leo III
|
| |
known as Leo the Isaurian
|
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (c.680–741)
|
| biography:
| Byzantine emperor from 717, born in Syria, his byname coming from the region of his birth. He reorganized the army and financial system, and in 718 repelled a formidable attack by the Saracens. In 726 he issued an edict prohibiting the use of images in public worship. In Italy the controversy raised by the edict rent the empire for over a century. In 728 the exarchate of Ravenna was lost, and the E provinces became the prey of the Saracens, over whom he won a great victory in Phrygia. |
|
|
