Constantine V

Constantine V (718–775), son of Leo III, became emperor in 741 and immediately faced the usurpation of his brother-in-law Artabasdos. While Artabasdos held Constantinople, Constantine won support in the Anatolic and Thracesian themes, defeated him at Sardis in 743 and later blinded him.

In 746–747 his forces recovered Cyprus and destroyed the Arab navy. His iconoclast council at Hieria in 754 condemned icon veneration and unleashed persecution of monks.

He created the professional tagmata regiments and waged repeated wars on Bulgaria, crushing Khan Telets at Anchialus in 763, and settled Christians from the Arab frontier in Thrace. He died campaigning in 775, leaving a strengthened empire to his son Leo IV.