Skip to content

Search the Suda

Browse Topics Random About

The Byzantine encyclopedia of the ancient world, in English and Greek.

Read

Browse Α–Ω
Topics
Random entry

Project

About & credits
Report an error
Original SOL ↗

Follow

@ReadSuda
@readsuda.org

A new reader for the Suda On Line translation, made by 200+ volunteer translators and editors. Greek text after Adler’s edition. Translations © their translators and SOL, licensed CC BY-NC-SA.

Free · non-commercial · no ads · no accounts[email protected]Maintained with ❤️ by Rick Lithan

⌕Search ΑLetters ⤨Random

Keyboard shortcuts

j: Next entry
k: Previous entry
g: Toggle Greek
/: Search
?: Show shortcuts

Βασιλίσκος · Basiliskos, Basiliscus (β 163) · Suda

Letters

Α Β Γ Δ Ε Ζ Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν Ξ Ο Π Ρ Σ Τ Υ Φ Χ Ψ Ω

Near β163

β159Basilicus, Basilikos
β160princess
β161king of the castle
β162queen
β163Basiliskos, Basiliscus
β164Basiliskos, Basiliscus
β165accessible
β166stepping
β167prejudice, slander

Suda/Β beta/β163

← Previous entry,β162 Next entry,β164 →

Βασιλίσκος

Basiliskos, Basiliscus

Translated by Craig Gibson6 Jun 2002Vetting: high7 revisions

biography
chronology
ethics
historiography
history
military affairs
+1
- women

3 notes · 33 words

Translation

Brother of the empress Verina.¹ During the reign of Leo² he was chosen over Rusticius³ the praefectus castrorum, as he [Basiliskos] was successful in battle, but slow-witted and easily led astray by tricksters.

Greek original · Adler’s text

Βασιλίσκος, Βηρίνης ἀδελφὸς τῆς βασιλίδος, ἐπὶ Λέοντος τοῦ βασιλέως ἀντὶ Ῥουστικίου στρατοπεδάρχου ᾑρέθη, εὐεπίτευκτος μὲν ὢν ἐν μάχαις, βραδύνους δὲ καὶ φενακίζουσιν ὑπαγόμενος ῥᾳδίως.

Betacode

*basili/skos, *bhri/nhs a)delfo\s th=s basili/dos, e)pi\ *le/ontos tou= basile/ws a)nti\ *(roustiki/ou stratopeda/rxou h(|re/qh, eu)epi/teuktos me\n w)\n e)n ma/xais, bradu/nous de\ kai\ fenaki/zousin u(pago/menos r(a|di/ws.

Notes (3)

Malchus fr. 7 FHG (4.116), still 7 Cresci. This fragment is also Priscus fr. 43 Blockley and Priscus fr. 76 Carolla. See also beta 164 (and epsilon 2494). Blockley indicates (350-351) that this fragment is not conclusively Priscan; cf. Blockley (ix). Carolla includes it (104) in the note to fr. 76, which is itself among fragments which she attributes dubiously to Priscus. Only the last part of the fragment, beginning with h(|re/qh, Carolla deems (ibid.) to be plausibly taken from Priscus; cf. Carolla (xxxii-xxxiii).
1Verina (beta 263) was the wife of Leo I (see next note), making Basiliskos his brother-in-law. ↩
2Leo I, emperor 457-474; cf. lambda 267 and PLRE II s.v. Leo(6). ↩
3Rusticius was magister ultriusque militiae in Thrace until the appointment of Basiliskos (ca. 464); cf. PLRE II s.v. Rusticius(5).

References

R.C. Blockley, The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire: Eunapius, Olympiodorus, Priscus and Malchus, vol. II, (Liverpool 1983)
P. Carolla, ed., Priscus Panita: Excerpta et Fragmenta, (Berlin 2008)
J.R. Martindale, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, vol. II, (Cambridge 1980)

Linked from3 entries

β164ΒασιλίσκοςBasiliskos, Basiliscus[Basiliskos,] the emperor of the eastern Romans, exacted money from the bishops of the churches and came close to expelling Akakios the bishop of Constantinople, if he had not been prevented by a large number of the…
β263ΒηρίνηVerinaOf Verina, wife of Leo the Great, there were two monuments, one to the northernmost side of saint Agathonicus behind the entry to the staircase, the other in the direction of saint Barbara. And the one near saint…
ε2494ἘπίνικοςEpinikos, EpinicusGovernor of the city under [the rule of] Basiliscus, a man never satiated with money-making and selling off the nations and all the cities and filling the provinces with unusual tributes. These were things which neither…

Neighbouring entries

β161Βασιλίνδαking of the castle β162Βασιλίςqueen β163ΒασιλίσκοςBasiliskos, Basiliscus β164ΒασιλίσκοςBasiliskos, Basiliscus β165Βάσιμοςaccessible

Revision history7 revisions · last 3 Mar 2026

3 Mar 2026added notes, added to bibliography — Ronald Allen
1 Mar 2026expanded primary note, added bibliography — Ronald Allen
28 Feb 2026augmented primary note — Ronald Allen
31 Jan 2015updated a ref — David Whitehead
23 May 2012cosmetics — David Whitehead
29 Oct 2006tweaked tr; another x-ref; more keywords — David Whitehead
7 Jun 2002added notes and keywords; cosmetics — David Whitehead
6 Jun 2002Translated — Craig Gibson

Cite this entry

Suda On Line, s.v. Βασιλίσκος (Adler number beta 163), trans. Craig Gibson, 6 Jun 2002. https://www.cs.uky.edu/~raphael/sol/sol-entries/beta/163

Translation by Craig Gibson for Suda On Line, revised by Ronald Allen, David Whitehead, licensed CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Shown unchanged, under the same licence, non-commercially. Original on SOL ↗