On the Problem of Justinian II’s Exile in Cherson
Byzantine chronicles of Theophanes and Nikephoros inform of the turbulent life of Emperor Justinian II Rhinotmetos. Following the dethronement of Justinian II in Constantinople in 695 AD, he had his nose and tongue cut off in the Square of Tauros. Then he was sent exiled to the remote city of Cherson in Taurica. Ten years after, still staying in Cherson and finding out that his enemy Emperor Leontius was deposed, Justinian started declaring openly that he would return to power. The city residents decided either to kill him at once or to send to the new Emperor Tiberios Apsimar, so Justinian had to flee from Cherson. As a famous researcher of the Crimea Alexander Berthier Delagarde put it, the disgraced sovereign in exile should be guarded by Constantinopolitan authorities. However, the sources only inform of Rhinotmetos’ problems with the residents of Cherson. Neither other officials nor dignitaries are mentioned during his exile. Justinian took advantage of a degree of freedom and even had a possibility to declare himself as the future emperor. Besides, he had a group of his adherents in Cherson. By all appearance, no specific measures to control Rhinotmetos were performed. In my opinion, Constantinople had objective reasons to be indifferent to the possibility that Justinian would escape from Cherson or, the more so, would pretend for power. Located on the edge of the Byzantine world, Cherson was connected to Constantinople by water route through the Black Sea, where navigation was not an easy task. This sea rout simultaneously connected and isolated it. Besides, Justinian’s face was disfigured in a way that now he was almost not able to ascend to the throne. Justinian II broke many a stereotype when he organized a group of his supporters in the city which was hostile to him, succeeded in running away from Cherson, came to an arrangement with barbarians, and entered into the family tie with the khagan of Khazars. Finally, Justinian restored himself as Emperor in Constantinople