BASSILISCUS, usurper. — Brother-in-law of the Eastern Roman Emperor Leo I, consul in 465, he led several military expeditions, including one against the Vandals (465), which ended in the destruction of the imperial fleet. Court intrigues, fostered by his sister Verina, widow of Leo I, brought him to the imperial throne on 9 January 475; Emperor Zeno fled to his Isauria. Basiliscus became odious to the people both for his manner of governing and for his religious policy, which was openly favorable to the Monophysite party. Notable in this regard is his Encyclical, skillfully drafted by Paul the Sophist, in which he condemned the Council of Chalcedon (451) and Pope Leo’s Tome; this document was to be accepted under the severest penalties by both clergy and laity. The Constantinopolitan patriarch Acacius (v.) vigorously opposed it, aided by the prestige of the stylite Daniel and supported by popular favor. Sensing his throne wavering, Basiliscus attempted to renounce his religious policy with an Anti-Encyclical, but in vain; Emperor Zeno, with the favor of secret intrigues, returned to Constantinople in September 476. Basiliscus and his family were captured and imprisoned in a fortress in Cappadocia, where they died of starvation.
BASSILISCO, USURPATORE
BIBL.: Evagrius, Hist. ecc., III, 3-7 (text of the Encyclical and the Anti-Encyclical); L. Duchesne, Hist. ancienne de l'Église, III, Paris 1910, pp. 487 ff.; L. Bréhier, s.V. in DHG, VI, cols. 1237-1239; G. Bardy, in V. Fliche and A. Martin, Storia della Chiesa, Italian ed., IV, Turin (1941), pp. 280 ff.