* 475 – Basiliscus becomes Byzantine Emperor, with a coronation ceremony in the Hebdomon palace in Constantinople.

* January 9 – Emperor Zeno abdicates under pressure as his wife's uncle Basiliscus stages a coup d ' état at Constantinople with support from Zeno's trusted adviser and fellow Isaurian Illus.

* Basiliscus, with the help of his sister Aelia Verina ( wife of emperor Leo I ), becomes a consul in the Eastern Roman Empire.

He attempted to build on this political achievement with an expedition against the Vandals in 468, which was defeated due to the arrogance of Leo's brother-in-law Basiliscus.

Sources are contradictory on the causes, but clearly state that in 471, Leo I had Aspar and Ardabur treacherously killed, certainly with Zeno's and Basiliscus ' approval, as in the eve of the murders, the two generals had moved closer to Constantinople ( Zeno was at Chalcedon ).

However, Verina decided to overthrow her son-in-law Zeno and replace him with her lover, the ex-magister officiorum Patricius, with the help of her brother Basiliscus.

Zeno succeeded in bribing Armatus too, promising to confirm his rank of magister militum praesentalis for life and promoting his son ( also called Basiliscus ) to the rank of Caesar ; Armatus ' army did not intercept Zeno's troops marching on Constantinople, and the lack of Theodoric Strabo and his army decided the fate of Basiliscus, who fled with his family in the church of Hagia Sophia.

Verina's intercession in favour of her brother helped Basiliscus ' military and political career, with the conferral of the consulship in 465 and possibly of the rank of patricius.

By the mediation of Verina, Basiliscus obtained the Imperial pardon, and was punished merely with banishment to Heraclea Sintica, in Thrace.

The death of Aspar caused a revolt in Thrace, led by the Thracian Ostrogoth Theodoric Strabo, and Basiliscus was dispatched to suppress the revolt, something he successfully did with the aid of his nephew Armatus.

The Magister Officiorum Theoctistus, the former physician of Basiliscus, was the brother of one of the monks, so the delegation obtained an audience with Basiliscus, and, with the support of Theoctistus and of the Empress, they convinced Basiliscus to recall from exile the banished Miaphysite Patriarchs.

While most of the Eastern bishops accepted the letter, Patriarch Acacius of Constantinople refused, with the support of the population of the city, clearly showing his disdain towards Basiliscus by draping the icons in Hagia Sophia in black.

Basiliscus, however, failed to fulfill the promises he made to the two generals ; furthermore, they received letters from some of the leading ministers at the court, urging them to secure the return of Zeno, for the city now preferred a restored Isaurian to a Miaphysite whose unpopularity increased with the fiscal rapacity of his ministers.

In conjunction with a Stylite monk, Daniel the Stylite, he placed himself at the head of the opposition to the usurped emperor Basiliscus.

Verina conspired against Zeno with her lover Patricius, her brother Basiliscus, the Isaurian general Illus, and general Theodoric Strabo, forcing Zeno to flee Constantinople in 475.

* Marcellinus ( magister militum ) ( d. c. 468 ) a Roman general who took part in the invasion of Africa against Geiseric, together with Heraclius and Basiliscus

Cap Bon, in modern Tunisia is the place where the Byzantine fleet led by Basiliscus landed to launch an attack upon the Vandals | Vandal capital of Carthage.

One half of the Roman fleet was burned, sunk, or captured, and the other half followed the fugitive Basiliscus.

Sardinia and Libya were already conquered by Marcellinus and Heraclius, when Basiliscus cast anchor off the Promontorium Mercurii, now Cap Bon, opposite Sicily, about forty miles from Carthage.

Heraclius effected his retreat through the desert into Tripolitania, holding the position for two years until recalled ; Marcellinus retired to Sicily, where he was reached by Basiliscus ; the general was, however, assassinated, perhaps at the instigation of Ricimer, by one of his own captains ; and the king of the Vandals expressed his surprise and satisfaction, that the Romans themselves would remove from the world his most formidable antagonists.

Zeno confiscated all of the properties of Armatus, deposed his son Basiliscus, and had him ordained as a priest.

However, not all scholars accept this interpretation, since sources do not say anything about the foreign origin of Basiliscus.

The fall of Basiliscus brought the ruin of all who had supported him and been promoted by him, and Peter was one of the first to fall.

He is murdered by his own friend Onoulphus after supporting the rebellion of his uncle Basiliscus ( see 475 ).

Zeno, as member of the protectores domestici, did not take part in the disastrous expedition against the Vandals, led in 468 by Leo's brother-in-law Basiliscus.

Basiliscus was Verina's brother ; he took the power after having Zeno flee from Constantinople, but alienated the support of the people of Constantinople and was captured and put to death by Zeno.

Basiliscus fled to sanctuary in a church, but he was betrayed by the Patriarch Acacius and surrendered himself and his family after extracting a solemn promise from Zeno not to shed their blood.

Basiliscus succeeded in seizing power in 475, exploiting the unpopularity of Emperor Zeno, the " barbarian " successor to Leo, and a plot organised by Verina that had caused Zeno to flee Constantinople.

This link is based on the interpretation of a fragment by John of Antioch ( 209. 1 ), which states that Odoacer and Armatus, Basiliscus ' nephew, were brothers.

Basiliscus was ordered to sail directly to Carthage, while Marcellinus attacked and took Sardinia, and a third army, commanded by Heraclius of Edessa, landed on the Libyan coast east of Carthage, making rapid progress.

Finally, Zeno alienated his fellow Isaurian general Illus, who was bribed by Basiliscus.

Basiliscus was then acclaimed as Augustus on 9 January 475 at the Hebdomon palace, by the palace ministers and the Senate.

In the beginning, everything seemed to go well for the new Emperor, who even tried to set up a new dynasty by conferring the title of Augusta upon his wife Aelia Zenonis and creating his son Marcus, Caesar, and later Augustus ; however, due to his mismanagement as emperor, Basiliscus quickly lost most of his supporters.

Finally, the support of Illus was most likely wavering, given the massacre of the Isaurians allowed by Basiliscus.

Basiliscus re-instated Timothy Aelurus and Peter the Fuller to their sees, and by persuasion of the former issued ( 9 April 475 ) a circular letter ( Enkyklikon ) to the bishops calling them to accept as valid only the first three ecumenical synods, and reject the Council of Chalcedon.

Basiliscus fled to sanctuary in a church, but he was betrayed by Acacius and surrendered himself and his family after extracting a solemn promise from Zeno not to shed their blood.

Basiliscus withdrew his offensive encyclical by a counter-proclamation, but his surrender did not save him.

In the meantime the emperor Zeno, a fugitive up to the time of the Acacian opposition, reclaimed the throne which he had lost ; and Basiliscus, after abject and vain concessions to the ecclesiastical power, was given up to him ( as tradition says ) by Acacias, after he had taken sanctuary in his church in 477.

Basiliscus was then acclaimed as Augustus on 9 January 475 at the Hebdomon palace, by the palace ministers and the Senate.

According to Candidus, after the death of Patricius, Verina intrigued in favour of Zeno, but her plan was discovered by Basiliscus, and only the intercession of Armatus spared her life.

Theodoric would have attacked Basiliscus and his Thracian Goth foederati led by Theodoric Strabo, receiving, in exchange, the title of magister militum held by Strabo and the payments previously given to the Thracian Goths.