against Constantinople, took the fortress of the Slavs, which commanded the passes of the Taurus, and returned to Epiphania for the winter; and in 716 he sent his lieutenant Sulaimān in advance, intending to follow with a larger army, while Omar was appointed to command the fleet. Sulaimān penetrated without opposition to Amorium, which, as it had then no garrison and was on bad terms with Leo because of his rejection of Theodosius, he expected easily to take. The Arabs moreover knew Leo to be a likely candidate for the crown and hoped to use him as they had used Sapor: accordingly, as Amorium did not immediately fall, they proclaimed him emperor, and the citizens were induced by the hope of escaping capture to do the same. Sulaimān having promised that, if Leo came to discuss terms of peace, he would raise the siege, Leo came with 300 men, and the Arabs surrounded him to prevent his escape; but Leo, who as a native of a town which had only been in Roman hands for ten years since 640 (he was probably born a subject of the Caliph), was well acquainted with the Arab character and could perhaps speak Arabic, induced some officers whom he was entertaining to believe that he would go and see Maslama himself, while he conveyed a message to the citizens to hold out, and finally escaped on the pretext of a hunting expedition. Soon afterwards the Arabs became tired of lying before Amorium and forced Sulaimān to raise the siege; whereupon Leo threw 800 men into the city, removed most of the women and children, and withdrew to the mountains of Pisidia, where he was safe from attack by Maslama, who had now entered Cappadocia and, in hope of gaining Leo's support, refrained from plundering the country. To him Leo sent an envoy to say that he had wished to come and see him, but treachery had deterred him from doing so. From this envoy Maslama heard of the garrisoning of Amorium; but this made him the more desirous of securing Leo; and he promised, if he came, to make satisfactory terms of peace. Leo pretended to agree, but protracted negotiations till Maslama, unable for reasons of commissariat to remain in Anatolic territory, had reached Acroinus (Prymnessus) in the Obsequian district, and then, having previously come to an understanding with Artavazd, to whom he promised his daughter in marriage (which, as he had no son, implied an assurance of the succession), started for Constantinople, while Maslama passed into Asia, where he wintered. The fleet was however less successful, for the Romans landed in Syria and burnt Laodicea, while the Arabs had only reached Cilicia. Meanwhile Leo made his way to Nicomedia, where Theodosius' son, who had been made Augustus, and some of the chief officers of the palace, fell into his power. The Obsequians were unable to organise serious resistance, and Theodosius after consulting the Senate and the patriarch sent Germanus to Leo, and on receiving assurance of safety abdicated. Leo made a formal entry by the Golden Gate and was crowned by the patriarch (25 Mar. 717). Theodosius and his son took orders and ended their days in obscurity.
