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Flavius Illus"Flavius Illus" in a papyrus. Full name in Oxyrhynchus Papyri. (; died 488) was a Roman general who played an important role in the reigns of the Eastern Emperors Zeno and Basiliscus.
Illus supported the revolt of Basiliscus against Zeno and switched sides to support the return of Zeno (475–476). Illus served Zeno well, defeating the usurper Marcianus but came into conflict with the Dowager Empress Verina, and supported the revolt of Leontius. The rebellion failed, and Illus was killed.
During the blockade, Illus and Trocundes were secretly encouraged by the Senate in Constantinople to support Zeno against Basiliscus with whom they had had a dispute; Illus was discontented with the usurper for permitting the killing of the Isaurians who remained in the capital after Zeno's flight. That persuaded Illus and Trocundes by the promises and gifts of Zeno to embrace his side and to march with united forces towards the capital. At Iznik, in Bithynia, they were met by the troops of Basiliscus under his nephew General Armatus, but he too was overcome and Basiliscus, forsaken by his supporters, was dethroned and put to death (477).
Trocundes, the brother of Illus, was consul 482, and Illus enjoyed the dignities of patrikios and magister officiorum. He is said to have employed his power and influence well, and to have rendered good service to the state in peace as well as in war. He assiduously cultivated science and literature.
Zeno was prone to jealousy and so it is not surprising that the commanding position and popular favour of Illus rendered him an object of suspicion and that the emperor in various ways sought to rid himself of him. The ambitious Verina was also his enemy and plotted against his life. The assassin whom she employed, an Alan, is said to have wounded Illus. This is doubtful because historians may have confounded her plot with a later one by her daughter Ariadne. At any rate, Verina's attempt failed. Zeno, equally jealous of her and of Illus, banished her at the insistence of the latter, and confined her in the fort of Papurius. There is some doubt as to the time of these events. Hugh Candidus places her banishment before the revolt of Marcian, and Theodore Lector attributes its cause to her part in the revolt of Basiliscus.
It is not unlikely that she was banished twice, once before Marcian's revolt, for her connections with Basiliscus, and again after Marcian's revolt, for her plot against Illus. From prison she managed to get Ariadne to plead for her release, first to Zeno, and then to Illus, to whom the emperor had referred her. Illus not only refused her request, but also charged her with wishing to place another person on her husband's throne. This irritated her and she, like her mother, attempted to assassinate Illus. Jordanes ascribes her hatred to another cause: he says that Illus had infused jealous suspicions into Zeno's mind which had led Zeno to attempt her life, and that her knowledge of these things stimulated her to revenge. The assassin whom she employed failed to kill Illus, but cut off his ear in the attempt. The assassin was taken, and Zeno, who appears to have been privy to the affair, was unable to prevent his execution.
In 485 Zeno sent a fresh army against the rebels, which was said to have consisted of Macedonians and Scythians (Tillemont speculates, not unreasonably, that these were Ostrogoths) under John the Hunchback, or, more probably, John the Scythian, and Theodoric the Amal, who was at this time consul. John defeated the rebels near Seleucia (which town of that name is not clear, perhaps the Isaurian Seleucia) and drove them into the fort of Papurius where he blockaded them. From this difficulty, Trocundes attempted to escape and gather forces for their relief, but was taken by the besiegers and put to death. Illus and Leontius were ignorant of his fate, and, encouraged by Pamprepius who gave them assurances of Trocundes's return and of ultimate victory, held out with great tenacity for over three years. In the fourth year, the death of Trocundes was discovered, and Illus, enraged at the deceit practised on him by Pamprepius, put him to death. The fort was soon after taken by the treachery of Trocundes's brother-in-law, who had been sent for the purpose from Constantinople by Zeno, and Illus and Leontius were beheaded (488) and their heads sent to the emperor.
Tillemont and Le Beau regard the revolt of Illus as an attempt to re-establish paganism, but for this view, there seems no foundation. It is not known if Illus was a pagan although Pamprepius was; it is more likely that Illus was a man of no fixed religious principles and that his revolt originated either in ambition or in a conviction that his only prospect of safety from the intrigues of his enemies and the suspicions of Zeno was the deposition of the emperor. It is remarkable that Edward Gibbon does not mention the name of Illus and scarcely notices his revolt.
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