Leo III

Leo III, called The Isaurian (circa 680-741), Byzantine emperor (717-41), who revitalized the empire after a period of near anarchy. Despite his epithet, he was probably born in Germanicia (now Kahramanmaraş, Turkey) and early in his career held military and political posts in Anatolia. In 717 he deposed Emperor Theodosius III and in the first year of his reign successfully defended Constantinople (present-day İstanbul) during a major Arab siege of the city. Leo subsequently reorganized the empire's defenses, and although the Arabs made many more incursions into Anatolia, they never again threatened the capital.

Dabbling in religious affairs, Leo issued a ban on icon worship, thereby touching off the iconoclastic controversy, which in 731 resulted in his excommunication by the pope. Leo also issued (739) a simplified legal code in Greek, the Ecloga, which served the empire for approximately 200 years. He was the founder of the so-called Isaurian dynasty that ruled until 802.