Turkey / Byzantium: Anastasius II (-719), Byzantine emperor, from the book Icones imperatorvm romanorvm (Icons of Roman Emperors), Antwerp, c. 1645. Anastasius II, also known as Anastasios II and originally named Artemius, was a bureaucrat and imperial secretary in the Byzantine court. He was proclaimed emperor by the Opsician army after they had overthrown Emperor Philippicus. Changing his name to Anastasius, he took the throne and turned on those who had aided his rise by executing those directly involved in the conspiracy against Philippicus.