forced to conclude treaties in the west with the Lombards, who had captured Brindisi and Taranto. Also in 680, the Bulgars under Khan Asparukh crossed the Danube into nominally Imperial territory and began to subjugate the local communities and Slavic tribes. In 680, Constantine IV led a combined land and sea operation against the invaders and besieged their fortified camp in Dobruja. Suffering from bad health, the Emperor had to leave the army, which panicked and was defeated by the Bulgars. In 681, Constantine was forced to acknowledge the Bulgar state in Moesia and to pay tribute/protection money to avoid further inroads into Byzantine Thrace. Consequently, Constantine created the Theme of Thrace. His brothers Heraclius and Tiberius had been crowned with him as augusti during the reign of their father, and this was confirmed by the demand of the populace, but in late 681 Constantine had them mutilated by slitting their noses so they would be considered ineligible to rule. Some argue that he then associated Justinian II to the throne, but all contemporary evidence indicates that he became emperor only after Constantine's death on 10 July 685. Family By his wife Anastasia, Constantine IV had at least two sons: Justinian II in 669, who succeeded him as emperor at the age of sixteen. Heraclius 670, known only from an episode in which his father sent locks of his and his brother's hair to Pope Benedict II. In art and popular culture Constantine IV was portrayed by Iossif Surchadzhiev in the 1981 Bulgarian movie Aszparuh, directed by Ludmil Staikov. Constantine IV is the subject of the song "Imperator" ("Emperor"), released by the Bulgarian heavy metal band Epizod in their 2012 album Moyata molitva ("My prayer"). Notes References Sources Primary sources Secondary sources (Archive) (Archive) See also List of Byzantine emperors External links 7th-century Byzantine emperors 7th-century Christian saints Heraclian dynasty Byzantine people of the Arab–Byzantine wars Byzantine people of the Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars 685 deaths Deaths from dysentery Porphyrogennetoi 660s in the Byzantine Empire 670s in the Byzantine Empire 680s in the Byzantine Empire Burials at the Church of the Holy Apostles Sons of Byzantine emperors