15 September – On this day

The emperor Constans II was assassinated while taking a bath.

When Constans was in the bath, one of his attendants took a bucket, mixed in it mallow and soap, and put this on Constans’ head ostensibly to wash his hair. While the latter’s eyes were filled with the mallow and soap, and could not open them, his attendant took the bucket and and hit Constans on the head with it, so killing him.

Constans’ attendant rushed out of the bath and escaped, never being heard from again. The servants remained outside waiting for the king to come out, but when they had been sitting a long time and it was getting late and he still had not come out, they went into the bath and found him unconscious. They brought him out, and he lived for the remainder of the day, but then died having reigned for twenty-seven years.


Feature image: “Hexagram-Constans II and Constantine IV-sb0995” by Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons