Agency and Power

There is a mob outside of your house. They have been ravaging the city for the past five days, killing, looting, and burning everything in sight. They are outside your house, and they are calling your name. Not knowing what to do, you hide under your bed, but they break in, find you, and pull you out. You partner fights them off, but the crowd is too strong and they haul you away from your home. They take you to the biggest stadium in the city, and they crown you ruler of one of the greatest empires in the known world.

This is what happened to Hypatius during the Nika revolt of 532. Aiming to depose emperor Justinian I, an angry mob of chariot hooligans (imagine if sports teams were also political parties) found the nephew of former emperor Anastasius I and decided to claim him as the new ruler of the Byzantine Empire. Hypatius did not want to become the new ruler; he did not even want to leave Justinian’s palace to go home in the first place. Unfortunately, he had no choice in the matter. He was the heir of a powerful lineage, and a threat to Justinian’s rule. As the mob of 30,000 were being systematically slaughtered in the stadium, Justinian and his wife Theodora had Hypatius killed.