Theophanes the Confessor records that, in 602, the
Greens appealed to the emperor
Maurice, saying "
Constantine and Domentziolus, o three-times august master of the Romans, are agitating your own deme so that Crucis might become our demarch on account of our sins". The Greek could alternatively be punctuated to read "Constantine and Domentziolus, o three-times august master of the Romans, are agitating your own colour. Let Crucis be our manager!" The former interpretation implies that Crucis was appointed demarch against the Greens' wishes, while the latter implies that the Greens were divided between a pro-Crucis and an anti-Crucis faction. Historian David Michael Olster hypothesised that the pro-Crucis faction included
Germanus' agent Hebdomites, while the anti-Crucis faction was supported by Sergius (Crucis' predecessor as demarch), Constantine Lardys, and Domentziolus. Shortly after Maurice's overthrow and murder by
Phocas, Crucis was appointed to replace Sergius, the first known
demarch of the Greens. However, Crucis soon led the Greens in a riot, in which they set fire to a large area around the
Mese, from the
Palace of Lausus and the
praetorium in the east as far as the
Forum of Constantine in the west. The
Chronicon Paschale states that Crucis was "was burnt in the Mese between the
praetorium of the
city prefect and the
Forum." Most historians interpret this to mean that Crucis was captured by Phocas and publicly
executed by burning. This was in line with other cruelties perpetrated against the Greens by Phocas, who according to
Theophanes "maimed many persons and hung their limbs in the
Sphendone, while others he beheaded and others he put in sacks and drowned in the sea." These orders were carried out by Cosmas, possibly the former Blue demarch whom Phocas had appointed as
urban prefect. ==Notes==