Serbian revolts In 1034 Erotikos was appointed
strategos of Serbia by Emperor
Michael IV the Paphlagonian (r. 1034–1041) in the aftermath of the failed first revolt of Serbian
archon Stefan Vojislav against Byzantine rule. With Erotikos now the highest Byzantine official in Serbia, a defeated and captured Vojislav was taken
prisoner to
Constantinople. Vojislav escaped his imprisonment and returned to Serbia, where he led a second revolt in 1037–1038, this time targeting pro-Byzantine Serbian lords in the
Duklja principalities of
Travunija and
Zahumlje as well as Erotikos himself. This second revolt succeeded. Erotikos was deposed and expelled, and Vojislav assumed sole authority of the region as "
Prince of the Serbs".
Cyprus Despite his defeat and territorial losses, Erotikos was appointed governor of
Byzantine Cyprus. The death of
Michael V in 1042 led to turmoil around succession, and Erotikos saw in the chaos the opportunity to rule Cyprus in his own right. He orchestrated a revolt of his own against the rule of the new emperor,
Constantine IX Monomachos by inciting the local populace to rebel against the local
krites (senior fiscal and judicial official). Erotikos charged the official with excessive taxation; the rebels readily murdered the
krites. The Emperor sent a fleet commanded by
naval strategos Constantine Chage to stamp out the rebellion. The Byzantine forces quashed the revolt and arrested Erotikos. They took him to Constantinople and him paraded him on horseback—dressed in women's clothes—in the
Hippodrome. After this
public humiliation, his estates and fortune were confiscated by the state. Erotikos was given no further punishment and was set free. == Relations ==