Leontius

Rather than wait for Zeno to make the first move, Illus formally renounced his loyalty to the emperor.

Worse, Illus crowned a new emperor, a man named Leontius, and forced the dowager Empress Verina to crown him in a coronation ceremony.

We don't know why Illus crowned Leontius as emperor instead of taking the crown himself.

Like Zeno, Illus was technically a barbarian, so perhaps he hoped to curry favor with the empire's Greek-speaking population by crowning a fellow Greek as emperor.

Another theory suggests that because Illus was physically deformed, he was barred from becoming emperor due to Greek cultural taboos.

In another desperate attempt to curry imperial favor, Illus executed the magician Pamphius, but this too failed to move Zeno.

Finally, in 488, one of Illus' men defected and opened the gates to the fortress to Zeno's forces.

Illus and the pretender emperor Leontius were promptly executed, and their heads were sent to Constantinople as trophies.