There were incidents when the senate confronted the emperor and attempted to assert authority on the basis of their constitutional importance regarding the succession of an Emperor. In 457 they offered to enthrone the master of soldiers, the Alan Aspar, but the tribune and senator Leo I, who was Aspar's subordinate, became emperor instead. In 532, some of the senators gave their support to the Nika rioters against Justinian I, who did not like or trust the wealthy senate. After 541, the senate lost many of its members due to a plague pandemic and during the ensuing economic turmoil, Justinian confiscated the wealth of many of the remaining senators. In 608 during the rule of Phocas, Heraclius the Elder and his son Heraclius were declared consuls with the backing of senate members in Carthage. Heraclius later was elected emperor. Previous emperor Phocas was deposed by the senate and arrested in a church by two senators.Judith Herrin. The Formation of Christendom. Princeton University Press, 1987.
