1159–1205) was a Byzantine governor and military leader who was captured by the Bulgarians, and led an anti-Bulgarian rebellion at Philippopolis in 1205, being acclaimed emperor by the citizens.
[3] Aspietes disappears from the record for the next decade, but was apparently released from captivity, since in 1205 he is mentioned as being in Philippopolis (modern Plovdiv in Bulgaria).
In the aftermath of the crushing victory by the Bulgarian tsar Kaloyan over the forces of the Latin Empire at the Battle of Adrianople on 14 April, the mostly Byzantine Greek citizenry of Philippopolis rose up in opposition to the imminent conquest of their city by Kaloyan, and proclaimed Aspietes as emperor.
Kaloyan immediately turned his army on the city, and after a brief resistance, the inhabitants were forced to surrender on terms in June.
Kaloyan, however, enraged by the Greeks' collusion with the Latins, did not keep his word and executed the city's leaders, including Aspietes who, according to Niketas Choniates, was first left hanging upside down before being dismembered and thrown into a ravine to be eaten by the vultures.