Flavius Hypatius (Greek: Ὑπάτιος; died 532) was an Eastern Roman noble of imperial descent who held the position of commander in the East during the reign of Justin I, and was chosen by the mob as emperor during the Nika riots in Constantinople against Justinian I and executed shortly thereafter.
In the height of the Nika riots, Hypatius, along with his brother Pompeius and Probus (another nephew of Anastasius), were among the prime candidates for the imperial throne.
As it became clear that the mob wanted a new emperor, Probus fled the city and Hypatius and Pompeius took shelter in the Imperial Palace, along with Justinian and the rest of the Byzantine Senate.
Justinian is reported to have wanted to spare Hypatius's life, but his wife Theodora prevailed upon him to see the punishment meted out, and the involuntary usurper was executed.
[1] Julianus, the Praetorian Prefect of the East (530/531), supported Hypatius, and wrote two epigrams about him after his death, which were later included in the Greek Anthology (7.591 and 7.592).