Teodato Ipato

Teodato Ipato (also Diodato or Deusdedit; ) was Doge of Venice from 742 to 755. With his election came the restoration of the dogato, which had been defunct since the assassination of his father, Orso Ipato. Before his election he had served as magister militum in 739.

Teodato was the son of Doge Orso Ipato. He was condemned to exile in 737 in the wake of his father's murder, which came perhaps as a complication of a civil conflict between Eraclea and Equilio. The office of doge was subsequently abolished in favour of a magister militum, denoting in this case a chief magistrate to be replaced yearly.

The first to be installed in this role was Domenico Leoni, who at the end of his twelve-month term was replaced by Felicius Cornicola. It was under Felicius' administration that Teodato was recalled from exile.

After returning home, Teodato is said to have gained the favour of the Venetian electors, who was subsequently elected Doge.

An alternative view of Teodato's fate, as described in Hazlitt's History of the Venetian Republic, is that rather than being blinded and deposed, he was instead murdered by adherents of Galla Gaulo.