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Aelia Eudocia (Wife of Theodosius II)
Geoffrey Greatrex
Aelia Eudocia, whose first name was Athenaïs, was born into a pagan family probably around the start of the fifth century.
Her father, Leontius, was a prominent philosopher, who ensured that his daughter received a thorough and traditional education. He may have been Athenian - hence the name of his daughter - or a native of Antioch, a city which liked to claim a traditional link with Athens.[[1]] Probably after her father's death, the young girl came to Constantinople, where she was baptised a Christian.
At some point she became known to the Emperor Theodosius, who married her on 7 June [[2]] Despite her education and late baptism, her subsequent travels and endowments in Palestine, as well as her literary output (discussed below) point to a rather more Christian than pagan attitude.[[3]] Henceforth she was known as Aelia Eudocia.
Her brothers, Valerius and Gessius, were promoted to important posts, as was her uncle Asclepiodotus, and she herself came to exercise an influence comparable to that of Theodosius' sister Pulcheria over the emperor.[[4]] She was swiftly able to put her literary skills to work, extolling the performance of the Roman troops in their war against Persia, which ended in , in a hexameter poem.[[5]]
In the same year (), Eudocia gave birth to a daughter, Licinia Eudoxia, and no doubt in consequence she was made Augusta on 2 January Gold solidi were issued with her portrait on the reverse, just as they had been for Pulcheria.[[6]] The empress continued to build upon her position and it is highly likely that she was instrumental in the setting up of what is generally known as the 'university' of Constantinople in the mids.
By a series of laws, Theodosius set up and endowed various chairs in the imperial capital, thus putting in order the somewhat chaotic situation of higher learning there. Eudocia's uncle Asclepiodotus, the praetorian prefect, was probably also involved. Building work at Athens in the s has also been associated with the rise to prominence of Eudocia's family.[[7]] Moreover, she was active in sponsoring building work in the imperial capital, founding (e.g.) the Church of St Polyeuktos.
Such indeed was her reputation as a builder that one early sixth-century source, the 'Oracle of Baalbek' referred to Byzantium changing its name to Eudocopolis-Constantinopolis; the region situated between the walls built by Constantine in the fourth century and under Theodosius II in the fifth was probably known initially as Eudocopolis.[[8]] At the same time, efforts were made to curtail the persecution of the Jews, a minority who had suffered particularly during the time of Pulcheria's ascendancy.[[9]]
At some point in the s, however, the tide turned against Eudocia.
It was Pulcheria who played a leading role in the downfall of Nestorius, the patriarch of Constantinople, who was unseated as patriarch in Nothing is heard of Eudocia in this episode. She did, however, provide the emperor with another daughter, Flaccilla, in , and possibly a son, Arcadius, who died in infancy.[[10]] By the late s, relations with her husband had deteriorated to the point that she sought his leave to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in the company of Melania, a wealthy and pious widow from the West.
Eudocia biography summary
Aelia Eudocia Augusta (/ ˈiːliə juːˈdoʊʃə ɔːˈɡʌstə /; Ancient Greek: Αιλία Ευδοκία Αυγούστα; c. – AD), also called Saint Eudocia, was an Eastern Roman empress by marriage to Emperor Theodosius II (r. –), and a prominent Greek historical figure in understanding the rise of Christianity during the beginning of the Byzantine Empire.Evidently there was no more hope of the birth of a male heir to the throne.[[11]] Eudocia's tour of the east in was a success. She visited all the holy sites and made a huge impression; the scene of her kneeling before the tomb of Christ was reproduced on the wall of a church in Constantinople after her return.
Her learned address to the people of Antioch won huge acclaim too; a bronze statue to her was erected outside the Museum of the city.[[12]] Her return to Constantinople in , armed with further relics for the capital, brought a brief resurgence of her influence: it is possible that the brilliant career of the poet Cyrus, who at one point in the s occupied the posts of praetorian and urban prefect simultaneously, was assisted in some measure by the empress.[[13]] But it was not to last.
In the eunuch spatharius Chrysaphius engineered the departure of Eudocia from the capital by having her accused of adultery with Paulinus, a good-looking friend of the emperor (who had earlier been accused of sexual relations with the virgin Pulcheria by Nestorius). Paulinus was banished to Cappadocia and executed in the following year.
The empress for her part departed for Jerusalem once again.[[14]]
Eudocia was never to return to the imperial capital. Even in Jerusalem, her situation worsened almost as soon as she arrived: Theodosius despatched the comes domesticorum Saturninus to execute two of her confidants, the priest Severus and the deacon John.
According to Holum, '[n]ot to be outdone in brutality, Eudocia struck Saturninus down with her own hands', reporting the brief entry of the chronicler Marcellinus about the episode. If this is indeed the meaning of Marcellinus' text, Eudocia's strength and determination were indeed remarkable. More likely, however, it was members of her entourage who assassinated Saturninus; as a consequence, the emperor deprived her of her household, although she retained the title of Augusta.[[15]] Eudocia retained her wealth and influence, however, and continued to be surrounded by literary figures.
It was probably in this period that she took part in the composition of the Homerocentones, biblical stories moulded to fit Homeric verse. These verses survive, as does her eight-book poem recounting the martyrdom of St Cyprian. The quality of her literary work has not found general favour with modern scholars, however: in the words of Alan Cameron, 'Eudocia cannot but seem uncouth and ignorant - and that without the redeeming virtue of freshness and simplicity.'[[16]] At her palace in Bethlehem and in Jerusalem she continued to receive petitions and sought to alleviate the persecution of the Jews, in spite of the unpopularity of such a stance.
With her wealth she endowed the city of Jerusalem with a new set of walls and erected numerous other buildings throughout the Near East.[[17]] In the wake of the Council of Chalcedon, called by Theodosius' successor Marcian in collaboration with his wife Pulcheria, Eudocia placed herself firmly on the side of the local populace, which fiercely opposed the Council's decisions, perceived as being too close to Nestorianism.
The chronicler Theophanes, followed in this by the much later church historian Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopulus, claims that she aligned herself with the eunuch Chrysaphius in backing the archimandrite Eutychius, whose views were upheld by the `Robber Council' at Ephesus in but then condemned by Chalcedon; his evidence is suspect, however, since Nicephorus at least seems to believe that she was still in Constantinople at this time, whereas, as we have seen, she had already been forced by Chrysaphius' machinations to return to Palestine in the early s.[[18]] Throughout her time in Palestine, it is clear that she was a well known figure, thoroughly immersed in local ecclesiastical issues.[[19]] Although troops had to intervene to restore order in the region, the Augusta herself did not suffer any reprisals.
Two years later, distressed at the sufferings of her family in the West, where her daughter and her children had been taken captive by the Vandal king Geiseric, she accepted the decisions of the Council, having taken the preliminary step of consulting the local holy man, Symeon the Stylite. Despite this, the anti-Chalcedonian church (often called 'Monophysite') continued to regard her as a champion of its cause.[[20]] She died on 20 October in Jerusalem, where she was buried in the church of St Stephen.[[21]]
Bibliography
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Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, ed.
Eudocia biography Aelia Eudocia Augusta (/ ˈ iː l i ə j uː ˈ d oʊ ʃ ə ɔː ˈ ɡ ʌ s t ə /; Ancient Greek: Αιλία Ευδοκία Αυγούστα; c. – AD), also called Saint Eudocia, was an Eastern Roman empress by marriage to Emperor Theodosius II (r.J. Martindale, vol Cambridge,
Blockley, R.C. The Fragmentary Classicising Historians of the Later Roman Empire, 2 vols. Liverpool.
Blockley, R.C. 'The dynasty of Theodosius' in Cameron and Garnsey, eds.:
Cameron, Alan. 'The empress and the poet: paganism and politics at the court of Theodosius II', Yale Classical Studies
Cameron, Averil, and Garnsey, P., eds.
The Cambridge Ancient History, vol Cambridge.
Cameron, Averil, Ward-Perkins, B. and Whitby, M., eds. The Cambridge Ancient History, vol Cambridge.
Chitty, D.J. The Desert a City. Oxford.
Croke, B. The Chronicle of Marcellinus Comes. Sydney.
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E. Schwartz, Kyrillos von Skythopolis, Texte u. Untersuchungen XLIX Leipzig , tr. R.M. Price with J. Binns, The Lives of the Monks of Palestine. Kalamazoo, Mich.,
Downey, G. A History of Antioch in Syria. Princeton.
Drake, H. 'A Coptic Version of the Discovery of the Holy Sepulchre', GRBS
Evagrius, Evagrius, Ecclesiastical History, edd.
Eudocia biography in greek She was a daughter of Flavius Bauto, a Romanised Frank who served as magister militum in the Western Roman army during the s. [3] [4] The History of the Later Roman Empire from the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian () by J. B. Bury [5] and the historical study Theodosian Empresses: Women and Imperial Dominion in Late Antiquity () by Kenneth Holum consider her mother to.Bidez, J. and Parmentier, L. London, Tr. Whitby (see below).
Fowden, G. 'The Athenian agora and the progress of Christianity', Journal of Roman Archaeology 3:
Fowden, G. 'Late Roman Achaea: identity and defence', Journal of Roman Archaeology 8:
Frend, W.H.C. The Rise of the Monophysite Movement. Cambridge.
Goubert, P. 'Le rôle de Sainte Pulchérie et de l'eunuque Chrysaphius' in Grillmeier, A. and Bacht, H., Das Konzil von Chalkedon: Würzburg.
Greatrex, G. and Lieu, S.N.C. The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars, A.D. . London.
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Hunt, E.D. Holy Land Pilgrimate in the Later Roman Empire, A.D. . Oxford.
Kennedy, H. `Syria, Palestine and Mesopotamia' in Cameron, Ward-Perkins and Whitby, eds.:
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Malalas, Chronographia, ed. J. Thurn. Berlin, ; tr. and annot. E. and M. Jeffreys and R. Scott. Melbourne,
Maraval, P. Lieux saints et pèlerinages d'Orient: histoire et géographie des origines à la conquête arabe.
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Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopulus, Ecclesiasticae Historiae, ed. J.-P. Migne, PG
Sironen, E. 'An honorary inscription for Empress Eudocia in the Athenian Agora', Hesperia
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'Eudocia' in Bowersock, G., Brown, P., and Grabar, O. , eds., Late Antiquity: Cambridge, Mass.
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[[1]]See Holum , , for the suggestion that she was from Antioch rather than Athens.
Whitby , 48 n, prefers the traditional view that she was Athenian; see below n.7 for building work at Athens, which tends to confirm the Athenian connection. On Leontius see Cameron ,
[[2]]We pass over the romantic tales surrounding Theodosius' decision to marry Eudocia, which implausibly associate Pulcheria with the selection of the girl.
As we might expect of any fairy-tale princess, she is described by Malalas (XIV.4) as 'a very good-looking young woman, refined, with a good figure, eloquent, from Hellas, a virgin and the daughter of a philosopher' (tr.
Eudocia biography book: Eudocia (born c. , Athens—died Oct. 20, , Jerusalem) was the wife of the Eastern Roman emperor Theodosius II. She was a highly cultured woman who, in rivalry with her sister-in-law, the empress Pulcheria, exercised great influence over her husband until her withdrawal from Constantinople.
Jeffreys and Scott), who naturally therefore caught the attention of the emperor. For a full discussion see Holum ,
[[3]]So (rightly) Cameron ,
[[4]]On her brothers, see PLRE II, Valerius 6 and Gessius 2; also Holum , On Asclepiodotus, PLRE II, Asclepiodotus 1.
[[5]]So recounts Socrates, HE VII; see Holum , The work does not survive.
On the war see Greatrex and Lieu ,
[[6]]See Holum , with Kent , and pl, nos
[[7]]Holum , , on the university, with the rather downbeat assessment of Cameron , See Whitby , , on the developments at Athens, with Fowden , , (cautious), idem , , and Sironen (inscriptions commemorating Eudocia at Athens).
[[8]]See Fowden , with Alexander , lines and notes at Alexander reports also that four cities of Asia Minor were renamed Eudocias in honour of the empress. Cameron , , notes that she also began work on the basilica of St Lawrence in Constantinople, in which were placed the relics of St Stephen which she brought back with her in from Jerusalem.
It was Pulcheria, however, who completed work on the basilica, shortly before her death in Whether this needs to be taken as implying `co-operation' between the two empresses, as Cameron argues (, ), may be doubted.
See also Holum ,
[[9]]See Holum , Asclepiodotus' toleration towards Jews was fiercely criticised by Christian sources, notably in the Syriac Life of Symeon the Stylite: see Holum, loc. cit. and Whitby , 36 n On university, check Cameron
[[10]]Details in PLRE II, Aelia Eudocia 2. Sironen is doubtful about Arcadius' existence.
[[11]]Cf. Holum , , , Hunt , ,
[[12]]Holum , ; Downey , (discussing also her building work in the city, on which see below).
[[13]]So Holum , See also PLRE II, Cyrus 7. The bibliography on Cyrus is considerable; note especially Cameron
[[14]]The date of her downfall is not entirely clear.
Holum , , places it in , as does PLRE II. Kennedy , , however, states that she was in Jerusalem from , and this date is also preferred by Sironen , Argumentation for this earlier date is provided by Cameron , ; see also Hunt ,
[[15]]The key text here is Marcellinus comes s.a, tr. by Croke , See Holum for the quotation. Blockley , n, discussing Saturninus, assumes that it was 'at the order' of Eudocia that the count was killed; this seems also to be the interpretation of Croke, op.
cit., Marcellinus himself found the empress' ferocity surprising, describing her as being 'spurred on by some grief or other' (nescio quo excita dolore).
[[16]]See Holum , , , PLRE II, Eudocia 2. Quotation from Cameron , , who also notes the rather tepid verdict of the patriarch Photius.
Eudocia biography wikipedia Eudocia (born c. , Athens—died Oct. 20, , Jerusalem) was the wife of the Eastern Roman emperor Theodosius was a highly cultured woman who, in rivalry with her sister-in-law, the empress Pulcheria, exercised great influence over her husband until her withdrawal from Constantinople.[[17]]Holum , Evagrius, HE I, stresses her generosity. See Hunt , , Maraval , 69, Drake , and Whitby , 49 n for an assessment of her benefactions. Nor did she neglect secular buildings: she restored the Baths of Valens at Antioch already in , for instance, and later the baths at Gadara. See Mundell Mango , and on these projects.
[[18]]Theophanes, A.M. , pp, cf. A.M. , pp, Nicephorus Callistus Xanthopulus, HE XIV in PG /2, with Goubert , At A Nic. clearly refers to Eudocia as 'not yet' having departed for Palestine.
[[19]]A good account may be found in Chitty ,
[[20]]See Holum , and Drake , On the circumstances of her conversion, see Hunt , and Frend , (based on Cyril of Scythopolis' Life of Euthymius, ch).
On the imposition of the council in the region see (e.g.) Maraval ,
[[21]]PLRE II, Aelia Eudocia with Evagrius, HE I and Whitby , 53 n
(C) , Geoffrey Greatrex. This file may be copied on the condition that the entire contents, including the header and this notice, remain intact.
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