Theodosius II: Difference between revisions
| alt = White head statue
| alt = White head statue
| caption = Bust of Theodosius II in the [[Louvre]]{{Cite book |last=Weitzmann |first=Kurt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=efLuB7QPDm8C&pg=PA28 |title=Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Ar |date=1977 |publisher=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] |pages=28-29}}{{Cite web |last=Lenaghan |first=J. |date=2012 |title=Portrait head of Emperor, Theodosius II (?). Unknown provenance. Fifth century. |url=http://laststatues.classics.ox.ac.uk/database/discussion.php?id=825 |access-date= |website=Last Statues of Antiquity |id=LSA-453}}
| caption = Bust of Theodosius II in the [[Louvre]]{{Cite book |last=Weitzmann |first=Kurt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=efLuB7QPDm8C&pg=PA28 |title=Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Ar |date=1977 |publisher=[[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] |pages=28-29}}{{Cite web |last=Lenaghan |first=J. |date=2012 |title=Portrait head of Emperor, Theodosius II (?). Unknown provenance. Fifth century. |url=http://laststatues.classics.ox.ac.uk/database/discussion.php?id=825 |access-date= |website=Last Statues of Antiquity |id=LSA-453}}
| succession = [[Roman emperor]] of the [[Tetrarchy|East]]
| succession = [[Roman emperor]] of the [[|East]]
| reign = 10 January 402 – 28 July 450
(senior from 1 May 408)
| reign = 10 January 402 – 28 July 450
(senior from 1 May 408)
| predecessor = [[Arcadius]]
| predecessor = [[Arcadius]]
Eastern Roman emperor from 402 to 450
Theodosius II (Greek: Θεοδόσιος Theodosios; 10 April 401 – 28 July 450) was Roman emperor from 402 to 450. He was proclaimed augustus as an infant and ruled as the eastern Empire‘s sole emperor after the death of his father, Arcadius, in 408. His reign was marked by the promulgation of the Theodosian law code and the construction of the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople. He also presided over the outbreak of two great Christological controversies, Nestorianism and Eutychianism.
Early life[edit]
Theodosius was born on 10 April 401 as the only son of Emperor Arcadius and his wife Aelia Eudoxia.[4] On 10 January 402, at the age of 9 months, he was proclaimed co-augustus by his father,[5] thus becoming the youngest to bear the imperial title up to that point. On 1 May 408, his father died and the seven-year-old boy became emperor of the Eastern half of the Roman Empire.
Early reign[edit]
The government was at first administered by the praetorian prefect Anthemius, under whose supervision the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople were constructed.
According to Theophanes the Confessor and Procopius, the Sasanian king Yazdegerd I (399–420) was appointed by Arcadius as the guardian of Theodosius, whom Yazdegerd treated as his own child, sending a tutor to raise him and warning that enmity toward him would be taken as enmity toward Persia.[6] Though this story is assumed to be inconclusive, Antiochus, a eunuch of Persian origin, became a tutor and an influence on Theodosius. He also became praepositus sacri cubiculi later but Theodosius dismissed him when he reached his adulthood.
In 414, Theodosius’ older sister Pulcheria vowed perpetual virginity along with her sisters. She was proclaimed augusta, and acted as a guardian of her brother. The guardianship ended when he reached his majority, but it is assumed that his sister continued to exert an influence on him until his marriage. In June 421, Theodosius married Aelia Eudocia, a woman of Athenian origin.[7][8][9][10][11] The two had a daughter named Licinia Eudoxia, another named Flaccilla, and possibly a son called Arcadius.
In 423, the Western Emperor Honorius, Theodosius’ uncle, died and the primicerius notariorum Joannes was proclaimed emperor. Honorius’ sister Galla Placidia and her young son Valentinian, who had earlier fled to Constantinople to escape Honorius’ hostility, sought Eastern assistance to claim the throne for Valentinian, and after some deliberation in 424 Theodosius opened the war against Joannes. On 23 October 425, Valentinian III was installed as emperor of the West with the assistance of the magister officiorum Helion, with his mother taking an influential role. To strengthen the ties between the two parts of the empire, Theodosius’ daughter Licinia Eudoxia was betrothed to Valentinian. She married Valentinian III later on 29 October 437, and became empress of the western portion of the empire.
Theodosius is often seen by both ancient and modern historians as being constantly pushed around by his sister, wife, and eunuchs, particularly Chrysaphius among them.[12] In the later decades of his life, Chrysaphius rose to prominence as one of the emperor’s favorites. He favored the pro-Monophysite policy, influenced the foreign policy towards the Huns, and was resented by Pulcheria,…
Read More: Theodosius II: Difference between revisions