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33-577: During the reign of Theodosius II (r. 402–450) people from Isauria , a poor and mountainous province in Asia Minor, reached for the first time high office in the Eastern Roman Empire . Emperor Leo I (r. 457–474) deliberately promoted Isaurians to important posts in the civil and military administration to counterbalance the power of the hitherto all-powerful Germanic elements. The Isaurians, however, were despised as semi- barbarians by

66-515: A man in Christ, and the other rejected the title, based on God being eternal and thus could not be born. Nestorius' compromise, the title Christotokos ("birth-giver of Christ"), was rejected; he was accused of separating Christ's divine and human natures, resulting in "two Christs", in a doctrine later called Nestorianism . Nestorius was strongly opposed by Archbishop Cyril of Alexandria and eventually lost Theodosius's support. At Nestorius's request,

99-570: A particular individual. Among ancient and medieval writers, Monophysites had a favorable opinion of Theodosius. In 425, Theodosius founded the University of Constantinople with 31 chairs (15 in Latin and 16 in Greek). Among the subjects were law, philosophy, medicine, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music and rhetoric. It is likely that his wife Eudocia encouraged him in this matter and was behind

132-625: A second commission that met in Constantinople, assigned to collect all of the general legislations and bring them up to date, was completed; their collection was published as the Codex Theodosianus in 438. The law code of Theodosius II, summarizing edicts promulgated since Constantine, formed a basis for the law code of Emperor Justinian I , the Corpus Juris Civilis , in the following century. Eudocia reached

165-665: 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. The two had a daughter named Licinia Eudoxia , another named Flaccilla, and possibly a son called Arcadius. In 423, the Western Emperor Honorius , Theodosius's uncle, died and the primicerius notariorum Joannes was proclaimed emperor. Honorius's sister Galla Placidia and her young son Valentinian , who had earlier fled to Constantinople to escape Honorius's hostility, sought Eastern assistance to claim

198-460: 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's 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

231-677: The Huns . Early in Theodosius II's reign Romans used internal Hun discord to overcome Uldin 's invasion of the Balkans. The Romans strengthened their fortifications and in 424 agreed to pay 350 pounds of gold to encourage the Huns to remain at peace with the Romans. In 433 with the rise of Attila and Bleda to unify the Huns, the payment was doubled to 700 pounds. Theodosius became engaged with

264-622: 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. Though this story

297-429: The Huns. Anatolius negotiated a peace agreement; the Huns withdrew in exchange for humiliating concessions, including an annual tribute of 2,100 Roman pounds (c. 687 kg) of gold. In 447 the Huns went through the Balkans, destroying among others the city of Serdica ( Sofia ) and reaching Athyra ( Büyükçekmece ) on the outskirts of Constantinople. In 449, an Eastern Roman attempt to assassinate Attila failed, however

330-592: The Isaurian magister militum Illus rebelled against Zeno and fled to the East, where he supported the usurpation of Leontius . That, however, ended in 488 with the capture and execution of both rebel leaders. In 491 Emperor Zeno died and was succeeded by the silentiarius Anastasius I , chosen by Empress Ariadne . During the brief interregnum, the Constantinopolitan populace had made its views on

363-461: The Isaurians, led by the ex-bishop Conon. To his help came John Gibbo who forced the passes and, helped by a sortie of Diogenianus', won an overwhelming victory against the Isaurians, in which Conon died. From 494 to 497 the Isaurians closed themselves in their fortresses in the Isaurian mountains, where they were kept supplied by Longinus of Selinus through the port of Antioch . In 497 John

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396-571: The Persian persecution of Christians, and the Eastern empire declared war against the Sassanids (421–422); the war ended in an indecisive stalemate, when the Romans were forced to accept peace as the Huns menaced Constantinople . Peace was arranged in 422 without changes to the status quo . The later wars of Theodosius were generally less successful. The Eastern Empire was plagued by raids by

429-620: The Roman army, led by generals John the Scythian and John Gibbo ( John the Hunchback ), at Kotyaion in Phrygia ( battle of Cotyaeum ). Lilingis , a leading figure in the revolt, died after the battle. The Isaurian survivors took refuge in the mountain strongholds of their country and kept waging war. In 493 the Roman general Diogenianus captured Claudiopolis but was besieged there by

462-650: The Scythian killed Longinus of Cardala and Athenodorus , whose heads were exposed on a spear in Tarsus , thus effectively ending the war. In 498, John Gibbo captured the last enemy leaders, Longinus of Selinus and Indes , and sent them to the Emperor, who paraded them along the main road of Constantinople to the Hippodrome, where they had to perform the proskynesis in front of the imperial kathisma . In 495, Emperor Anastasius I told Patriarch Euphemius that he

495-635: The affairs of the West after installing Valentinian III as his Western counterpart. When Roman Africa fell to the Vandals in 439, both Eastern and Western Emperors sent forces to Sicily , intending to launch an attack on the Vandals at Carthage, but this project failed. Seeing the borders without significant forces, the Huns and Sassanid Persia both attacked and the expeditionary force had to be recalled. During 443 two Roman armies were defeated and destroyed by

528-460: The council the "robber synod". Theodosius supported the outcome, but it was reversed by the Council of Chalcedon after his death in 450. Theodosius died on 28 July 450 as the result of falling off his horse. On 25 November, his sister Pulcheria married the newly elected emperor Marcian , a domesticus under the influential general Aspar . The eunuch Chrysaphius was executed shortly after by

561-735: The emperor convened the First Council of Ephesus in 431 to allow Nestorius to contest Cyril's accusations of heresy. The council was divided between the Cyrillians and the Nestorians, with Theodosius ultimately favoring the Cyrillians. The council affirmed the title Theotokos and condemned Nestorius, who returned to his monastery in Syria and was eventually exiled to a remote monastery in Egypt. Constantinopolitan abbot Eutyches reignited

594-687: The enemy. In 496, Euphemius was excommunicated and deposed. After the war Anastasius rewarded his generals with the consulship: John the Scythian held the post in 498 and John Gibbo in 499. Anastasius also ordered the architect Aetherius to build the Chalke Gate to the Great Palace of Constantinople to celebrate the victory, and the poet Christodorus commemorated the war in a now-lost poem in six books, entitled Isaurica . Theodosius II Theodosius II ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : Θεοδόσιος Theodosios ; 10 April 401 – 28 July 450)

627-484: The enormous apple. The emperor was enraged and suspected an affair between Eudocia and Paulinus; he had his lifelong friend Paulinus executed, and Eudocia asked to be exiled to Jerusalem. A separation ultimately occurred between the imperial couple around 443, with Eudocia's establishment in Jerusalem where she favored monastic Monophysitism . The situation between the Romans and the Sassanids deteriorated in 420 due to

660-526: The establishment of the university; she had been born in Athens, where the Neoplatonic School of Athens was the last great center for pagan, classical learning. Eudocia was known for her great intellect. In 429, Theodosius appointed a commission to collect all of the laws since the reign of Constantine I , and create a fully formalized system of law. This plan was left unfinished, but the work of

693-500: The height of her influence with the emperor from 439 to 441, a period in which the emperor's sister Pulcheria was sidelined in favor of his wife. Eudocia's power was undone by a certain Phrygian apple in a story conveyed by the sixth-century historian John Malalas of Antioch. Malalas wrote that one day, the emperor was on his way to church when a man presented the emperor with an "apple huge beyond any exaggeration." The emperor thanked

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726-505: The man with 150 solidi , and promptly sent the apple to his wife as a present. Eudocia decided to give the apple to Paulinus, a friend of both her and the emperor. Paulinus, unknowing of where Eudocia had gotten the apple, thought it was fit for only the emperor, and gave it to him. Theodosius was suspicious, and asked Eudocia what she had done with the apple. "I ate it," she replied, and then Theodosius asked her to confirm her answer with an oath, which she did. Theodosius then presented her with

759-827: The new imperial couple. Like Constantine I and several of his successors, he was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles , in a porphyry sarcophagus that was described in the 10th century by Constantine VII in the De Ceremoniis . Saint Right-Believing Theodosius II the Younger is commemorated in Eastern Orthodox Church on 29 July. John the Scythian Too Many Requests If you report this error to

792-499: The people of Constantinople , who in 473 rose in an anti-Isaurian revolt in the Hippodrome and in 475 overthrew the newly crowned Isaurian emperor Zeno (r. 474–475 and 476–491), killing all the Isaurians in the city in the process. Zeno returned to the throne in 476, however, this time until his death in 491. Under this emperor, his fellow Isaurians prospered, and the opposition to them, although growing, remained latent. In 484,

825-547: The relations between the two did not deteriorate further. Theodosius frequently attempted to resolve doctrinal controversies regarding the nature of Christ . During a visit to Syria , Theodosius met the monk Nestorius , a renowned preacher. Nestorius was appointed as archbishop of Constantinople in 428 and became involved in a Christology dispute between two groups. One group called the Virgin Mary Theotokos ("birth-giver of God"), based on God being born

858-410: The succession clear by cries in the Hippodrome demanding a "Roman emperor", thus rejecting the possible succession of Longinus , Zeno's brother. In the same year, anti-Isaurian riots broke out in the Hippodrome, and Anastasius exiled Longinus and several other Isaurians, including general Longinus of Cardala . In 492 the Isaurians began a revolt, but in the same year their joint forces were defeated by

891-478: The theological dispute almost twenty years later by asserting the Monophysite view that Christ's divine and human nature were one. Eutyches was condemned by Archbishop Flavian of Constantinople but supported by the powerful Dioscurus of Alexandria , Cyril's successor. The Second Council of Ephesus in 449 restored Eutyches and deposed Flavian. The Chalcedonians opposed the decision, with Pope Leo I calling

924-487: 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's daughter Licinia Eudoxia was betrothed to Valentinian. She married Valentinian III later on 29 October 437, and became empress of

957-400: 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. 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

990-567: Was Roman emperor from 408 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 . Theodosius

1023-478: Was born on 10 April 401 as the only son of Emperor Arcadius and his wife Aelia Eudoxia . On 10 January 402, at the age of 9 months, he was proclaimed co-a ugustus by his father, 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. The government was at first administered by

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1056-444: Was resented by Pulcheria, general Zeno , and ancient writers. According to Theodorus Lector , Theodosius was so unmindful of his surroundings that he accidentally signed his sister's note selling his wife, Eudocia, into slavery. However, some scholars argue that contrary to hostile ancient sources, Theodosius was more in control of his government. Others view that the government was controlled mostly by civilian officials, and not by

1089-449: Was tired of war. Euphemius reported this to John, the son-in-law of the Isaurian leader Athenodorus , who referred it back to Anastasius. The emperor had come into conflict with Euphemius before ascending to the throne; furthermore, Anastasius, who had Monophysite sympathies, had been forced by Euphemius to sign a declaration of orthodoxy before being crowned. For these reasons he decided to accuse Euphemius of treason for revealing plans to

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