Aelia Eudocia

This article deals with the wife of the Eastern Roman emperor Theodosius II. For the daughter of Herodes Atticus see Athenais (daughter of Herodes Atticus) .

Depiction of the Empress as Saint Eudokia on a tenth century icon. Note the misspelling Η ΑΓΙΑ ΕΥΔΟΚΗΑ with “ Η ” instead of “ Ι ” (the first Η is also not an h, but the article).

Figure of Aelia Eudocia on a coin, Constantinople

Aelia Eudocia ( Greek Αιλία Ευδοκία, Ailía Eudokía , Middle Greek pronunciation [ ɛlía ɛβðɔkía ]; * around 400 in Athens ; † 20 October 460 in Jerusalem ), before Athenaḯs baptism (Αθηναΐς), later also Hagía Eudokokía ((γοίκα Εὐγααα [ ajía ɛβðɔkía ], "holy Eudokia"), was the wife of the Eastern Roman emperor Theodosius II , who ruled from 408 to 450.

Life

Athenaïs was born in Athens as the daughter of the pagan rhetoric teacher Leontios and was considered highly educated. After the death of her father, she accepted the Christian faith and was given the name Aelia Eudocia when she was baptized . This was a prerequisite for her marriage to Emperor Theodosius II. The marriage was concluded on June 7, 421. In 422 she gave birth to Licinia Eudoxia , before 431 Flacilla; a son named Arcadius was also born, but died at a young age. In 423 she was raised to the rank of Augusta by Theodosius II . On the occasion of a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 438, where she made a great impression on the population when she kneeled in front of the “grave of Christ”, she brought relics of St. Stephen and the chains of Peter to Constantinople , for which she donated the relics of St. Polyeuctus a church building . Her influence on the emperor had reached its climax at this point, surpassing even the influence of the emperor's sister, the power-conscious Aelia Pulcheria . However, her relationship with her husband deteriorated over time. Eventually the powerful magister officiorum Paulinus was executed because, according to Malalas , he was accused of having an affair with the empress. Probably because of these palace intrigues, perhaps on the orders of her husband, but possibly also on her own initiative, she probably traveled again to Jerusalem in 443 , where she lived until her death on October 20, 460. The details of their progress from Constantinople as well as the exact year are disputed in research.

Aelia Eudocia was significantly involved in the development of the Christian University of Constantinople, which was built as a so-called Athenaeum in 424 based on Constantinian beginnings and which was the first great intellectual achievement to collect the legal compilation of the Codex Theodosianus . Aelia Eudocia herself wrote sacred poems, some of which have been preserved. She sympathized with miaphysitism , but turned to Orthodoxy at the end of her life. In the Orthodox Church she is venerated as a saint, her feast day is August 13th.

In Jerusalem she had the city walls rebuilt, which now enclosed the old city of David and Mount Zion , and donated hospitals, pilgrims' hostels, monasteries and churches. According to the historically unreliable Vita des Barsauma , it is said to have allowed Jews greater freedom to visit the city on religious festivals, but no other source reports this, and any privileges are not documented later either. She was buried in the Stephanuskirche (located directly in front of the north gate), which she founded herself.

literature

• Julia Burman: The Athenian Empress Eudocia. In: Paavo Castrén (ed.): Post-Herulian Athens. Aspects of Life and Culture in Athens AD 267-529. Helsinki 1994, pp. 63-87.
• Anja Busch: The women of the Theodosian dynasty. Power and representation of imperial women in the 5th century (= Historia - individual writings. Volume 237). Steiner, Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-515-11044-0 , pp. 136–165 ( specialist review by H-Soz-Kult ).
• Peter van Deun: The poetical writings of the Empress Eudocia. An evaluation. In: J. den Boeft, A. Hilhorst (Ed.): Early Christian poetry. A collection of essays. Leiden 1993, pp. 273-282.
• Konstantin Klein: The patronage of Aelia Eudokia in Jerusalem. In: Wiener Jahrbuch für Kunstgeschichte. Volume 60/61, 2011-2012, pp. 85-95.
• Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Volume 2: Baanes – Eznik of Kolb. Brepols, Turnhout 2008, ISBN 978-2-503-52377-4 , pp. 409-411.
• Mark David Usher: Homeric stitchings. The Homeric Centos of the Empress Eudocia. Lanham, Maryland 1998.

Web links

• Geoffrey Greatrex : Short biography (English) at De Imperatoribus Romanis (with references).