Aelia Eudocia

400 – 460 · Generation VII · Empress · Valentinian · Theodosian

Aelia Eudocia (AD 400 – 460). Empress. Married Theodosius around AD 421; they were set apart in AD 443. Athenian-born wife of Theodosius II. Born Athenaïs, the daughter of Leontius, a sophist who taught rhetoric in Athens, she was baptised and renamed shortly before her wedding on 7 June 421, and her husband proclaimed her augusta in January 423. Her daughter Licinia Eudoxia later married the western emperor Valentinian III. Once she was augusta, rivalry with her sister-in-law Pulcheria grew, and in 438 she set out on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, stopping at Antioch to address its senate in Homeric verse and pay for repairs to the city. Around 443 she left the palace for good — the cause is uncertain, though one story blamed a suspected affair with the courtier Paulinus. Keeping her wealth and title, she spent her last years in Jerusalem devoted to literature and patronage, and was buried in her own church of St Stephen. Almost 3,500 lines of her poetry survive, including Homeric centos retelling Biblical stories.

One of 13 people of Valentinian · Theodosian (321–460) in this archive. The emperors who saw the western half fall away while the east held.

Partners

Married Theodosius II (401 – 450) in 421; they separated in 443

Life

400 — Born
421 — Married Theodosius
443 — Parted from Theodosius
460 — Died