Leo II
467 – 474 · Generation X · Emperor (r. 474) · Leonid
Leo (AD 467 – 474). Emperor (r. 474). Son of Zeno and Ariadne; grandson of Leo I; co-emperor then briefly sole ruler. His grandfather, passing over an unpopular son-in-law, named the boy caesar around October 472 and raised him to augustus in November 473, crowning him at the Hippodrome in a ceremony presided over by the patriarch Acacius; he was also appointed sole consul for 474. Once he acceded, the Senate – since a child could not sign official documents – made Zeno co-augustus, and it was his father who held the real power. He died in the autumn of 474, aged about seven. Later speculation that his parents poisoned him finds no echo in any contemporary source, and given the era’s high child mortality his death is generally thought to have been natural.
One of 8 people of Leonid (401–518) in this archive. Leo I’s house — the first emperors crowned by the Patriarch of Constantinople.
Line of descent: Leo I → Ariadne → Leo II.