Verina
430 – 484 · Generation VIII · Empress
Verina. Empress. Married Leo. Wife of Leo I; sister of Basiliscus. Probably of Balkan ancestry, though her origins are obscure, she became empress when the kingmaker Aspar raised her husband, one of his subordinate officers, to the throne in 457. She bore Leo two daughters, Ariadne and Leontia, and a son who lived only five months. Widowed in 474, she acted informally as regent for her grandson Leo II, but after the boy’s death she turned on her son-in-law Zeno, joining her brother Basiliscus, her lover Patricius and others in driving him from Constantinople in 475 — only for Basiliscus to take the crown himself and later have Patricius killed. After Zeno’s return, a failed attempt on the general Illus was traced to her, and she was banished and confined, latterly in Isauria. When Illus himself rebelled in 483 or 484, he had her crown the general Leontius at Tarsus; she died early in the siege of the fortress of Papyrius.
Place in the family
- The archive records 3 of her descendants, across 2 generations.
Partners
- Married Leo I (401 – 474) — 2 children together