Kinlight · The Byzantine Emperors

Zeno

425 – 491 · Generation IX · Emperor (r. 474–475,476–491) · Leonid

Portrait of Zeno

Zeno (AD 425 – 491). Emperor (r. 474–475,476–491). Married Ariadne around AD 466. Isaurian; born Tarasis; father of Leo II. His reign was a gauntlet of revolts weathered by cunning and bribery as much as by arms. Driven from the capital by the coup that installed Basiliscus, he returned within twenty months by turning the usurper's own generals. It was under Zeno that the Western Empire ended: Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustulus and shipped the insignia of western rule to Constantinople, accepting Zeno as overlord — so that, on paper at least, one emperor once more ruled the whole Roman world. He later solved two problems at once by dispatching Theodoric and his Ostrogoths to Italy, where they destroyed Odoacer's rule. His Henotikon of 482, meant to reconcile Chalcedonians and Miaphysites, satisfied neither and provoked the Acacian schism with Rome. He put down further risings by his brother-in-law Marcianus and the general Illus, and died without an heir.

One of 8 people of Leonid (401–518) in this archive. Leo I’s house — the first emperors crowned by the Patriarch of Constantinople.

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Partners

  • Married Ariadne (450 – 515) in 466 — one child together

Children

Life

  • 425 — Born
  • 466 — Married Ariadne
  • 491 — Died

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