Anastasius I Dicorus

431 – 518 · Generation XXI · Eastern emperor (r. AD 491–518)

Anastasius I (AD 431 – AD 518). Eastern emperor (r. AD 491–518). Married Ariadne around AD 491. A palace official chosen by the widowed empress Ariadne; left the treasury fuller than any emperor before him. One eye dark and one blue earned him the nickname Dicorus, “two-pupiled.” A former silentiary of the palace, he governed like the administrator he was: he abolished the hated chrysargyron tax on merchants — burning its records in a public spectacle — shifted taxes and state payments to hard coin, and in 498 rebuilt the currency around the copper follis, a system that circulated for centuries and whose coins have surfaced as far away as China. He crushed the Isaurian revolt raised for Zeno’s passed-over brother, fought Persia to a peace, and answered Bulgar raids by shielding Constantinople’s hinterland with the long Anastasian Wall, while the fortress of Daras rose to watch the Persian frontier. His Monophysite faith stirred rebellion late in the reign; he was the last non-Chalcedonian to rule.

Read more on Wikipedia

Partners

• Married Ariadne Aelia (450 – 515) in 491

Life

• 431 — Born
• 491 — Married Ariadne
• 518 — Died