Zeno the Isaurian

425 – 491 · Generation XXI · Eastern emperor (r. AD 474–491)

Zeno (AD 425 – AD 491). Eastern emperor (r. AD 474–491). Married Ariadne around AD 466. The Isaurian chieftain who outlasted every rebellion; in his reign the last western emperor was deposed, leaving one Rome. Born Tarasis in the Isaurian mountains, he took a Greek name to soften Constantinople’s distrust, and first won Leo I’s favour by exposing letters that proved treason by the son of the general Aspar. Driven from the capital within a year of taking power by a plot of the dowager empress Verina and her brother Basiliscus, he waited in his native hills, bribed away his rival’s generals, and marched back through gates the Senate opened for him. When Odoacer deposed the last western emperor, the imperial regalia were sent east with an acknowledgment of Zeno’s suzerainty; later he rid himself of the Ostrogoth Theodoric by pointing him at Italy, where Theodoric destroyed Odoacer and built a kingdom. His Henotikon, meant to heal the church’s split over Christ’s nature, instead opened a schism with Rome that outlived him.

Partners

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

Children

Leo II the Younger (467 – 474)

Life

425 — Born
466 — Married Ariadne
491 — Died