April 10, 401 – July 28, 450 CE; Theodosius II was crowned Augustus on Jan. 10, 402 and died from a spinal injury suffered in a riding accident after ruling longer than any other Roman emperor (Chronicon Paschale, s.a. 450; Evagrius, Ecclesiastical History I.22; John Malalas xiv. 366-7). Interestingly, the Suda fails to mention the three most significant acts of Theodosius' reign: the publication of the Theodosian Code in 438, (begun in March 429); the founding of the University of Constantinople (Cod. Theod. 14.9.3; 15.1.53), and the fortification of Constantinople (kappa 2287). The Suda's tone and contents differ from the laudatory contemporary reports of Sozomen and Socrates Scholasticus, whose characterizations of Theodosius owe much to Eusebius’s formulation of Constantine as “pius princeps.” See OCD(4) s.v. Theodosius(3); De Imperatoribus Romanis entry by Geoffrey Nathan at web address 1.
[1] Flavius Arcadius, elder son of Theodosius I (theta 144) and ruler of the eastern Roman Empire (383-408); see OCD(4) s.v. Arcadius(2).
[2] At the death of Arcadius, Anthemius, the Praetorian Prefect of the East (404-414), acted as regent but the eunuch Antiochus was charged with instructing the young prince.
[3] Priscus fr. 52 Bornmann; cf. nu 222.
[4] Count Sebastian ranks as one of the more shadowy figures of this time period, in part because of the historian Jordanes’ occasional confusion of Sebastian with Count Gainas (Clover 1979). Elements of Count Sebastian’s life are recorded by Prosper Tiro, Hydatius, Count Marcellinus, and Victor of Vita. He entered politics in 432 and briefly held the position of comes et magister utriusque militiae before being deposed by Aëtius and fleeing to Constantinople. After a plot compelled him to leave the eastern court in 435, he and a band of buccellari raided the area around Constantinople between 437 and 438, prompting Cyrus (kappa 2776) to fortify the city’s defenses. Sebastian eventually fled west and was executed by Geiseric in 440.
[5] By 441, Chrysaphius, Theodosius’ spatharius (sword-bearer) and perhaps praepositus sacri cubiculi, had set Eudocia, Theodosius’ wife, against Pulcheria, his sister, forcing the latter to withdraw from politics. In due course, Chrysaphius, assisted by the orthodox party at court, engineered the disgrace of Eudocia, who withdrew to Jerusalem in 443/4 (Theophanes, A.M. 5940; John Malalas xiv, p. 356). After her withdrawal of Eudocia, Chrysaphius dominated the disinterested Theodosius until he fell out of favor a few months before Theodosius’ death; Theophanes, A.M. 5942); for Chrysaphius, see PLRE II, pp. 295-7
[6] Aelia Pulcheria (pi 2145), Theodosius’s elder sister, became Augusta on July 4, 414, assumed the regency, and removed the eunuch Antiochus. She had taken the spectacular step of declaring her and her sisters’ devotion to virginity in 413. While her regency officially ended in 416 when Theodosius reached the age of 15, she continued to exert influence over imperial policy for years. She was instrumental in selecting Athenais (later Eudocia) as Theodosius’ wife (Theophanes A.M. 5942; Nicephorus Callistus 14.47; John of Nikiu, Chron. 87. 29-33). Pulcheria re-gained her influence in the waning months of Theodosius’ life. She died in 453.
[7] i.e. Theodosius II; since Theodosius’ only son, Arcadius, died while still very young, succession legally fell to Theodosius’ cousin Valentinian III, Emperor in the west. To avoid this unacceptable consolidation of authority, Theodosius and Pulcheria arranged for Marcian, a successful military official, to accede to the throne (John Mal. xiv.367). His succession was formalized by marrying Pulcheria.
[8] Milion (mu 1065): a gilded column set beneath a quadrifrons arch topped by statues of Constantine (kappa 2284) and Helena holding aloft a Cross. Set in the southwest corner of the Augusteion, it was the theoretical center of Constantinople (kappa 2297) and the Eastern Empire and listed distances from Constantinople to major cities in the Empire. Many emperors erected equestrian statues in its vicinity (Guilland ii.28-31).
[9] A nearly identical sentence in the seventh- or eighth-century *parasta/seis su/ntomoi *xronikai/ is a likely source for this passage (Preger 1.18); it also appears in Ps.-Codinus’s tenth-century *pa/tria *kwnstantinoupo/lews (Preger 2.104). Unfortunately, neither text clarifies the identity of the statue.
[10] For Theodosius I 'the Great' see theta 144.
[11] Antiochus’s property was confiscated and he was compelled to become a priest of the Great Church in Constantinople. Since Pulcheria engineered the downfall of Antiochus before the start of her regency in 414 (Theophanes, A.M. 5905; Sozomen, HE 9.12-3), approximately 25 years separate the offices of Antiochus and Cyrus. John Malalas omits reference to Pulcheria’s role in Antiochus’ fall, attributing it instead to Theodosius’ anger at Antiochus’ overbearing attitude (John Mal. 361).
[12] Praepositus sacri cubiculi; freedmen in this position exerted significant influence over imperial policy and often indirectly ran the daily functions of the Empire. See Cod. Theod. vi. tit. 8.
[13] i.e. Prefect of the City (Constantinople) and Praetorian Prefect of the East. For Cyrus of Panopolis’ life, poetry, and career, see kappa 2776; for details about his extraordinary double praetorship, see kappa 2776, note 3.
[14] John Mal., 361-2; see also Chron. Pasch., s.a. 450.
[15] Greek Anthology 9.136 supposedly commemorates his exile; see kappa 2776, note 7.
[16] See kappa 2776, note 8.
[17] Variably Zstommas, Ztoumas, Tzeumas, or Tzumas in modern editions.