Aelia Eudocia

Aelia Eudocia Augusta (

Early life

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Aelia Eudocia was born circa 400 in

When Athenais was 12 years old, her mother died and she became her father's comfort, taking on the responsibilities of household chores, raising her siblings and tending to her father. She had two brothers, Gessius and Valerius, who would later receive honours at court from their sister and brother-in-law. In return for her household activities, her father spent time giving her a thorough training in rhetoric, literature and philosophy. He taught her the Socratic virtue of knowledge of moderation, and predicted that she would have a great destiny.^[9] She had a gift for memorization, and easily learned the poetry of Homer and Pindar, which her father would recite to her. Both as a teacher and a role model, he had a great impact on her, prepared her for her destiny and influenced the literary work she created after she became Empress.

When her father died in 420, Athenais was devastated. In his will, he left all his property to her brothers, with only 100 coins reserved for her, saying that "[s]ufficient for her is her destiny, which will be the greatest of any woman."^[9] Athenais had been her father's confidante and had expected more than this meager 100-coin inheritance. She begged her brothers, to be fair and give her an equal share of their father's property, but they refused.

Shortly after her father's death, at the age of 20, Athenais went to live with her aunt, who advised her to go to Constantinople and "ask for justice from the Emperor", confident she would receive her fair share of her father's wealth.^[10] John Malalas later gave a more detailed account of her mother's history. As summarised in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon:^[11]

The celebrated Athenais was educated by her father Leontius in the religion and sciences of the

Paganism, received at her baptism the Christian name

of Eudocia; but the cautious Pulcheria withheld the title of Augusta, till the wife of Theodosius had approved her fruitfulness by the birth of a daughter, who espoused, fifteen years afterwards, the Emperor of the West. The brothers of Eudocia obeyed, with some anxiety, her Imperial summons; but as she could easily forgive their unfortunate unkindness, she indulged the tenderness, or perhaps the vanity, of a sister, by promoting them to the rank of consuls and praefects.

— Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 5 (1788–1789)

Later historians have tended to reject the above account as too reminiscent of a fairy tale or a romance novel to be historically accurate. The exact circumstances of the introduction of Eudocia to Theodosius II and Pulcheria are unknown. The historical study Theodosian Empresses. Women and Imperial Dominion in Late Antiquity (1982) by Kenneth Holum, further introduced the suggestion that Leontius was a native of Antioch rather than Athens, drawing from the "traditional link" between the two cities and their philosophers. The argument is considered doubtful as the building activity of Eudocia in the 420s focused on Athens rather than Antioch.

Life as an empress

Marriage

Legend has it that when Theodosius (b. 401) was 20 years old, he wanted to get married. He talked to his sister Pulcheria, who began to search for a maiden fit for her brother, that was of either "patrician or imperial blood."^[12] His longtime childhood friend, Paulinus, also helped Theodosius in his search.^[12] The Emperor's search began at the same time that Athenais had arrived in Constantinople. Pulcheria had heard about this young woman, who had only 100 coins to her name, and when she met her, she was "astonished at her beauty and at the intelligence and sophistication with which she presented her grievance."^[12] Athenais's aunts assured Pulcheria that she was a virgin and was well educated. Pulcheria reported back to her brother that she had "found a young girl, a Greek maid, very beautiful, pure and dainty, eloquent as well, the daughter of a philosopher", and young Theodosius, who was full of desire, fell in love instantly.^[12]

Athenais had been raised pagan, and upon her marriage to Theodosius II converted to Christianity and was renamed Eudocia.^[13] They were married on 7 June 421, and there were "reports that Theodosius celebrated his wedding with chariot races in the hippodrome".^[14] Her brothers, who had rejected her after their father's death, fled since they were fearful of the punishment they thought they were going to receive when they learned that she became empress.^[15] Eudocia instead called them to Constantinople, and Theodosius rewarded them.^[15] The emperor made Gessius praetorian prefect of Illyricum and made Valerius magister officiorum.^[15] Both Gessius and Valerius were rewarded because Eudocia believed that their mistreatment of her was part of her destiny.^[15] Theodosius also honoured his best friend, Paulinus, with the title of magister officiorum, for he had helped find his wife.^[15]

This

Eudocia also built the original Church of St. Polyeuctus in Constantinople, which her great-granddaughter Anicia Juliana greatly expanded and furnished in the 6th century.

Children

Eudocia had three children with Theodosius II.

Eudocia also was the guardian for the Georgian prince Nabarnugios who had been sent as a hostage to the Byzantine court. Nabarnugious, who would become known as Peter the Iberian, would later decide to became an ascetic and flee to Jerusalem with his friend John the Eunuch.^[21]

Pilgrimage to Jerusalem (438–439)

Upon being named Augusta, she succeeded her sister-in-law, Pulcheria, who had been Augusta since 414. The relationship between the two women consisted of rivalry over power. Eudocia was jealous over the amount of power Pulcheria had within the court, while Pulcheria was jealous of the power Eudocia could claim from her. Their relationship created a "pious atmosphere" in the imperial court, and probably explains why Eudocia travelled to the Holy Land in 438.^[22] Eudocia went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 438, bringing back with her holy relics to prove her faith.^[17] Her relationship with her husband had deteriorated, and with much pleading from Melania, a wealthy widow from Palestine and good friend of Eudocia, Theodosius allowed her to go.^[23]

Blending Christianity with classical culture

While on her pilgrimage to Jerusalem in spring of 438, Eudocia stopped in Antioch, and during her stay she addressed the senate of that city in Hellenic style (i.e., an encomium cast in Homeric hexameters) and distributed funds for the repair of its buildings.^[5][24] She was very conscious of her Greek heritage, as demonstrated in her famous address to the citizens of Antioch where she quoted a famous line by Homer: "ὑμετέρης γενεής τε καὶ αἵματος εὔχομαι εἶναι" ("Of your proud line and blood I claim to be").^{[5][24][25][26]} These last words of Eudocia's oration brought loud acclaim from the listeners, which resulted in the citizens of Antioch celebrating the Empress Eudocia's Christian Hellenism and commemorating her by erecting a golden statue of her in the curia and a bronze statue in the museum.^[25][26][27] On her return, her position was undermined by the jealousy of Pulcheria and the groundless suspicion of an intrigue with her protégé, Paulinus, the master of the offices.^[28]

The historical study Theodosian Empresses: Women and Imperial Dominion in Late Antiquity (1982) by Kenneth Holum, further introduced the suggestion that her father, Leontius, was a native of Antioch rather than Athens, drawing from the "traditional link" between the two cities and their philosophers. The argument is considered doubtful as the building activity of Eudocia in the 420s focused on Athens rather than Antioch.^[29] Holum suggests that Eudocia may have been named after the great city of Athens, but she would have been born in Antioch. She even convinced her husband to "extend the walls of Antioch to take in a large suburb".^[30] Furthermore, she also influenced state policy towards pagans and Jews under her husband's reign, and used the powerful influence she had to protect them from persecution.^[30] Eudocia also advocated for "reorganization and expansion" of education in Constantinople.^[31] Eudocia had been raised and educated in traditional and classical sophist education from Athens, but her goal was to blend classical pagan education with Christianity. This was her way of using her power as empress to honour teachers and education, something that was very important to her in her life.^{[citation needed]}

Banishment

Around 443, Eudocia left the palace for reasons that cannot be fully ascertained. One rumor has it that Eudocia was banished from the court towards the latter part of her life for adultery. Theodosius suspected that she was having an affair with his long-time childhood friend and court advisor, Paulinus.

Soon after her accession as an empress, Eudocia wrote a hexameter poem eulogizing the Roman performance in the Persian wars of 421–22. The work is now lost. While Eudocia could have written a lot of literature after leaving the court, only some of her work survived. Eudocia "wrote in hexameters, which is the verse of epic poetry, on Christian themes".^[17] She wrote a poem entitled The Martyrdom of St. Cyprian in three books, of which 900 lines survived, and an inscription of a poem on the baths at Hamat Gader.^[17] Her most studied piece of literature is her Homeric cento, which has been analyzed recently by a few modern scholars, such as Mark Usher and Brian Sowers. Eudocia is an understudied poet and has been neglected due to "lack of complete and authoritative text".^[37]

Martyrdom of St. Cyprian

There are three books (or volumes) to this epic poem, which tells the story of how "Justa, the Christian virgin, defeated the magician

The Hamat Gader poem

The poem inscribed on the baths at Hamat Gader was very short, and can be included here, as evidence of her hexameter writing style. The poem was inscribed so visitors could read it as they went into the pool.

I have seen many wonders in my life, countless,
But who, noble Clibanus, however many his mouths, could proclaim
Your might, when born a worthless mortal? But rather
It is right for you to be called a new fiery ocean,
Paean and parent, provider of sweet streams.
From you the thousandfold swell is born, one here, one there,
On this side boiling-hot, on that side in turn icy-cold and tepid.
Into fountains four-fold four you pour out your beauty.
Indian and Matrona, Repentius, holy Elijah,
Antoninus the Good, Dewy Galatia, and
Hygieia herself, warm baths both large and small,
Pearl, ancient Clibanus, Indian and other
Matrona, Strong, Nun, and the Patriarch's.
For those in pain your powerful might is always everlasting.
But I will sing of a god, renowned for wisdom
For the benefit of speaking mortals.^[39]

The line "Of the Empress Eudocia" flanked by two crosses is set above the poem. This title line was added after the carving of the main inscription, making room for some doubt whether the poem was indeed authored by Eudocia. Clibanus is the name given to the source of the hot water. After praising his qualities and those of his many springs ("the thousandfold swell"), the poem enumerates "four-fold four", thus sixteen different parts of the bath complex, fourteen of which bear a name; these names include Hygieia (the pagan goddess of health), a whole range of pagan personal names, "holy Elijah" referring to the prophet, and two refer to Christians – a nun and a patriarch.^[40]

Homeric centos

The

to her Christian beliefs.

Legacy

Eudocia is regarded as saint. Her feast day is 13 August.

The plot of Antonio Vivaldi's opera Atenaide is based on the courtship and marriage of Eudocia and Theodosius.

Eudocia is a featured figure on Judy Chicago's installation piece The Dinner Party, being represented as one of the 999 names on the Heritage Floor, associated with the place setting for Theodora (wife of Justinian I).^[43][44]

See also

• List of Byzantine emperors
• List of Roman and Byzantine Empresses

References

Citations

1. ^ Wagner 1967, pp. 260ff.
2. ^ Sowers 2008, pp. iiiff.
3. ^ ^{a b} "Eudocia: Byzantine empress". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. 2016.
4. ^ ^{a b} Cheetham 1981, p. 12: "Meanwhile, at Constantinople, the Emperor Theodosius II, grandson of the great soldier, chose to marry a girl from Athens, famous for her learning and beauty. She was Athenais, daughter of the pagan philosopher Leontius, and the event caused a sensation at the time. It was also symbolic, for Athenais was required, on becoming Empress, to renounce paganism and to assume the less pagan-sounding name of Eudocia, and her conversion was followed by the foundation of a new, Christian university at Constantinople designed expressly to eclipse the Athenian academy. Immensely proud of her Hellenic ancestry and culture, Eudocia dominated her easy-going husband for many years, but when she fell from favour as the result of an affair, or a suspected affair, with one of the Emperor's chief ministers, it was to Jerusalem, and not the Athens of her youth, that she preferred to retire."
5. ^ ^{a b c d} Cuming & Baker 1972, p. 13: "Eudocia herself, the daughter of a pagan Athenian philosopher, embraced the new faith in a mood of total acceptance. Very conscious of her Hellenic heritage, as her famous address to the citizens of Antioch showed, she turned her poetic gifts to the metaphrasis of the prophecies of Zacharias and Daniel and to the exposition of the legend of St Cyprian of Antioch."
6. ^ ^{a b} Potter, David. "In Her Own Words: The Life and Works of Aelia Eudocia." Classical Outlook, vol. 97, no. 4, Dec. 2022, pp. 208+.
7. ^ Bradbury 2004, "THEODOSIUS II, BYZANTINE EMPEROR (401–50)", p. 91: "Theodosius married Athenais, renamed Eudocia, a Greek philosopher's daughter."
8. ^ ^{a b} Tsatsos 1977, p. 10.
9. ^ ^{a b} Tsatsos 1977, p. 11.
10. ^ Tsatsos 1977, p. 12.
11. ^ "Edward Gibbon, History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chapter 32". Archived from the original on 6 August 2008. Retrieved 11 June 2008.
12. ^ ^{a b c d} Holum 1982, pp. 112–114.
13. ^ ^{a b} Greatrex, Geoffrey (2004). "Aelia Eudocia (Wife of Theodosius II)". An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors. University of Ottawa.
14. ^ ^{a b} Holum 1982, p. 115.
15. ^ ^{a b c d e} Holum 1982, p. 113.
16. ^ ^{a b} Holum 1982, p. 114.
17. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Plant 2004, p. 198.
18. ^ Harries 2013, p. 88 (Footnote #87): "Of Theodosius' three children by Eudocia, Flaccilla and Arcadius (if he existed) both died young and only Licinia Eudoxia, wife of Valentinian III, reached adulthood; see Alan Cameron 1982: 266–267."
19. ^ Holum 1982, p. 183.
20. ^ Holum 1982, p. 123.
21. ^ Bitton-Ashkelony & Kofsky 2006, p. 48.
22. ^ Cameron 2012, p. 18.
23. ^ Holum 1982, p. 184.
24. ^ ^{a b c} Holum 1982, p. 117.
25. ^ ^{a b} Hunt 1982, pp. 229–300: "As the empress on a 'state visit', Eudocia contributed to building improvements in Antioch, and her stay there, obviously a famous event in the city's annals, was commemorated in a bronze statue. In a formal speech to the citizens in praise of Antioch she struck a welcome chord by referring to their Greek ancestry, which she proudly shared with them—a theme which was capped by a concluding verse adaptation of Homer."
26. ^ ^{a b} Bury 2008, pp. 131–132: "The journey of Eudocia to Jerusalem (in spring 438) was marked by her visit to Antioch, where she created a great effect by the elegant Greek oration which she delivered, posing rather as one trained in Greek rhetoric and animated with Hellenic traditions and proud of her Athenian descent, than as a pilgrim to the great christian shrine The last words of Eudocia's oration brought down the house—a quotation from Homer, ὑμετέρης γενεής τε καὶ αἵματος εὔχομαι εἶναι, "I boast I am of your race and blood." The city that hated and mocked the Emperor Julian and his pagan Hellenism loved and feted the Empress Eudocia with her christian Hellenism, a golden statue was erected to her in the curia and one of bronze in the museum."
27. ^ Sowers 2008, p. 16.
28. ^ ^{a b}  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Eudocia Augusta". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 881. This cites:
    • W. Wiegand, Eudokia (Worms, 1871)
    • Ferdinand Gregorovius, Athenais (Leipzig, 1892)
    • Charles Diehl, Figures Byzantines (Paris, 1906), pp. 25–49
    • Theodosius.
    • On her works cf. Arthur Ludwich, Eudociae Augustae carminum reliquiae (Königsberg, 1893).
29. ^ Greatrex, Geoffrey (2004). "Aelia Eudocia (Wife of Theodosius II) [Note #1]". An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors. University of Ottawa.
30. ^ ^{a b} Holum 1982, p. 118.
31. ^ Holum 1982, p. 124.
32. ^ "Roman Emperors - DIR Aelia Eudocia".
33. ^ Bitton-Ashkelony & Kofsky 2006, p. 50.
34. ^ Greatrex, Geoffrey (2004). "Aelia Eudocia (Wife of Theodosius II) [Note #17]". An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors. University of Ottawa.
35. ^ Bar-Am, Aviva (14 September 2009). "St. Stephen's Monastary – The brothers' work". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
36. ^ Sowers 2008, p. 6.
37. ^ Usher 1997, p. 305.
38. ^ ^{a b} Plant 2004, p. 199.
39. ^ Plant 2004, pp. 207–208.
40. ^ Yeung 2002, pp. 74–76.
41. ^ Usher 1998, p. 145.
42. doi:10.1163/1568525x-bja10200
43. ^ "Eudocia". Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art: The Dinner Party: Heritage Floor: Eudocia. Brooklyn Museum. 2007. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
44. ^ Chicago 2007, p. 106.

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External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aelia Eudocia.

• Mărmureanu, Cătălina; Cernescu, Gianina; Lixandru, Laura (2008). Early Christian Women Writers: The Interesting Lives and Works of Faltonia Betitia Proba and Athenais-Eudocia (PDF) (Report). University of Bucharest. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2016.

Royal titles
Preceded by Aelia Eudoxia	Byzantine Empress consort 421–450	Succeeded by Pulcheria