Aelia Eudocia Augusta (; ; 460 AD), also called Saint Eudocia, was an Eastern Roman empress by marriage to Emperor Theodosius II (). The daughter of an Athenian philosopher, she was also a poet, whose works include Homerocentones, or Homeric retellings of Biblical stories. After an estrangement with Theodosius, she permanently settled in Jerusalem, where she supported the local population.
Early life Aelia Eudocia was born with the name Athenaïs in Athens. The 6th century chronicler John Malalas describes her as Greek. Her exact year of birth is not known, but it is often given as or c. 401According to the description of her bust portrait in the Acropolis Museum. on the assumption that she was born around the same time of Emperor Theodosius II (401 AD). She was said to be of pagan background,John Malalas, Chronicle 14.355; Potter, David. "In Her Own Words: The Life and Works of Aelia Eudocia." Classical Outlook, vol. 97, no. 4, Dec. 2022, pp. 208+.; and according to her contemporary Socrates Scholasticus, she was baptized shortly before her marriage to Theodosius.Socrates Scholasticus, Church History 7.21 Her father, an Athenian sophist named Leontius,; ; taught rhetoric at the Academy of Athens, where people from all over the Mediterranean came to either teach or learn. Eudocia's birth name, Athenaïs, was a pagan name probably chose for her parents' devotion to Attic culture, or perhaps in honour of the city's protector, the goddess Pallas Athena.. She had two brothers, Gessius and Valerius, who would later receive honours at court from their sister and brother-in-law. Eudocia's father took charge of her education after her mother's death, and she was later taught by the scholars Hyperechios, one the Desert Fathers of Christianity, and Orion.
John Malalas preserves a tale that when her father died, he left all his property to her brothers, with only 100 coins reserved for her in his will, saying that "[s]ufficient for her is her destiny, which will be the greatest of any woman."John Malalas, Chronicle 14.353. Athenaïs had been her father's confidante and had expected more than this meager 100-coin inheritance. She begged her brothers, to give her an equal share of their father's property, but they refused. Shortly after her father's death, Athenaïs 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.John Malalas, Chronicle 14.354.
Historian Kenneth Holum further introduced the suggestion that her father, Leontius, was a native of Antioch rather than Athens. He bases this claim on fragments by Olympiodorus of Thebes, who wrote of the time he tried to secure a public teaching job for a man named Leontius, who was reluctant.FGrH IV.63 §28. The τρίβων "cloak" was a mark of the philosopher; it was "not permitted for anyone in Athens—especially a foreigner—to wear it unless the sophists approved and the initiatory rites according to the laws of sophistry confirmed the rank." The "initatiory rites" befell everyone, foreigner or otherwise, who had not yet earned this position. Holum assumes this Leontius was Eudocia's father and theorises that he was "unwilling" to take the job due to a humiliating initiation ritual which befell newcomers, "especially foreigners". The fragment states, however, that this initiation was required for every man aiming for the rank of sophist, foreigner or otherwise. Holum suggests that Eudocia may have been named after the great city of Athens, but she would have been born in Antioch. The argument has been doubted by some scholars, because the building activity of Eudocia in the 420s focused on Athens rather than Antioch. Cameron writes that there is "no call to doubt that Eudocia was born in Athens."
Life as an empress
Marriage
Legend has it that when Theodosius 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".. His longtime childhood friend, Paulinus, also helped Theodosius in his search. The Emperor's search began at the same time that Athenaïs 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." Athenaïs'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.
Athenaïs had been raised pagan, and before her marriage to Theodosius II converted to Christianity and was renamed "Eudocia". They were married on 7 June 421, and there were "reports that Theodosius celebrated his wedding with chariot races in the hippodrome".. 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.. Eudocia instead called them to Constantinople, and Theodosius rewarded them. The emperor made Gessius praetorian prefect of Illyricum and gave the title of magister officiorum to Valerius. Both Gessius and Valerius were rewarded because Eudocia believed that their mistreatment of her was part of her destiny. Theodosius also honoured his best friend, Paulinus, with the title of magister officiorum, for he had helped find his wife.
This rags-to-riches story, though it claims to be authentic and is accepted among historians, leads one to believe that the tale may have been twisted due to the detail of how the romance was portrayed. The earliest version of this story appeared more than a century after Eudocia's death in the "World Chronicle" of John Malalas, "an author who did not always distinguish between authentic history and a popular memory of events infused with folk-tale motifs". The facts are that she was the daughter of Leontius and she did originally have the name Athenaïs, according to the contemporary historians Socrates of Constantinople, and Priscus of Panion; however, they leave out any mention of Pulcheria's role in playing match-maker for her brother. The historians Sozomen and Theodoret did not include Eudocia in their respective historical works, perhaps because they wrote after 443 when Eudocia had fallen into disgrace..
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 two, or possibly three, children with Theodosius II.. Licinia Eudoxia, born in 422, was the oldest. Licinia Eudoxia had been betrothed since her birth to her cousin, the Western Roman emperor Valentinian III, whom she married on 29 October 437.. The second child, Flaccilla, died in 431. Arcadius, if he existed, may have been the only son and died in infancy. Only a year after she gave birth to her first child, Eudocia was proclaimed augusta by her husband on 2 January 423..
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 become an ascetic and flee to Jerusalem with his friend John the Eunuch..
Pilgrimage to Jerusalem (438–439)
After being named Augusta, her relationship to her sister-in-law, Pulcheria, worsened. 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.. Eudocia went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 438, bringing back with her holy relics to prove her faith. Her relationship with her husband had deteriorated, and with much pleading from Melania the Younger, a wealthy widow from Palestine and good friend of Eudocia, Theodosius allowed her to go..
Visit to Antioch (438)
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. 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"). Evagrius Scholasticus, who reports this, explains this as a celebratory reference to the Athenians who were among the first colonists of Antioch.Evagr. 1.20; Cf. 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..
Eudocia convinced her husband to "extend the walls of Antioch to take in a large suburb".. 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. Eudocia also advocated for "reorganization and expansion" of education in Constantinople.. Eudocia had been raised with a traditional and classical sophist education, 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.
Banishment On her arrival from Jerusalem, her position was allegedly undermined by the jealousy of Pulcheria and the suspicion of an affair with Paulinus, the master of the offices. 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).
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. According to Malalas's account of this story, Theodosius II had given Eudocia a very large Phrygian apple as a gift. One day Paulinus had shown the emperor the same apple, not knowing that the emperor had given it to Eudocia as a gift. Theodosius recognized the apple and confronted Eudocia who had sworn she had eaten it. Eudocia's denials made the emperor believe that she had fallen in love with Paulinus and was having an affair, and had given his best friend the same apple he had given to her as a symbol of his love. Theodosius had Paulinus executed and Eudocia, embarrassed, decided to leave the court in 443.
On the other hand, Marcellinus' version suggests intrigues of Theodosius and Eudocia against each other: on Theodosius' orders, comes domesticorum Saturninus killed two allies of the empress, and in revenge, she went on to have Saturninus assassinated. Theodosius subsequently deprived Eudocia of her royal attendants, prompting her to leave the palace. Whatever the cause of her departure may be, she still retained her wealth and the title Augusta.
In Jerusalem (443–460)