Aelia Eudocia - Life As An Empress

Life As An Empress

Legend has it that when Theodosius II 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 either "patrician or imperial blood." His long time childhood friend Paulinus also helped Theodosius in his search. The Emperor's search had begun fortuitously at the same time that Athenais had arrived in Constantinople. Pulcheria had heard about this young girl, 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." Upon reporting back to her brother, she told him 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 and lust fell in love instantly.

Athenais had been raised pagan, and had to convert to Christianity in order to marry Theodosius II. The Emperor renamed her Eudocia and made her his wife. They were married on June 7, 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, were fearful of the punishment they thought they were going to receive since she became Empress, so they fled. However instead of punishing them, Eudocia called them back to Constantinople, and Theodosius rewarded them. He made Gessius praetorian prefect of Illycricum and made Valerius master of offices. They were rewarded because Eudocia believed that their mean actions had come from jealousy of her destiny, not from a vengeful dark place. He also honored his best friend, Paulinus with master of offices, for he had helped find his wife. However, this rags to riches story, though it claims to be authentic and is accepted among historians, leads one to believe that 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 Leonitius and she did originally have the name Athenais, according to the Greek historian Socrates of Constantinople, and a contemporary historian named 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 included Eudocia in their history because they were written after Eudocia had fallen into disgrace.