Euphemia (empress) - Succession of Justin I

Succession of Justin I

By 518, Justin had risen to the position of comes excubitorum (Commander of the Excubitors, the imperial bodyguard). On the night hours of 8 July 518 – 9 July 518, Anastasius died and his silentarii summoned Justin and Celer to his deathbed. Celer was the magister officiorum and commander of the palace regiments of the Scholae palatinae. By morning the event had been announced through Constantinople. The high officials, including the recently appointed John of Cappadocia, Patriarch of Constantinople, were summoned to the Great Palace of Constantinople for the election of the new emperor. Meanwhile the people were gathered in the Hippodrome of Constantinople and awaited the proclamation of a new emperor.

Anastasius died childless, but had several known relatives. His brother Flavius Paulus had served as Roman consul in 496. A sister-in-law, known as Magna, was mother to Irene and mother-in-law to Olybrius. This Olybrius was the son of Anicia Juliana and Areobindus. The daughter of Olybrius and Irene was named Proba. She married Probus and was mother to a younger Juliana. This younger Juliana married another Anastasius and was mother of Areobindus, Placidia, and a younger Proba. Another nephew of Anastasius was Flavius Probus, Roman consul in 502. Caesaria, sister of Anastasius, married Secundinus. They were parents to Hypatius and Pompeius. Anastasius Paulus Probus Moschianus Probus Magnus, Roman Consul in 518 also was a great-nephew of Anastasius. His daughter Juliana, later married Marcellus, a brother of Justin II. The extensive family may well have included viable candidates for the throne.

Nonetheless, Justin was elected as the new emperor by the council. According to John Malalas, the praepositus sacri cubiculi, Amantius, had intended to elect a comes domesticorum, commander of an elite guard unit of the late Roman Empire, by the name of Theocritus to the throne. His election is described as the result of a combination of commanding the only effective troops within the capital and buying the support of the other officials. Supposedly Amantius had given a substantial sum of money to Justin in order to buy his support, however, Justin used the sum to buy support for himself. Both Amantius and Theocritus were executed nine days after the election. On 1 August 518, Justin sent a letter to Pope Hormisdas where he claimed he was an unwilling participant in his own election.

As Justin I, he was proclaimed emperor in the hippodrome in accordance with tradition. Lupicina became his empress consort under the name Euphemia. The name was probably chosen for reasons of respectability. The original Euphemia was a Christian martyr during the Diocletianic Persecution. She was a local saint of Chalcedon and the Council of Chalcedon (451) had taken place in a cathedral consecrated in her name. An alleged miracle in her grave had supposedly confirmed the decisions taken. The selection of this name is suspected to be an early indication of both Justin and Lupicina being fervent Chalcedonian Christians. Anastasius had supported Monophysitism and his succession marked a change in religious policies.