On This Day In Roman History, February 9
Zeno the Isaurian is proclaimed co-emperor alongside the seven-year-old Leo II by his wife Ariadne and her mother Verina on February 9, 474 CE. A month ago to the day I discussed Zeno's initial loss of power and his resulting fleeing of the capital on January 9, 475 CE. This original reign lasted just under a year and allowed Zeno to become the sole Emperor after Leo II, still just 7 years old, become ill and died in November of 474. Zeno found success in this time via diplomatic triumphs with the Vandal King, Genseric. He set up a prisoner and ransom exchange system as well as stipulating a peace both on land and at sea, positively affecting trade routes that were previously adversely affected. He was still received somewhat negatively in the public eye at this time, mainly due to his foreign origin. The only right to rule as Emperor that Zeno carried was ultimately limited to his marriage with Ariadne. Zeno's mother-in-law, Verina, would soon attempt to elevate her brother Basiliscus to Emperor. She would utilize the negative public opinion of Zeno to overthrow him in January of 475, where shortly thereafter Zeno was forced to flee Constantinople.
Did you know?
After Zeno regained power in August of 476, another revolt would almost prove to once again overthrow him. Zeno's brother-in-law, Flavius Marcianus, attempted with his brothers to usurp the throne. After an initial assault on the Imperial palace, Zeno was forced to flee under the protection of a hastily levied Isaurian force from the nearby maritime town of Chalcedon. Zeno recouped enough forces the following day to corner and arrest the usurper and his brothers. After several escape attempts by Marcianus, he was eventually successful in fleeing and assembling a small force. He would be stopped on the field of battle by a Flavius Appallius Illus Trocundus, and subsequently captured.
Pictured: Relief of Ariadne, elder daughter of Emperor Leo I and wife of Zeno. Photo by: Andreas Praefcke, via Wikimedia Commons.
Zeno, like so many other Eastern Emperors, had to deal with the rising cult of the Monophysites. He attempted to remedy the split with a work of writing called the Henotikon. The Monophysites, declared very heretical by the Orthodox Christians, had a very different outlook on theology concerning Christianity. They believed that the divine natures of Christ and humans were one while the Orthodox did not.
Opinion
It is easy to call the strange ideas of a "heretical cult" like that of the mentioned Monophysites a relic of Christianity. It is my opinion that these ideas were closer to becoming the dominant way of thinking in Eastern Christianity than one might initially think. If things had just gone a little differently there could very well be 300 million practicing Monophysite Christians today, rather than Eastern Orthodox Christians. While Zeno's writing and meditation did help reconcile the two branches of Christianity found under him, it would not be his work that solved the issue; only the passage of time and the cultural consolidation of a single religion would do this.
Sources
Meyendorff, J. (1989). Imperial unity and Christian divisions: the church, 450-680 AD. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press.
Mitchell, S. (2007). A history of the later Roman Empire, AD 284-641: the transformation of the ancient world. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub.
Runciman, S., & Jeffreys, E. (2006). Byzantine style, religion, and civilization: in honour of Sir Steven Runciman. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Further Reading:
Special Thanks: Michael Houghan
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