2020-10-06 Tue

Aelia Eudoxia was a Roman Empress consort by marriage to the Roman Emperor Arcadius. Daughter of the Frankish general Flavius Bauto, She becomes one of the more powerful Roman empresses of late Antiquity.

The marriage was the source of some controversy, as it was arranged by Eutropius, one of the eunuch court officials, who attempted to expand his influence, and whom she later had executed. As Empress, she came into conflict with John Chrysostom, the Patriarch of Constantinople, who was popular among the common folk for his denunciations of imperial and clerical excess.

On 9 January 400, Eudoxia was officially given the title of an Augusta. She was then able to wear the purple paludamentum representing the imperial rank and was depicted in Roman coinage. The above shown gold solidus was issued from Constantinople mint. The obverse of a coin depicts the rosette-diademed and draped bust of Eudocia right. The reverse of a coin represents a cross within wreath.

She had five children, four of whom survived to adulthood, including her only son and future emperor Theodosius II, but she had two additional pregnancies that ended in either miscarriages or stillbirths and she died as a result of the latter one.

Image Source: Wikipedia.org