Zeno (emperor)

Zeno
Semissis issued during Zeno's second reign marked: d·n· zeno perp· aug·
Roman emperor in the East
1st reign	29 January 474 – 9 January 475
Predecessor	Leo II
Successor	Basiliscus
2nd reign	August 476 – 9 April 491
Successor	Anastasius I
Western emperors	Julius Nepos (474–480) Romulus Augustulus (475–476)
Born	Tarasis[1] c. 425 Rusumblada (thereafter Zenopolis), Isauria, Cilicia (now Elmayurdu, Karaman, Turkey)
Died	9 April 491 (aged c. 65) Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey)
Spouse	Arcadia Ariadne
Issue	Zenon (by Arcadia) Leo II (by Ariadne)
Regnal name Latin: Imperator Caesar Zeno Augustus ‹See Tfd›Greek: Αὐτοκράτωρ καῖσαρ Ζήνων αὐγουστος[2]
Dynasty	Leonid
Father	Kodisa
Mother	Lallis

Zeno (/ˈziːnoʊ/; ‹See Tfd›Greek: Ζήνων, translit. Zénōn; c. 425 – 9 April 491) was Eastern Roman emperor from 474 to 475 and again from 476 to 491. His reign was plagued by domestic revolts and religious dissension, but was more successful on the foreign front. He is credited with further stabilizing the Eastern empire, while the Western Roman Empire fell following the deposition of Romulus Augustulus.

Born in Isauria, Zeno was known as Tarasis before adopting his Greek name and becoming an ally of Emperor Leo I, who saw the Isaurian general as an important counterweight against the Germanic leader Aspar. In 466, he married Leo I's daughter, Ariadne, with whom he had a son, Leo. On the death of Leo I in 474, Zeno's seven-year-old son took the throne as Leo II, with Zeno made co-emperor shortly after. Leo II died of an illness later that year, leaving Zeno as the sole emperor.

Despite his early success in making peace with the Vandals, Zeno was an unpopular emperor due to his barbarian origins. In early 475, he was forced to flee Constantinople in a revolt orchestrated in part by dowager Empress Verina, which concluded with Leo I's brother-in-law Basiliscus installing himself as emperor. Seeking refuge in his native Isauria, Zeno later took advantage of Basiliscus's own flagging popularity, convinced the generals Illus and Armatus to defect, marched on the capital and reclaimed the throne in mid-476. Meanwhile, in the western empire, Germanic leader Odoacer deposed the final Western Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, and sent the imperial regalia to Constantinople. He expressly acknowledged the suzerainty of Zeno over the West, making Zeno the theoretical sole ruler of a reunified empire. In return, Zeno recognised Odoacer's de facto reign in Italy.

In the late 470s and 480s Zeno faced several revolts, including one from his brother-in-law Marcianus and one from Illus, both of which he ultimately suppressed. He also attempted to deal with hostilities from the two Ostrogothic leaders, Theodoric the Amal (Theodoric the Great) and Theodoric Strabo, by playing them against each other. Following Strabo's early death, Zeno was able to achieve a lasting peace with Theodoric by sending him to Italy, where he defeated Odoacer and established the Ostrogothic Kingdom.

In religious matters, Zeno issued the Henotikon in 482 on the advice of Acacius, the Patriarch of Constantinople, in an unsuccessful attempt to reconcile the differences between the Chalcedonians and the Miaphysites over the nature of Christ. Pope Felix III condemned the document and excommunicated Acacius in 484, beginning the Acacian schism which lasted until 519. Zeno died without an heir in 491 and was succeeded by Anastasius I Dicorus, a courtier chosen by Empress Ariadne.