Leo I (emperor)

The Roman Empire in 460 during the reign of Leo

He was born in Thracia or in Dacia Aureliana province in the year 401 to a Thraco-Roman family.[6] His Dacian origin[7] is mentioned by Candidus Isaurus,[8][9] while John Malalas believes that he was of Bessian stock.[8][10] He served in the Roman army, rising to the rank of comes rei militaris. Leo was the last of a series of emperors placed on the throne by Aspar, the Alan serving as commander-in-chief of the army, who thought Leo would be an easy puppet ruler. Instead, Leo became more and more independent from Aspar, causing tension that would culminate in Aspar's assassination.

Leo's coronation as emperor on 7 February 457,[11][12] was the first to add a Christian element to the traditional Roman procedure, having been performed by the Patriarch of Constantinople,[13] a fact which symbolized the transformation of Roman imperial traditions into Byzantine and Christian ones. This medieval Byzantine coronation ritual was later imitated by courts all over Europe.[14]

Leo I made an alliance with the Isaurians and was thus able to eliminate Aspar. The price of the alliance was the marriage of Leo's daughter to Tarasicodissa, leader of the Isaurians, who, as Zeno, became emperor in 474. In 469, Aspar attempted to assassinate Zeno[15] and very nearly succeeded. Finally, in 471, Aspar's son Ardabur was implicated in a plot against Leo but was killed by palace eunuchs acting on Leo's orders.[16] The purge of Aspar and his relatives later earned him the nickname "the Butcher" (Μακέλλης).[1][2]

Gold solidus of Leo I, struck 462–473 AD at Constantinople.

Leo sometimes overestimated his abilities and made mistakes that threatened the internal order of the Empire. The Balkans were ravaged by the Ostrogoths, after a disagreement between the Emperor and the young chief Theodoric the Great, who had been raised at Leo's court in Constantinople, where he was steeped in Roman government and military tactics. There were also some raids by the Huns. However, these attackers were unable to take Constantinople thanks to the walls, which had been rebuilt and reinforced in the reign of Theodosius II and against which they possessed no suitable siege engines.

Leo's reign was also noteworthy for his influence in the Western Roman Empire, marked by his appointment of Anthemius as Western Roman emperor in 467. He attempted to build on this political achievement with an expedition against the Vandals in 468, which was defeated due to the arrogance of Leo's brother-in-law Basiliscus. This disaster drained the Empire of men and money. Procopius estimated the costs of the expedition to be 130,000 pounds of gold; John the Lydian estimated the costs to be 65,000 pounds of gold and 750,000 pounds of silver.[17] The expedition consisted of 1,113 ships carrying 100,000 men; 600 of these ships were lost during the expedition. After this defeat, the Vandals raided Greek coasts until a costly peace agreement was signed between Leo and Genseric. Leo became very unpopular in his last days as Emperor for abolishing any non-religious celebration or event on Sundays.[18]

Leo died of dysentery at the age of 73 on 18 January 474.[19][20][21]

Leo and Verina had three children. Their eldest daughter Ariadne was born prior to the death of Marcian (reigned 450 – 457).[22] Ariadne had a younger sister, Leontia. Leontia was first betrothed to Patricius, a son of Aspar, but their engagement was probably annulled when Aspar and another of his sons, Ardabur, were assassinated in 471. Leontia then married Marcian, a son of Emperor Anthemius and Marcia Euphemia. The couple led a failed revolt against Zeno in 478–479. They were exiled to Isauria following their defeat.[23]

An unknown son was born in 463. He died five months following his birth. The only sources about him are a horoscope by Rhetorius and a hagiography of Daniel the Stylite.[23] The Georgian Chronicle, a 13th-century compilation drawing from earlier sources, reports a marriage of Vakhtang I of Iberia to Princess Helena of Byzantium, identifying her as a daughter of the predecessor of Zeno.[24] This predecessor was probably Leo I, the tale attributing a third daughter to Leo. Cyril Toumanoff identified two children of this marriage: Mithridates of Iberia; and Leo of Iberia. This younger Leo was father of Guaram I of Iberia. The accuracy of the descent is unknown.

• Church of St. Mary of the Spring (Istanbul)
• Life-giving Spring
• List of Byzantine emperors

• Ostrogorsky, George (1956). History of the Byzantine State. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
• Bury, John Bagnell (1958). History of the Later Roman Empire: from the death of Theodosius I to the death of Justinian. Dover books. Vol. 1. Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-20398-0.
• Friell, Gerard (1998). The Rome That Did Not Fall: The Survival of the East in the Fifth Century. Ancient history. London: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-15403-1.
• Meyendorff, John (1989). Imperial unity and Christian divisions: The Church 450-680 A.D. The Church in history. Vol. 2. Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press. ISBN 978-0-88-141056-3.
• Thomas F. Madden (Presenter) (2006). Empire of Gold: A History of the Byzantine Empire; Lecture 2: Justinian and the Reconquest of the West, 457–565 (Audio book). Prince Frederick: Recorded Books. ISBN 978-1-4281-3267-2.
• Profile of Leo I in the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire.
• Profile of Leo I in the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium.
• Stephen Williams, Gerard Friell, The Rome that Did Not Fall The Survival of the East in the Fifth Century, Routledge Press, 1999, ISBN 0-415-15403-0

• Media related to Flavius Valerius Leo at Wikimedia Commons
• Leo I Timeline