Aelia Eudoxia was a Roman empress consort by marriage to the Roman emperor Arcadius. The marriage was the source of some controversy, as it was arranged by Eutropius, one of the eunuch court officials, who was attempting to expand his influence. 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. 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.
John Chrysostom confronting Aelia Eudoxia, in a 19th-century painting by Jean-Paul Laurens
Arcadius was Roman emperor from 383 to his death in 408. He was the eldest son of the Augustus Theodosius I and his first wife Aelia Flaccilla, and the brother of Honorius. Arcadius ruled the eastern half of the empire from 395, when their father died, while Honorius ruled the west. A weak ruler, his reign was dominated by a series of powerful ministers and by his wife, Aelia Eudoxia.
Bust of an emperor at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum, most likely Arcadius.
A young Arcadius is depicted on the right of the Missorium of Theodosius. C. 388 AD.
The emperors Arcadius, Honorius and Theodosius I depicted in the 12th century Manasses Chronicle.
Portrait head of an emperor, potentially Arcadius.
