Five Women of Byzantium

By Robert E. Englekirk

The history of the pre-11th century Byzantine Empire introduces an important chapter in mankind’s quest for a better future for it presents the courageous, determined effort of the Byzantines to succeed and emphasizes the indomitable part of human nature. Their acts were often not consistent with what we characterize as conforming to a reasonable moral standard, but they do cater to an understood necessity. They are demonstrably the morality required to attain a meaningful objective.

As a consequence, the period has been swept into the ‘Dark Ages’, where it does not belong, for it truly was a period of Renaissance. Women played a significant part in the evolution of mankind for they often saved mankind from disaster. That their decisions were tough and not too different than those we must make today is clear.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Feb 18, 2020
• ISBN: 9781480885127

Robert E. Englekirk

Dr. Robert Englekirk applies his creative engineering capabilities (Getty Brentwood, Horton Plaza) to an assessment of the history of the Byzantine Empire. His goal was to discover how these people were able to advance civilization in an otherwise ‘Dark Age.’

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BOOKS BY ROBERT E. ENGLEKIRK

Earthquake Design of Concrete Masonry Buildings, Volume 1, Response Spectra and General Earthquake Modeling Considerations

Earthquake Design of Concrete Masonry Buildings, Volume 2, Strength Design of One- to Four-story Buildings

Steel Structures: Controlling Behavior through Design

Seismic Design of Reinforced and Precast Concrete Buildings

Appreciating Italy

Dawn or Dusk

World Enough for Me

A Farewell to Reason

Five Women

of

Byzantium

ROBERT E. ENGLEKIRK

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Copyright © 2020 Robert E. Englekirk.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Certain characters in this work are historical figures, and certain events portrayed did take place. However, this is a work of fiction. All of the other characters, names, and events as well as all places, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Archway Publishing

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Interior Image Credit: Natalie Englekirk

ISBN: 978-1-4808-8513-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-8511-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-8512-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020900607

Print information available onlast page.

Archway Publishing rev. date: 2/18/2020

DEDICATION

Without the constant support and encouragement of three women, this work would be but a frustration. In a humble attempt to express my sincere gratitude, I dedicate this work to my wife Natalie, for her usual fine cover art, my faithful editor Kathy Lee Choi, who translated my scribbles to English, and my right hand for almost 40 years, Joan Schulte.

CREDO

A woman is like a tea bag—you never know how strong she is until you put her in hot water.

- Elenore Roosevelt

Reason is no match for sentiment endorsed by fatuous parodies.

- Robert E. Englekirk

CONTENTS

Preface

BOOK 1 (429–527)

Prologue

Chapter 1    Sifting Through the Embers

Chapter 2    A Spark

Chapter 3    Accepting Fragility

Chapter 4    War with the Vandals

Chapter 5    Ariadne’s Lament

Chapter 6    Anastasius’s Travails

Chapter 7    Justin, the Intervener

BOOK 2 (527–641)

Prologue

Chapter 8    Justinian

Chapter 9    Theodora

Chapter 10    Belisarius

Chapter 11    Antonia

Chapter 12    The Pursuit of Sentiment

Chapter 13    The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful

Chapter 14    Reflections

Chapter 15    Heraclius

Chapter 16    Goodbye Rome

BOOK 3 PERPETUATION (641–797)

Prologue

Chapter 17    Transition

Chapter 18    Constans II

Chapter 19    Saving Europe

Chapter 20    Twenty Years of Pain

Chapter 21    Leo the (almost) Great

Chapter 22    Constantine V, Kopronymos

Chapter 23    Empress Irene

Chapter 24    Nikephoros I

Chapter 25    Sons of Chaos

Chapter 26    Fate Intervenes

BOOK 4 THE BYZANTINE RENAISSANCE

(787–1054)

Prologue

Chapter 27    Educating a Prince

Chapter 28    Mathematicus and Patriarch Nikephoros

Chapter 29    Al Andaluz

Chapter 30    An Empire in Transition

Chapter 31    Basil I, the Macedonian

Chapter 32    Photios

Chapter 33    The Balkans

Chapter 34    Leo VI, the Negotiator

Chapter 35    The Balkans

Chapter 36    Of Endless Torment

Chapter 37    Peace at Last

Chapter 38    Return of the Phokas

Chapter 39    Keeping the Peace

Chapter 40    Success Encourages Greed

Chapter 41    Defining Apogee

Chapter 42    Epilogue

Glossary

About the Author

PREFACE

Until the 19th century, historians referred to varying parts of eastern Europe, Asia Minor, and the Levant as a part of the Roman Empire; more specifically, that Eastern part of the Roman Empire that did not succumb to the barbarian hordes in the 5th century. In the 19th century, presumably to disassociate the evolving nature of this region from the greatness of Rome, it became known as the Byzantine Empire. An appropriate change, for its base was derived from the city that was founded by Byzas, the mythological son of Poseidon and grandson of Zeus.

That a clear distinction between Rome and its successor, Byzantium, is necessary was evinced in the histories written during the 19th and 20th centuries when historians describe the civilization that followed the fall of Rome in the 5th century.

…the most thoroughly base and despicable form of civilization… (Lecky, History of European Morals, 1859).

…a betrayal of all that was best in ancient Greece and Rome… (Gibbons, 1950).

Is it any wonder that the story of Byzantium was swept indecorously into the Dark Ages?

This story of the pre- 11th century Byzantine Empire casts it as an important chapter in mankind’s quest for a better future. Misguided at times, but this is an inescapable part of going forward, which, like Sisyphus, we have learned to accept. In effect, the story presents the courageous and determined efforts of these Byzantines to succeed. This, fortunately, is an indomitable part of human nature.

Their acts, as Lecky proposes, are not consistent with what we characterize as conforming to a reasonable moral standard, but they do cater to an understood necessity. The Greeks refer to this deviation as axiological ethics, or the morality required to attain a meaningful objective.

Christians they were, arguably the first. They took the words of Augustine and tried to circumscribe the unknowable. This dedication to specificity created ecumenical chasms that defied closure. Philosophy took a back seat to God, reason yielded to sentiment, and the likes of Cicero were resuscitated. The church, for the first time, condemned slavery. The law significantly expanded the rights of women. A comprehensive education system was created. Hardly a Dark Age!

Women played a significant part in the evolution of the empire, often saving it from a sure disaster. For the first time in 1,500 years, a woman was given the full power of an emperor of Rome.

Was imperial rule defined by betrayal as Gibbons proposes? Hardly. Striving to attain a dream is far more difficult than just perceiving the vision. I think this we all accept.

Much of the literature of Byzantium has recently become available, and this allows a window into the minds of the people of the period. That their decisions were tough is clear, but a path to Oz will never be made available to humans. Enlightened by their travails, we are better positioned to deal with similar problems, should we elect to do so. History tempered by reason continues to be our best guide to the future.

By the middle of the 5th century Rome had existed in one form or another for more than 1,000 years. It extended from the Persian Gulf to Scotland and from the Rhine to the Strait of Gibraltar. Its system of governance enabled a civilization that had been able to coordinate the productivity of a diverse ethnic group.

By the end of the 3rd century, its size defied effective control. Diocletian, realizing this, divided the empire: creating Eastern and Western components whose divide followed the longitudinal axis of the Adriatic Sea.

The world experienced a climate change during this period. Europe became cooler, and a migration from north to south added to the problems of governance. The culture of these migrating Norsemen was not that of the Romans. Their form of governance followed what was appropriate to that of a clan. The blending process was slow and at times painful.

Constantine the Great endeavored to reorganize and reunite the empire to more effectively deal with these migrating barbarians. The traditional capital, Rome, was geographically poorly located. The capital had been moved to Milan in the 3rd century, but this soon put it not only in harm’s way but somewhat distanced from Rome’s superhighway: the Mediterranean Sea. Various alternatives were tried. Ravenna prospered during the northern expansion of the Trajan epoch, but as the empire grew, it, too, became isolated.

Constantine realized that the economic center of the empire was moving east, and he chose to follow it. He settled on the ancient Greek city, Byzas, founded in the 7th century BC. Located on a ridge overlooking the southern estuary of the Bosporus, it had been colonized by Emperor Septimius Severus at the end of the 2nd century. The city soon adopted the name Constantinople.

During the second half of the 5th century, Rome became the property of barbarian clans, while the eastern part of the empire survived. Its capital, Constantinople, is where our story starts. The focal interest of the story lies in trying to understand how this, the Eastern branch of the Roman Empire, could in 500 years regain the glories of Ancient Rome.

The selected title is a product of our time. The women of Byzantium were seldom allowed the presumed peace of an idol. They accepted responsibility when times demanded and usurped it as conditions required. My quantification is not intended to exclude, for Byzantine women responded to many issues. History was, during this period, written by men and copied by scribes in a monastic environment. Fortunately, this barrier has been gradually eroded. Women were accepted in the published world of literature during the Italian Renaissance (Christine de Pizan, 1405).

The history of the Byzantine period of ascendency (5th to mid- 11th century) allows an examination of the role women played in saving western civilization. The selected women were:

Empress Aelia Pulcheria (398—453) rescued the Eastern Roman Empire from the ashes of Rome.

Empress Theodora (500—548) delivered the Byzantine Empire from chaos.

Empress Irene of Athens (752—803) freed faith from the grasp of the iconoclasts.

Empress Zoe Carbonospina (c. 866—919) prevailed over attempts by the aristocrats and the Church to eliminate a successful Macedonian Dynasty, poised on creating prosperity for all.

Empress Zoe Porphyrogenita (978—1050) sequentially ruled for 22 years alongside 3 husbands, her adopted son, and her elder sister, providing the continuity that allowed the empire to reach its apogee.

The spelling of names and places vary according to author preference. This is a consequence of the extended time frame of the novel. The Eastern Roman Empire’s language of preference and administrative communication was Latin. Gradually this changed for the idiom of the people was Greek. The language of the law changed to Greek with the publication of the Basilica, circa 900. The major variants were the use of letters, which change to respect pronunciation characteristics. u and o are the most common, but c and k are frequent. Once an individual was accepted into a royal family his or her name was changed to acknowledge their rank. The imperial honorific name tends to yield to sentiment, family tradition and cultural heritage. I have tried to use the spelling that I believe to be most appropriate.

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Map of Constantinople

BOOK 1

(429–527)

PROLOGUE

The impact Pulcheria had on the evolution of the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantine Empire, as historians of our time chose to identify it, is too often glossed over. Foremost amongst these omissions is the impact her election to withdraw from a confrontation with the Vandals had on the development of the Byzantine Empire. The West and history view her order to leave Sicily as treason. This apparently disloyal act continues to dominate our perception of the fall of Rome. Unfortunately, it detracts from the important role Pulcheria played in the rebirth of the Roman Empire.

In 429 the Vandals crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and swept across North Africa until they reached Tunisia, destroying everything in their path. A tenuous peace was broken in 439 when the Vandals subjugated Carthage. Rome was determined to retrieve their breadbasket. The Western Empire asked the East to participate. The East sent the Byzantine Navy to Syracuse to ferry Aëtius and the Army of the West to Africa. They demurred for over a year at the expense of the Sicilians. Pulcheria recalled the navy and the Army of the West withdrew, abandoning the venture.

Was Pulcheria rational in her demand that the navy return to Constantinople? A tenuous peace with Persia had been reached in 440. The Huns had taken a major Byzantine city located at the junction of the Danube and Sava Rivers. The Germanic tribes were pushing into Gaul, while the Goths were strengthening their hold on the Italian and Iberian Peninsulas. Her emperor brother Theodosius II was more interested in hunting than governance. Why should she engage an opponent 1500 miles away? Reason was on her side.

Six other emperors ruled during this period. Two of these reigned for less than a year. The others came from the army or advanced through administrative assignments, and education was not a part of their background.

The path of the empire was upward, but the road would prove to be rocky.

CHAPTER 1

Sifting Through the Embers

Bahar entered Pulcheria’s bedchamber as silently as a feather floating on a soft breeze. She had not been called but sensed her mistress’s need.

Bahar, is that you?

Yes, Augusta, you called?

"I did not. You appeared like the mist, but that is what I like about you Persian girls. Come and administer to my aching back. I must have slept on a bed of rocks last night.

Oh, that does feel so good. Your hands are so strong, yet I hardly feel them. So different from those Slavic girls my sisters choose. Am I late for my meeting with Priscus?

A bit, but he will wait patiently. Too bad he cannot come to you.

Had you not served me faithfully for so many years, I would reward your insolence appropriately. Men will never be allowed in this part of the palace.

Except for the eunuchs.

There you go again! After you fix my face, I will decide how to punish you. I bet you didn’t learn this audacity in Persia. What have you selected for my dress today?

Here, let me help you sit up, my empress.

It amazes me how you slight Asian girls are able to lift us descendants of barbarians with so much ease. Hurry now, I am anxious to hear what Priscus has to say.

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Pulcheria

Good morning Priscus. It has been some time.

Too long, he lied. No one liked me, but their affection had never been my goal. How may I serve you today? he continued.

I hear that you have lost your job.

Not that I am aware of, unless you plan to replace me as Magister Officiorum.

No, of course not. You have done an excellent job coordinating the foreign affairs of the East. You work for the emperor, and I would never usurp my husband’s authority, I lied with the sweetest smile, sure that he knew that.

Oh, you mean my embassy to the Hun, Priscus replied, imitating my smile as best he could.

Exactly. Rumor has it that Attila the Hun is dead.

More than rumor, I’m afraid, Priscus almost mumbled.

How did this come about?

The rumors are many and include the possibility that he was murdered. This I doubt for no one has that much courage.

Did he not pull his armies out of both Gaul and Northern Italy? Would a hero do that? I asked.

I was with him on both occasions. Attila’s motives in Gaul are not well reported on. I don’t believe that he expected the Goths to respond as they did, and he elected to seek out a foe that he could conquer. This he found in Italy.

So why is he not the emperor of the West?

Disease was rampant and food hard to find when he pillaged Northern Italy last year. His wagons were full of the prizes that he had promised his troops in Gaul. The Hun homeland was assured after his cleansing of Northern Italy, and in all likelihood, he felt that he needed to punish the Eastern Empire for our many breaches of our peace accord.

Obviously this baits my concern. Will his successor not follow through and ‘cleanse us’?

Not likely. He had three sons, and though they have dreamed of glory, they were not given the talent or fortitude to pursue what to them seemed so easily attained by their father. Attila sensed the futility associated with conquering the East, and this I believe his sons will soon accept. Those who come from the steppes and the north were bred in a clan or tribal existence. His sons will not be able to overcome their heritage.

This I can accept. My thrust must be to continue to strengthen the East so as to avoid the path to perdition pursued in the West, I replied.

If I might be so bold, replied Priscus, your energies must have as a focus your health.

Now that your chronicling of Attila has reached an end, the historian within you must seek an outlet.

It will and it has. I plan to chronicle the path of the East and focus on what I am convinced will bring about our emergence from the Sisyphean decline that has the Roman Empire in its grasp.

Courageously I asked, And what will historians have to say about me?

As though handed a hot potato, Priscus squirmed briefly but then courageously replied, Probably not much, which he immediately qualified. Seldom if ever do people realize the importance of early acts. The captain of a trireme, for example, may alter its course, an act that is seldom perceived to have resulted in the attainment of the desired port, yet absent the tacking operation the objective would not have been reached.

That seems a stretch. The direction of the wind would explain the need to an interested party.

Other factors are involved, replied Priscus obviously intent on avoiding any form of confrontation. Principal among them is that historians are males, and the attribution of heroic acts to a woman detracts from their credibility. Your brother Theodosios II was the emperor, so to him go even the unrecognized credits. One can make the same analogy with regard to your husband, Marcian, our current emperor.

So, my efforts will be either overlooked or attributed to others?

The Church will take the lead. You will probably not have exhaled your last breath when your sainthood is proclaimed. Then, as you repeatedly have avowed, your acts will be attributed to Christ who is your self-proclaimed husband and God his Father.

It was my turn to agonize. Had I been too firm in identifying the source of my conclusions? You then will properly attribute my acts?

I will try, but remember, the written words of our times will be copied by scribes of the church, and the translation will not always be literal or reflect the circumstances that impacted the decision-making process.

We have lost our focus. The future must be left to those who must deal with it. I can go to my Maker with a clear conscience. God will not question my participation in founding the Orthodox University of Constantinople, for example.

No, certainly not. Athens might, but God will not. There are other acts that might not be so readily accepted.

This was going to be more controversial than I had thought. How could I defend a life’s work in an hour? "That I managed the affairs of my brother the emperor needs little explanation. The same God created both him and me. My brother liked hunting, literature and philosophy, not administering to an empire.

So, I was ordained to fulfill his role. At 15 I was proclaimed Augusta and immediately dispensed with the administrator appointed by my father. You can read all about this in Sozomen."

His Ecclesiastical History?

Yes, of course.

I doubt that Sozomen has dared to launder decades of dirty clothes.

No, certainly not to the extent required. These last forty years have been a product of my creation, and it has taken some time for me to clean the mess up, but I have. How will you treat the matter?

Delicately, Priscus replied. As I understand it, it was you who discovered Athenais and promoted her marriage to your brother. Should we start with examining the consequences of this decision? History surely will.

"Naively I believed that ‘puppy love’ would forever occupy him. It did not.

His bride made the next fifteen or so years of my life more like hell, I replied, as I tried to restructure the events in my mind. Aelia Eudocia, which became her Christian name, and Theodosios were married in 421. Things went well until Galla Placidia was exiled to the East. We soon began to vie for her affection, as young girls tend to do. I insisted that we replace Galla and the Theodosian family back on the Western throne. Will you report this as the product of a jealous child? I hope not.

This must have been a contentious issue. Had the East not refused to accept Galla’s husband, Constantius, as Co-Emperor of the West?

My brother and his advisors were convinced that Constantius was planning to retake the East. Now, Eudocia argued for a complete separation. ‘Let the Goths have the West,’ a position that I could not support, let alone overrule. My brother was no longer under my regency.

How should I explain what followed? Priscus asked as humbly as possible.

I had to regain control of the Eastern Empire. Faced with the mounting opposition, I courted the support of the military, a relationship that is key to the success of any ruler. Ardaburias, Magister Militum of the East and his son Aspar agreed to work with me. You know the rest.

Valentinian was proclaimed Augustus of the West, and Galla Placidia became his regent, offered Priscus.

Not as easily as you make it sound. The wedge was widening the gap.

This I can see, Priscus replied. Unfortunately, historians will only report the results.

Fuel was added to this competition by my brother’s eunuch, Chrysaphius, and it became three against one.

Nestorius got into the fracas, as I recall.

He became the Archbishop of Constantinople in 428. Now there were four of them and things got vicious. The Nestorian issue drove a wedge between us that ultimately caused me to leave the palace and live in Hebdomon.

A resort town on the Sea of Marmara does not sound like purgatory.

"I made my brother depose Nestorius and ban Nestorianism at the Council of Ephesus in 431. How could they not understand that Christ’s nature was both human and divine, and that Mary was a God?

Sisyphus prevailed for down the hill slid the rock. They accused me, a confirmed virgin, of having relationships with 7 men, and it was then that I was sent to Hebdomon.

Priscus broke the silence that followed with questions relating to the Vandals and North Africa. My interest in Africa was minimal. The Vandals crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and by 431 were in control of all but Carthage. I was not in a position to deal with anything other than the Nestorian affair. The West had asked us to join them in their quest to reclaim North Africa. Had I a voice I would have opted to stay home. Why join hands with people who had threatened you, to fight a battle 1500 miles away?

But you did send the navy to Sicily in 441?

"Once again I had pressing issues at home. By 438 I was in a position to rid the East of my daughter-in-law. Revenge is sweet. Fight fire with fire if you prefer. Something was going on for Eudocia’s father fulfilled a wedding promise and sent her to Jerusalem for a year. After seventeen years?

When she returned, rumors started to fly about a relationship she was having with a man named Paulinus.

You had nothing to do with this, of course, commented Priscus taking advantage of a brief pause.

Choosing not to answer I proceeded, The walls of Constantinople had been destroyed by an earthquake in 437, and as I recall you cautioned us about the Huns. Were they not harassing Persia, Thrace and Illyricum? Had the West not drawn heavily from their Danube forces to deal with the Vandal threat? We didn’t need to go to Sicily to find excitement, did we?

So, when Aspar was sent to Sicily in 441 it was part of a negotiation between you and your brother?

I never said that, I replied indignantly. I did manage Aspar’s recall in 442.

That was the year that Paulinus lost his head, commented Priscus dryly.

Yes, and the next year saw my beloved sister-in-law banished for life to Jerusalem.

Should I write the story as you have related it, the Church would surely have it scrubbed. You will, by that time, be a saint.

So, I will not be included in your history?

Of course, you will. You have set the cornerstone for a great empire. I expect to discuss how the spirit you instilled in your people and through Marcian effected the transition from monarchy to oligarchy.

Not this morning, certainly. Bahar has come to minister to my needs, which are many. Perhaps you could join me for dinner? My story must be told.

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Priscus returned just before sunset as I had requested. We took a brief look at the descending spring sun and quickly retired to a small room that gave off the colonnaded court. A fire provided the heat that was becoming more important to me with each passing year.

I have a real treat for you tonight, I said as we settled down by the fire. Beluga caviar followed by Danube Sturgeon.

We are indeed fortunate to have the Black Sea at our back door, Priscus replied with a warm smile. He must have realized that my endurance was limited, so he did not waste time on meaningless chatter.

May we start with the Theodosian Codex?

As good a place as any. It will surely be remembered as my brother’s contribution. In reality the thrust was my niece’s. When Galla was released by the Goths and charged with the management of the Western Empire, she soon understood the problems faced by those who must enforce the law. Most laws were direct derivatives of the ‘Tablets’ then at least 1,000 years old. Their last change was presumed to govern, but who knew what the last change might have been or to whom it applied—slave or senator?

Can you set a date?

Somewhere around 418. In the ensuing four years the assigned task force made a significant amount of progress, and the result was a reasonably uniform codex. This you can confirm in the records of the senate of Rome, for they demanded separate courts. ‘You cannot bring a senator and a serf before the same judge’ was a point to which Galla yielded. She did not exclude herself from the mandates of her proposed codex.

Theodosios would have been 17 and Valentinian but an infant, commented Priscus. How were her efforts realized?

She brought her codex to the Eastern Court when she was exiled. I was in my mid-twenties and had been trying to lead the East as pseudo regent for a disinterested brother. I was acutely aware of the need for an effective codex.

Your brother was then in his late teens?

Yes, and much more interested in his new bride.

That was the year you founded your Academy? Did it have a law school?

Of course, and its products were assigned the task of developing a draft codex in 429. It was first published for review in 438.

It is now referred to as the Theodosian/Valentinian Codex, commented Priscus shaking his head. Why did you not call it the Placidia/Pulcheria Codex?

I could not resist a concurring smile. The adopted title was intended to reflect that it applied to both the East and West, not imply that either of them had anything to do with its content. Valentinian was but 19, and the East was a battleground for administrative control and survival given the Huns to our north, Vandals to the south, and the ever-pesky Yazdegerd to the east. Nevertheless, Galla and I caused the codex to be reviewed by both senates. It was published in 439.

The codex was well received and followed, as I understand it, commented Priscus, obviously intent on changing the subject. I confirmed that it was well received in the East but suspected not in the West, where Valentinian was in the process of wrestling control from his mother.

Spirit has always been a key to the survival of any organization. The East seems to have had a much more positive spirit than the West. How did this come about?

This I had not expected. I had invited a historian not a psychologist. Priscus must have noticed how my gaze dwelt on his glass of wine. Are you not allowed to drink wine?

My doctors forbid it and the kitchen help would be flogged should they violate this mandate. Bahar is beyond their reach and senses my every need. As predicted Bahar silently appeared with a small glass of wine and I tried to formulate a response.

In spirit I presume that you refer to a motivational process. Our emotions are easily activated. Usually, they tend to distort, as Plato contended, the true way of seeing the world because they conflict with reason.

As an infantry attacking an impregnable city wall?

Exactly. The alternative is not so easily accomplished for the proposed act must complement reason and appeal to moral values.

And in this, the East had a much sounder base?

Of course. The best example of this principle occurred after the devastating earthquake of 447, which collapsed over 50 towers and much of the wall that protected our fair city.

I remember it well. The Huns could be expected with the arrival of spring. Your people responded immediately. The wall was replaced, and when the Huns arrived, they turned back.

A great day for sure but it was only one of many.

Priscus once again shook his head and lamented, In Rome the patricians and plebes would have argued until Rome burned.

That societal divide is common to all aggregations. It existed in Constantinople then as it does now.

I understand, replied Priscus. The immediate presence of danger motivated your response.

I suppose that history will view it as being that simple, but our enemies were not at our doorstep. The Balkan range was between the Huns and us, and Anatolia and the Bosporus shielded us from the Persians. I had pulled us out of the Vandal fracas, and our military was pragmatically led and controlled by me and my then loyal general Aspar.

The essential component was in place and the moral fiber in the East much stronger than that in the West, concluded Priscus sensing my desire to conclude his examination. One last explanation would give me plenty to work on. Can you briefly explain your Marcian maneuver?

This brought a broad smile to my face and renewed vitality. That was my most satisfying manipulation, I replied with a chuckle. Combat has always invigorated me, especially when it comes unannounced.

It all sounds so simple, commented Priscus. Your brother falls off a horse and dies. He has no sons, so you become the empress.

And this is the way you historians will report it no doubt. I was lucky, I guess! I think it appropriate but let me start by suggesting the various intrigues. My brother was not popular with either Aspar or Flavius Zeno, who were respectively Magister Militum of our Occident and Orient.

I presume they were offended by your brother’s practice of ‘buying off the Huns.’

Undoubtedly. These monies came from their budgets and were in fact a direct insult. Aspar is mild-mannered but Flavius is of Isaurian origin.

Isaurians hail from the rugged mountains that form the southern fringe of Anatolia, Priscus commented more to lower my blood pressure than inform me of something that I obviously knew.

Respecting his obvious concern, I lowered my voice and continued at a slower pace. Like most mountain people, the Isaurians are not inclined to be abused. It is rumored that they might have encouraged my brother’s accident—he was an excellent horseman.

That’s water under the bridge, interjected Priscus.

That may be, but Valentinian and the West were quick to avail themselves of the opening. Valentinian immediately proclaimed himself Emperor of the East, and the Senate of the West advised that a woman could not serve as sole empress.

My response put an end to their position. I married Marcian, a Roman and respected military leader. They thought that they had me there for according to Roman Law ‘All marriages must be consummated,’ and this they knew I would not do.

Please confirm the rumors surrounding your solution, Priscus asked, as any responsible historian would.

Our church proclaimed that ‘Christ himself sponsored the union’, and this no one could contradict.

Thankfully, Bahar put an end to the evening. I was exhausted, and the apparent futility of my recitations added to my weariness.

CHAPTER 2

A Spark

Pulcheria

I was dozing peacefully when Bahar ever so gently nudged me, Your husband asks permission to visit you. May I allow him to enter your chamber?

Of course not, I grumbled. You know the rules. No man is allowed to violate the sanctity of my domain. Are the eunuchs all asleep?

The eunuchs were unable to dissuade him, and my appeals seemed only to encourage him to violate the sanctity of your room.

I turned my head towards the door where my husband stood in obvious reverence. Remove yourself, I unconvincingly murmured, but the tone of my voice was not at all convincing. Marcian offered his customary obeisance and advanced to the edge of my bed. You look comfortable, and I am following your doctor’s orders. They feel that your spirit should be raised.

I have asked you to leave, must I call the guards? What do these doctors know? My condition is transitory, I lied. I am only 54 and will live many more years. I will call when I wish to speak to you. Be gone!

Marcian’s smile was, as always, mesmerizing. I had not the breath to admonish him further.

I have been talking to your biographer, Priscus. He seems intent on portraying your accomplishments in a most positive way. I have been helping him as best I can. Perhaps you might be willing to consider what I have told him? How could I refuse him? Besides, I knew that he would proceed anyway for that was his nature.

The time has flown by. It has been less than three years since you chose to make me your husband. His patient style allowed me enough time to interrupt, You mean conditions demanded that I marry you?

Priscus’s version, and I believed it to be true, is that when your brother Theodosius II died in that riding accident, Theodosius III, The Great’s grandson and emperor of the West, claimed the throne of the East. You were not a candidate as an unwed female. So Aspar found me. Fortunately, the two of you were able to dissuade the other suitors.

Aspar put that program together before the West could even react. He had nothing good to say about Theodosius III. Bad blood never dries, nor would either of them ever forget the Sicily debacle. He knew that if Theodosius were to become his master, he would be pushing a plow in Thrace.

We have accomplished a lot in those three years but imagine what we could have done had we been given thirty years? I said with a sigh.

Maybe the doctors had been right. My mood was improving. God’s acts are not easily explained, and rapid transformations do not fit His style. He must have inspired Aspar, for he cannot be faulted for choosing you.

Aspar and his father knew me well, continued Marcian. I had faithfully served them for 15 years. I was involved in the Ravenna campaign that placed your niece back on the throne in the West, as well as the Carthage fiasco in 439. Fortunately, Aspar is an Alani by birth, and this allowed the Vandals to spare us at Carthage.

Obedient you were. Who would marry a 50-year old virgin bitch? I had my doubts, but they were relieved by your first act, for it was truly a bold one.

I presume you refer to the immediate cancellation of all treaty-incurred debts to Attila and his Hun hoards. Most thought me crazy, but it was not that much of a gamble. Attila was, in the fall of 450, in the process of moving his army to the valley of the River Inn north of the Alps. It was obvious that he had his sights set on Gaul and in particular Aquitaine. He could not afford to change his mind. Priscus was with Attila and reported Attila’s intentions faithfully.

But that did not mean that he could not return to haunt us after he was finished in the West, I replied