Born: 401 (circa), Greece
Died: 20 October 460
Country most active: Turkey
Also known as: Saint Eudocia, Athenais
This biography was originally published in the World History Encyclopedia and was written by Joshua J. Mark. It is shared in line with the Encyclopedia’s policies under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Eudocia (l. c. 400-460) was one of the most prolific writers of her time, who created numerous works on Christian themes which, like Proba’s work, drew on pre-Christian literature. She was born in Athens and named Athenais before converting to Christianity around the age of 20 and taking the name Aelia Eudocia following her baptism. Her works were quite popular and ranged from a cento drawing on Homer to poetry about her husband’s life and military victories, to saints’ lives and church history. She is probably best known for her work The Martyrdom of St. Cyprian, which tells the story of the chaste Christian Justa, the attempts by the pagan sage Cyprian to seduce her, his conversion to Christianity, and martyrdom for his faith.
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
She is known in history as the wife of the Emperor Theodosius II of Byzantium. She was born in Athens and was the daughter of the Athenian sophist and rhetorician Leontius, who gave her a remarkable education, instructing her in the classics and in every branch of the knowledge of his day. She was also, initiated into Neo-Platonic philosophy and was a phenomenon for that age, a very highly educated woman. To this was added striking beauty and a presence full of dignity and grace. On coming to Byzantium to plead her rights of inheritance which had been violated by her brothers at Athens, she enchanted Pulcheria, the Emperor’s sister. Pulcheria pointed out to her imperial brother, that no one could be better fitted for Empress of Byzantine than this wonderful Athenian maiden. Before her elevation to the throne, Athenais renounced paganism and was baptized into the Orthodox faith under the name of Eudocia. She had great influence over the Emperor and always exerted it in behalf of worthy subjects. The founding of a university at Constantinople was due to her suggestion. In accordance with a vow made at the birth of her daughter, Eudoxia, Athenais made a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. Passing with her splendid retinue through Antioch, she so won the admiration of the citizens by a speech which she made in classical Greek, that they voted, as in the great days of Hellenism, to erect a golden statue in her honor.
On her return from Jerusalem, where she had shown great zeal in pious works, she resumed her beloved studies again, and her writings of this period were: Paraphrase of the Octateuch, in heroic verse, which received a eulogy from the learned Patriarch Photius; odes to various martyrs; a translation of the prophecies of Zachariah ; a cento of the verses of Homer applied to the life of Christ; and a poem, in three parts, on the martyrdom of St. Cyprian of Antioch, fragments of which are in existence to this day. Owing to court intrigues she was obliged to leave Constantinople and went to Jerusalem in 443, where she remained for the rest of her life. Her life was now occupied, wholly in works of piety, erecting churches and monasteries and founding charitable institutions. One of the churches which she built was that of St. Stephen, today the school of the Latin “White Fathers.” In this church, in 460 this great queen of Byzantium, renowned for her many graces of mind and person, was finally buried.