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Name:  Pulcheria
Brief biography:  Daughter of the Emperor Arcadius, regent and sister of the Emperor Theodosius II and wife of the Emperor Marcian.
Nationality:  East Roman
Occupation:  Empress
Date of birth:  399
Place of birth:  Eurasia: Istanbul
Date of death:  453
Place of death:  Eurasia: Istanbul

Pulcheria was born during the reign of her father, the Emperor Arcadius in 399, and was baptised by John Chrysostom. Shortly after the death of her father in 408, Pulcheria was made Augusta and regent for her younger brother, Theodosius II, in 414. As regent, Pulcheria broke the peace with the Persians, though Varhran V was similarly minded toward war with the Romans, too. Pulcheria was noted for her piety, and her clashes with her sister-in-law, Eudocia, and the Patriarch Nestorius, who was anathematised in the Council of Ephesus in 431, in which Pulcheria was very involved. After the death of Theodosius II in 450, Pulcheria married Marcian, despite her vow of chastity, to secure a ruler for the Eastern Roman Empire. With Marcian, Pulcheria presided over the Council of Chalcedon in 451, and was declared 'the new Helena'. She died in 453, and later became a saint.

1 Related Objects

BIRBI-LR0584.jpg
Solidus
Pulcheria; Theodosius II; Constantinople
BIRBI-LR0584
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