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ZENO

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 970 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ZENO , See also:

East See also:Roman See also:emperor from 474 to 491, was an Isaurian of See also:noble See also:birth, and originally See also:bore the name of Trascalissaeus, which he exchanged for that of Zeno on his See also:marriage with See also:Ariadne, daughter of See also:Leo I., in 468. Of his See also:early See also:life nothing is known; after his marriage (which was designed by Leo to secure the Isaurian support against his ambitious See also:minister Aspar) he became patrician and See also:commander of the imperial guard and of the armies in the East. While on a See also:campaign in See also:Thrace he narrowly escaped assassination; on his return to the See also:capital he avenged himself by compassing the See also:murder of Aspar, who had instigated the See also:attempt. In 474 Leo I. died after appointing .as his successor Leo the son of Zeno and Ariadne; Zeno, however, with the help of his See also:mother-in-See also:law Verina, succeeded in getting himself crowned also, and on the See also:death of his son before the end of the See also:year became See also:sole emperor. In the following year, in consequence of a revolt fomented by Verina in favour of her See also:brother Basiliscus, and the antipathy to his Isaurian soldiers and administrators, he was compelled to take See also:refuge in See also:Isauria, where, after sustaining a defeat, he was compelled to shut himself up in a fortress. The growing misgovernment and unpopularity of Basiliscus ultimately enabled Zeno to re-enter See also:Constantinople unopposed (476); his See also:rival was banished to See also:Phrygia, where he soon afterwards died. The See also:remainder of Zeno's reign was disturbed by numerous other less formidable revolts. Since 472 the aggressions of the two Ostrogoth leaders See also:Theodoric had been a See also:constant source of danger. Though Zeno at times contrived to See also:play them off against each other, they in turn were able to profit by his dynastic rivalries, and it was only by offering them pay and high command that he kept them from attacking Constantinople itself. In 487 he induced Theodoric, son of Theodemir, to invade See also:Italy and establish his new See also:kingdom. Zeno is de-scribed as a lax and indolent ruler, but he seems to have husbanded the resources of the See also:empire so as to leave it appreciably stronger at his death. In ecclesiastical See also:history the name of Zeno is associated with the Henoticon or See also:instrument of See also:union, promulgated by him and signed by all the Eastern bishops, with the See also:design of terminating the Monophysite controversy.

See J. B. See also:

Bury, The Later Roman Empire (See also:London, 1889), i. pp. 250-274; E. W. See also:Brooks in the See also:English See also:Historical See also:Review (1893), pp. 209–238; W. See also:Barth, Der Kaiser Zeno (See also:Basel, 1894).

End of Article: ZENO

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