Leo I (emperor)

Leo I
Statue of Emperor Leo I
Alabaster head of an emperor set in a modern bust, Louvre. The head wears a civic crown.[a]
Roman emperor
in the East
Reign7 February 457 – 18 January 474
Coronation7 February 457
PredecessorMarcian
SuccessorLeo II
Western
emperors
Bornc. 401
Dacia Aureliana, Eastern Roman Empire
Died18 January 474 (aged 73)[3]
Constantinople
SpouseVerina
IssueAriadne, Leontia, unnamed son
Regnal name
Latin: Imperator Caesar Flavius Leo Augustus
Greek: Αὐτοκράτωρ καῖσαρ Φλάβιος Λέων αὐγουστος[4][b]
DynastyLeonid
ReligionChalcedonian Christianity
Saint

Leo the Great
16th cent. Russian icon depicting St. Leo's enshrinement of the Robe of the Theotokos in Sts. Peter and Mark church, Blachernae
Holy and Right-Believing Emperor of the Romans
Venerated inEastern Orthodoxy
Feast20 January
AttributesImperial attire

Leo I (Greek: Λέων, translit. Leōn; c. 401 – 18 January 474), also known as "the Thracian" (Latin: Thrax; Greek: ο Θραξ),[c] was Eastern Roman emperor from 457 to 474. He was a native of Dacia Aureliana near historic Thrace. He is sometimes surnamed with the epithet "the Great" (Latin: Magnus; Greek: ὁ Μέγας), probably to distinguish him from his young grandson and co-augustus Leo II (Greek: ὁ Μικρός, translit. ho Mikrós, lit. "the Small").[d]

Leo proved to be a capable emperor during his 17-year rule. He oversaw many ambitious political and military plans, aimed mostly at aiding the faltering Western Roman Empire and recovering its former territories. He is notable for being the first Eastern Emperor to legislate in Koine Greek rather than Late Latin.[10] He is commemorated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, with his feast day on 20 January.[11][12]

  1. ^ "Statue – Louvre Collections. Léon (?". Louvre Collections (in French). Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  2. ^ Alabaster head with corona civica, on modern bust. Unknown provenance. Late fifth century, LSA-593. Last Statues of Antiquity
  3. ^ a b c PLRE 2 p. 664
  4. ^ Rösch 1978, pp. 165.
  5. ^ Adkins, Lesley; Adkins, Roy A. (1994). Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome. New York: Infobase Publishing. p. 37. ISBN 9780816074822.
  6. ^ Crawford, Peter (2019). Roman Emperor Zeno. Pen and Sword History. p. 45. ISBN 9781473859272.
  7. ^ Campbell, Brian; Tritle, Lawrence A., eds. (July 2017). The Oxford Handbook of Warfare in the Classical World. Oxford University Press. p. 26. ISBN 9780190499136.
  8. ^ a b Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, pp. 1206–1207
  9. ^ "Leo I". Encyclopædia Britannica
  10. ^ Chris Wickham (2009). The Inheritance of Rome. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-670-02098-0. p. 90.
  11. ^ "Ὁ Ἅγιος Λέων Μακέλλης ὁ Μέγας" [Saint Leo Makelles the Great] (in Greek). Μεγασ Συναξαριστης [Great Synaxaristes].
  12. ^ Mother of God of the "Life-Giving Spring". Self-Ruled Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America. Retrieved 27 October 2012.


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