Marital Strife

Fifth-century stone head of the Emperor Theodosius, currently in the Louvres, Paris

April 9 423 – 12 Nisan 4183

Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II reaffirmed the Roman law governing interactions between Jews and Christians, outlawing Jewish ownership of Christian slaves and banning Jews from holding positions of power under his rule. Theodosius commissioned the Codex Theodosius, aiming to streamline all extant Roman law, and founded the University of Constantinople. His wife, Eudochia, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 438, where she acted in stark contrast to her husband’s efforts to turn Jews into second class Roman citizens, by allowing Jews to pray at the site of the Temple. Later banished by her husband, she returned to the city to devote her old age to rebuilding its walls and other building projects.