Zeno (emperor)

Zeno
Semissis issued during Zeno's second reign marked: d·n· zeno perp· aug·
Roman emperor in the East
1st reign	29 January 474 – 9 January 475
Predecessor	Leo II
Successor	Basiliscus
2nd reign	August 476 – 9 April 491
Successor	Anastasius I
Western emperors	Julius Nepos (474–480) Romulus Augustulus (475–476)
Born	Tarasis[1] c. 425 Rusumblada (thereafter Zenopolis), Isauria, Cilicia (now Elmayurdu, Karaman, Turkey)
Died	9 April 491 (aged c. 65) Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey)
Spouse	Arcadia Ariadne
Issue	Zenon (by Arcadia) Leo II (by Ariadne)
Regnal name Latin: Imperator Caesar Zeno Augustus Greek: Αὐτοκράτωρ καῖσαρ Ζήνων αὐγουστος[2]
Dynasty	Leonid
Father	Kodisa
Mother	Lallis

Zeno (/ˈziːnoʊ/; Greek: Ζήνων, translit. Zénōn; c. 425 – 9 April 491) was Eastern Roman emperor from 474 to 475 and again from 476 to 491. He was originally from the district of Isauria, which is now part of modern day Turkey, and changed his name to Zeno (previously Tarasis) while serving under Leo I.

Domestic revolts and religious dissension plagued his reign, which nevertheless succeeded in foreign issues; he is credited with further stabilizing the Eastern Empire. Meanwhile the Western Roman Empire came to an end, following the deposition of Romulus Augustus and the death of Julius Nepos.

When Odoacer deposed Romulus and sent the imperial regalia to Constantinople, he expressly acknowledged the suzerainty of Zeno over the West. The imperial government had no choice but to face the facts, and thus the new master of Italy was appointed magister militum per Italiam and received the administration of the Italic peninsula as viceroy of the Emperor, who thus became the theoretical ruler of a reunified Roman Empire.