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Theodosius II (April, 401 -
July 28, 450 ). The eldest son of Aelia Eudoxia and Arcadius who at
the age of 7 became the Roman Emperor of the East.
He was heavily influenced by his eldest sister Pulcheria who pushed him
towards orthodox Christianity. Pulcheria was the primary driving
power behind the emperor and many of her views became official policy. These included her anti-Semitic view which resulted in the destruction of synagogues.
On the death of his father Arcadius in 408, he became Emperor. In June 421 Theodosius married the poet Aelia Eudocia.
The Theodosian Code
In 429 Theodosius appointed a commission to collect all of the laws since the reign of
Constantine, the first Christian
emperor, and create a fully formalized system of law. This plan was left unfinished, but the work of a second commission that met
in Constantinople, assigned to collect all of the general legislations and bring them up to date was completed, and their
collection published as the Codex Theodosianus in 438. The law code of Theodosius II,
summarizing edicts made since the first Christian emperor Constantine,
provided a basis for the law code of Justinian in the following century. Roman intolerance of impiety with respect to ritual was
now extended to crimes of conscience and of thought.
During this time he was responsible for the creation of the Constantinople
University.
He died in 450 as the result of a riding accident.
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