Zeno

Zeno (426?-491), emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire (474-491), born in Isauria, Asia Minor (now Turkey). Zeno married the daughter of Emperor Leo I in 468, reigned briefly in 474 as coemperor with their son, Leo II, and became sole emperor later the same year. As the result of a rebellion led by his wife's uncle, Basiliscus, Zeno was expelled from Constantinople (present-day İstanbul) in 475, seeking refuge in Isauria. He suppressed the revolt in 476 with the aid of the Ostrogothic leader Theodoric. In an attempt to end the religious strife resulting from the activities of the Monophysites (see Monophysitism), Zeno, in 482, issued the Henoticon, an edict designed to unify the contending factions. Rejection of the Henoticon by Pope Felix II precipitated the first great schism (484-519) between the eastern and western division of the church. In 488, in order to rid the Eastern Empire of the turbulent Ostrogoths, Zeno encouraged Theodoric to invade Italy.