Ariadne
Augusta  AD 474 - 515

Aelia Ariadne,
Wife of Zeno and Anastasius I;
Daughter of Leo I and Aelia Verina;
Sister of Leontia (wife of Patricius);
Mother of Leo II;
Niece of Basiliscus;
Cousin of Marcus.

Aelia Ariadne became wife of Zeno, then still called Tarasicodissa, when her father Leo I desperately needed the latter's Isaurians to counterbalance Aspar's German palace guard. She bore to Zeno the future and short-lived emperor Leo II. Ariadne remained influential in the first half of Zeno's reign, as was her mother, Aelia Verina. After Zeno's death, it was her who made it possible for Anastasius to lend some legitimacy to his claim to the purple by wedding her in his turn.

Mints: Constantinopolis

List all Ariadne coins in the Catalog.

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