(4) LEO II –

LEONID DYNASTY: EASTERN EMPIRE

(18 JANUARY – NOVEMBER 474: 10 MONTHS)

 

Another child emperor, Leo II is the exception to my rule of dishonorable mention in that he was actually a legitimate emperor rather than usurper or other dubious claimant – indeed as the second emperor of the Leonid dynasty in the eastern empire that outlasted the fall of the western empire. So bonus points all round.

Except…he was sadly insignificant due to his youth (and corresponding lack of rule in his own name), capped by death still as a child. Leo I nominated him as heir, but only because his father Zeno – married to the daughter of Leo I and hence Leo I’s son-in-law – was unpopular.

Becoming increasingly ill, Leo I skipped over his son-in-law Zeno for his grandson Leo II as heir – Leo II was first made caesar or heir to the throne in October 472 AD, then proclaimed as augustus or co-emperor with Leo II in 17 November 473 AD.

Hence when Leo I died of dysentery on 18 January 474 AD, Leo II ascended the throne as sole emperor, but by 29 January 474 the eastern Roman Senate made his father Zeno co-emperor, as Leo II was too young to sign documents or do much of anything really.

And he was able to do even less when, at the age of 7 years and a brief reign of 10 months (although sources vary slightly), he died – of undocumented cause but probably natural, not unusually for the high child mortality rate at the time.

So rather than rank him against other legitimate emperors, I’ve included him in my dishonorable mentions – and even more sadly, I have to rank him low among them given the absence of any achievement, even if not through any fault of his own.

Shout-out to Marcus, son and (brief) co-emperor of the emperor who (briefly) usurped Zeno, Basiliscus, before Zeno was able to usurp the throne back from Basiliscus. Marcus appears to have met the same grim fate of Basiliscus when Zeno reclaimed the throne (just in time to preside over the eastern empire when the western empire fell). It’s a shout-out because other than a brief mention in parenthesis with Basiliscus, he does not feature in Wikipedia’s list of Roman emperors.

 

DID DOVAHHATTY DO RIGHT?

 

Again, Dovahhatty doesn’t mention him, despite featuring Leo and Zeno. (Dovahhatty also omits Basiliscus and Marcus as emperors, although he features Basiliscus – without naming him – as the naval commander who lost at the Battle of Cape Bon against the Vandals).

Presumably, it was just too sad to mention a child emperor who died at the age of 7 years without doing anything.

 

RATING: 1 STAR*

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(3) DIADUMENIAN –

USURPER: SEVERAN DYNASTY (MAY – JUNE 218: LESS THAN 1 MONTH)

 

Well, not quite a usurper but the child of a usurper attempting to make his own dynasty.

Similarly to my mention for numismatic mystery imperial claimant Silbannacus, it may seem uncharitable to rank this child co-emperor as dishonorable mention and again so low in my rankings, but I just can’t rank him otherwise even if his pathetic reign as ephemeral emperor was not really his fault. And given how brief that reign was for Diadumenian – indeed the briefest of my dishonorable mentions – he ranks the lowest of my child-emperor rankings. Not to mention his ‘reign’ was so brief and pathetic, Dovahhatty doesn’t even mention him.

Diadumenian was the son of Macrinus, the praetorian prefect who plotted the assassination of his predecessor Caracalla and proclaimed himself emperor. When Elagabalus led a resurgent Severan dynasty in revolt against Macrinus, Macrinus proclaimed Diadumenian – then nine years of age – as co-emperor, a position Diadumenian held for less than a month before Macrinus was defeated in battle by Elagabalus. Diadumenian was sent by his father to the Sassanid Persian court in an attempt to ensure his safety, but he was captured and executed en route. The Senate declared damnatio memoriae for both Macrinus and Diadumenian.

 

DID DOVAHHATTY DO RIGHT?

 

As I said, Dovahhatty didn’t do him at all – that’s how insignificant he was! Also, I suppose it’s one thing to have the victorious resurgent Severan dynasty under Elagabalus kill Macrinus, it’s another to have them kill a kid.

 

RATING: 1 STAR*

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