Have you got a favourite Byzantine emperor? I know some folks favour Basil II “the Bulgar-Slayer” for his famous victory at Kleidion, while others are partial to Nikephoras II Phokas, “White Death of the Saracens”, for his successes on the eastern border against Islamic encroachment. And who can forget Justinian II with his solid-gold nose prosthesis and stirring comeback against mutilation and exile? Romantics, of course, swoon over Constantine XI and his last stand against the Turks in 1453.
My choice, however, would be Theodosius II (401-450). Not only did his reign see the construction of the mighty Theodosian Walls which kept invaders at bay for over a thousand years, the rehabilitation of the reputation of John Chrysostom, and a new codification of Roman law, but it also saw the establishment of the world’s first university.
The University of Constantinople (or Pandidakterion) was founded on this date in 425. The school boasted 31 chairs, split between Greek and Latin instruction. Subjects taught included rhetoric, law, philosophy, medicine, music arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. The institution was meant to train the empire’s administrators and elite. It should be noted that women were admitted, at least to the medical school.
Apparently Theodosius founded the University at the urging of his wife Eudocia who was a big fan of education. Alas, the marriage between emperor and empress foundered on his suspicions of her adultery in the Case of the Really Big Apple. The pair parted in 443 and she spent the rest of her life in Jerusalem hanging around with Monophysites and doing good works.
