Marcian

Marcian was born in Thrace and made a career in the Eastern Roman army and imperial service. By the middle of the fifth century he was associated with the powerful general Aspar and had accumulated enough military and political standing to be considered in the succession crisis following the death of Emperor Theodosius II.

In 450 Marcian married Pulcheria, the sister of Theodosius II, and was proclaimed emperor. His reign ended the annual payments to the Huns associated with Attila and is particularly remembered for the Council of Chalcedon in 451. His marriage to Pulcheria supplied dynastic legitimacy while preserving her public status as Augusta.

In Gillian Bradshaw’s Imperial Purple, Her attempt to protect her family brings her into the orbit of Pulcheria, Theodosius’s formidable sister, and Marcian, forcing an ordinary household to navigate a conspiracy in which cloth, rank and imperial legitimacy are inseparable.