Asclepiodotus (consul 423)

Flavius Asclepiodotus or Asclepiades (fl. 423-425) was a politician of the Eastern Roman Empire

Biography

Asclepiodotus was the brother of the sophist Leontius, and thus the uncle of Athenais, who in 421 married the Emperor Theodosius II taking the name of Aelia Eudocia. Eudocia favoured her family, exercising her influence over her husband to make Asclepiodotus' career advance.

In 422, Asclepiodotus was comes sacrarum largitionum, while between 14 February 423 (year in which Eudocia was appointed Augusta) to 1 February 425 he was Praetorian prefect of the East, and Consul in 423. He was deposed because he was denounced to Theodosius by Simeon Stylites to encourage pagans and Jews and to fight Christians, a charge no doubt reinforced by the fact that his family was pagan, although Athenais had to convert to Christianity before marriage.

Bibliography

• Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin, John Robert Martindale, John Morris, "Asclepiodotus 1", The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, volume 1, Cambridge University Press, 1992, ISBN 0-521-07233-6, p. 160.