EUDOCIA AUGUSTA (c. 4o1–c. 46o), the wife of Theo dosius II., East Roman emperor, was born in Athens, the daugh ter of the sophist Leontius. The masterful Pulcheria, sister of the emperor Theodosius and co-empress, selected her for his wife. She was baptized and changed her name—Athenais—to Eudocia, and married Theodosius in 421. Soon she and Pulcheria fell out, but Theodosius contrived to live contentedly with both for many years: ultimately (440) she was disgraced, and withdrew to Jerusalem, but the facts of the case are obscure. She died at Jerusalem about 46o, having devoted herself latterly to literature.
Among her works were a paraphrase of the Octateuch in hex ameters, a paraphrase of the books of Daniel and Zechariah, a poem on St. Cyprian and on her husband's Persian victories. A Passion History, which Zonaras attributed to Eudocia, is perhaps of different authorship.
See W. Wiegand, Eudokia (Worms, i871) ; F. Gregorovius, Athenais (Leipzig, 1892) ; C. Diehl, Figures byzantines (i906), pp. 25-49; also THEODOSIUS. On her works see A. Ludwich, Eudociae Augustae car minum reliquiae (Konigsberg, 1893).