Turkey / Byzantium: Icon of Arcadius (377-408), 70th Roman Emperor, but ruled the Eastern Roman Empire, from the book Icones imperatorvm romanorvm (Icons of Roman Emperors), Antwerp, c. 1645

Arcadius (377-408) was the eldest son of Emperor Theodosius I, born in Hispania. He was declared as co-ruler of the east in 383, only six years old. When his father died in 395, Arcadius became emperor of the East, co-ruling the Roman Empire with his brother Honorius in the West.

Aracdius was known for being a weak ruler, his reign dominated by the ministers that surrounded him, as well as by his wife Aelia Eudoxia. Arcadius himself seemed more concerned with appearing as a pious Christian rather than as a politician or general.

By the time he died in 408, he was only nominally in control of the Eastern Roman Empire, the true power lying in the hands of the Praetorian Prefect Anthemius.

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