The future empress Irene came from an old family of Athens, the center of Greek culture. She was said to be a woman of great beauty, and thus she won the admiration of Leo IV, son of Constantine V. The two married in 769, when Irene was seventeen years old, and a year later, they had a son, Constantine VI.
Leo died in 780, and many claimed that Irene poisoned him in order to take power herself. However, she could never legally rule the empire: the emperor held a number of offices, including that of commander-in-chief of the military, which were simply off-limits to women. Furthermore, under Roman law succession was not hereditary: in other words, an emperor could not simply pass his throne on to his son, let alone his wife or daughter, because his replacement had to be elected by the leaders of the government. Those leaders chose ten-year-old Constantine VI as the new emperor, but Irene promptly took power as regent, someone who governs a country when the monarch is unable to do so.
Long a supporter of the iconophiles, Irene now began slowly restoring icon-worship. In the Greek Orthodox Church, the patriarch (PAYT-ree-ark) of Constantinople held a position similar to that of the pope, leader of the Roman Catholic Church; and when the iconoclast Paul IV died in 784, she replaced him with a patriarch sympathetic to the
Iconophile cause. She began removing generals and other officials loyal to the iconoclasts, and by 786 was prepared to make an even bolder step.
World History
