Zoë Zautzina (c. 870–c. 899)

Byzantine empress. Name variations: Zoe Zautza or Zaütza. Born around 870; died in 899 or 900 ce; daughter of Stylianus Zaoutzes; became the second wife of Leo VI the Wise, Byzantine emperor (r. 886–912).

Zoë Zautzina was daughter of Stylianus Zaoutzes, a prominent adviser of the Byzantine emperor Leo VI. Zaoutzes, though born in Macedonia (in northern Greece), was of Armenian ancestry. He began his rise under Leo VI's father, Basil I, who himself was of Armenian ancestry and from Macedonia, and who was also the founder of the Macedonian Dynasty of the Byzantine Empire (867–1056). Basil was of peasant stock, but handsome, talented and extremely ambitious. He rose under the patronage of Emperor Michael III to the point where Michael elevated him to co-imperial status in 866. In the year following this elevation, Michael began to suspect the loyalty of his protegé: rightfully so, since when Basil learned of his patron's suspicion, he engineered Michael's assassination.

Despite the inauspicious beginning of the Macedonian Dynasty, the cultural splendor and imperial power of the Byzantine Empire reached their zeniths under its rule (although the latter occurred about 100 years after the dynasty's foundation). Even though Leo reigned as co-emperor with his father (from 870 to 886), their relationship was long one of mutual animosity. Basil was suspicious by nature, a characteristic which was hardly mitigated by the reality behind his accession and the aristocratic discontent which that accession generated. Although one might suppose that Basil would have striven mightily to maintain unity within his immediate family in the face of at least some aristocratic opposition, in fact his fear of rivals extended even to Leo, who, at Basil's command, was imprisoned for a time. For his part, Leo had little love for his father (although ironically, their intellectual and legal interests had much in common). One of the things Leo held against Basil was that Basil insisted that he take as his first wife a saintly woman named Theophano (c. 866–897), who, although a key to substantial political support for the new dynasty, was not to Leo's liking. A reconciliation between Basil and Leo occurred only shortly before the former's death. Throughout the period of the long confrontation between Basil and Leo, Zaoutzes consistently supported Leo. As a result, when Basil reinstated Leo, he also formally honored Zaoutzes by naming him Leo's "tutor."

After Basil's death, Leo further rewarded Zaoutzes' loyalty with several important offices and great influence; he was even named Basileopator (father of the emperor). As such, Zaoutzes was close to Leo's side during the most productive phase of that emperor's significant reign. Leo VI, who came to be known as "the Wise," was an emperor with wide-ranging interests: military, legal, intellectual and artistic as well as political. While he was the author of poems, sermons, and even a work on military tactics, Leo's greatest claim to fame was the Basilica, the mammoth recodification of law which completed a project begun by Basil. Only a fraction of the Basilica was authored by Leo, but its publication proceeded under his supervision and most of the legal points issued under his name were addressed formally to Zaoutzes. The Basilica was such a monumental work that it became the foundation of Byzantine law, updating and virtually replacing the famous legal codification produced under the emperor Justinian in the 6th century.

A trusted confidant of Leo, Zaoutzes saw his influence reach its acme when Leo took as his mistress Zaoutzes' daughter, Zoë. Leo's relationship with Zoë Zautzina caused Theophano's supporters and many among the clergy to raise eyebrows, but no organized opposition emerged to challenge the Leo-Zaoutzes axis in part because Theophano had not produced an heir. (A divorce between Leo and Theophano was simply out of the question in this devoutly Christian age.) Thus, it was probably a blessing for all concerned when Theophano died of natural causes in 897. Within months of his release from this unwanted wife, Leo wed Zoë (early 898) and elevated her to the status of Augusta (empress). As a result, when Zaoutzes died in 899, he did so with the hope that one of his descendants might sit on the Byzantine throne. This dream, however, was in vain, for Zoë herself died shortly after her father without giving birth to the longed-for heir.

William S. Greenwalt , Associate Professor of Classical History, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California