Eudoxia Epiphania was the only daughter of the Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 Emperor Heraclius

Heraclius

Heraclius was Byzantine Emperor from 610 to 641.He was responsible for introducing Greek as the empire's official language. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the exarch of Africa, successfully led a revolt against the unpopular usurper Phocas.Heraclius'...

 and his first wife Eudokia

Eudokia (empress)

Eudokia or Eudocia , originally named Fabia, was a Byzantine lady who became the first empress-consort of Heraclius from 610 to her death in 612.- Family :...

. She was born at Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

 on the July 7, 611 CE, baptized on August 15, and crowned (in the oratory of St. Stephen in the palace) October 4 of the same year.

When she was about 15 years old, her father allied with the Western

Western Turkic Khaganate

The Western Turkic Khaganate was formed as a result of the internecine wars in the beginning of the 7th century after the Göktürk Khaganate had splintered into two politiesEastern and Western.The Western Turks initially sought friendly relations with the Byzantine Empire in order to expand their...

 Göktürks

Göktürks

The Göktürks or Kök Türks, were a nomadic confederation of peoples in medieval Inner Asia. Known in Chinese sources as 突厥 , the Göktürks under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan The Göktürks or Kök Türks, (Old Turkic: Türük or Kök Türük or Türük; Celestial Turks) were a nomadic confederation of...

 and the Khazars

Khazars

The Khazars were semi-nomadic Turkic people who established one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, with the capital of Atil and territory comprising much of modern-day European Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the northern Caucasus , parts of...

 against the Sassanian Persians and the Eurasian Avars

Eurasian Avars

The Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups...

. To secure the assistance of the Turks, Eudoxia was promised in marriage to either the Turkic ruler Ziebel (probably Tong Yabghu

Tong Yabghu

Tong Yabghu Qaghan was khagan of the Western Turkic Khaganate from 618 to 628 AD...

) or his son. She was afterwards sent to her Turkish husband, but the news of his death stopped her journey, and prevented the consummation of the marriage.

Resources

• Artamonov, Mikhail. Istoriya Khazar. Leningrad, 1962.
• Brook, Kevin Alan. The Jews of Khazaria. 2nd ed. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2006.
• Christian, David
  David Christian (historian)
  Dr. David Gilbert Christian is an Anglo-American historian.Christian was born in Brooklyn, New York, to British and American parents. He grew up in Africa and in England, where he earned his B.A. and Ph.D. at Oxford University....
  
  . A History of Russia, Mongolia and Central Asia. Blackwell, 1999.
• Ducange. Familiae Byzantinae. Paris, 1680. p. 118.
• Dunlop, Douglas M. History of the Jewish Khazars. Princeton Univ. Press, 1954.
• Gibbon, Edward. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
  The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
  The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire is a non-fiction history book written by English historian Edward Gibbon and published in six volumes. Volume I was published in 1776, and went through six printings. Volumes II and III were published in 1781; volumes IV, V, VI in 1788–89...
  
  . London, 1845. Ch. 46.

External links

• Garland, Lynda (2000). Epiphania (daughter of Heraclius). An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors