Anastasius I

Anastasius I. , an officer of the palace in the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Zeno, whose widow he married and thus obtained the throne, 491, in preference to Longinus. Pious and just at first. he soon signalised himself by his fanatical support of the Eutychian heretics, and by his partiality for the Blue faction. Wars against the Persians and the Goths occupied much of his attention, and he built the wall that bore his name from the Propontis to the Euxine. He is said to have abolished the combats between men and beasts in the circus. He died in 518 at the age of 88.