Hello everyone and welcome to the history of Byzantium, Episode 80, The Isorian Dynasty.

Last time we saw the Empress Irene murder her own son to ensure she would have to share

power with no one. Today we'll look at the last five years of Irene's rule as her lack

of a successor slowly undermines her efforts. But that won't take a whole episode to cover.

After Irene is exiled, I will follow listener J.S.'s suggestion and provide a little recap

on all that we've covered across the last century. It won't be a dry reminder of the narrative,

it will be a weaving together of the most important themes of the past hundred years. So stay tuned.

I think the narrative contains all the answers already. But perhaps we should just ask the

question, how did Irene get away with murder? It's one thing to blind your own son and

escape punishment. It's another to then become the first female ruler of the Roman Empire

and be accepted by your Christian population. The first part of this answer must be that

a lot of people didn't know what she'd done. The slight confusion in our sources hints

at the possibility that Constantine lived on or was thought to. It's possible that the

man in the street had no idea what had gone on up in the palace and that the rumours

which spread were so outrageous that no one knew what to believe. In a world where people

fell ill all the time, perhaps people assumed that the emperor was just sick and not appearing

in public. This leads to another factor in the smooth continuity of government. The government

continued smoothly. There was no change to the dispensation of justice, taxation or trade.

So for many people's lives nothing had really happened. Why question the Empress's story

when it can't benefit you? I'm off to the races. If you want to stay here and ask awkward

questions, that's your lookout. For those in the know, particularly those working in the

palace, there was absolutely no incentive to make noise about what had just taken place.

...