Theodosius II

Theodosius II ruled the Eastern Roman Empire from Constantinople for 42 years. He was made co-emperor as an infant and became sole ruler at seven. A gentle and scholarly man, he left government largely to relatives and ministers, including his sister Pulcheria and the prefect Anthemius. His reign produced the great land walls of Constantinople, a university in the capital and the Theodosian Code of 438, a collection of imperial laws. It also saw defeats by the Vandals and Huns and bitter church disputes over Nestorius.

In the Christian legend of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus, seven young men walled into a cave under Decius around 250 wake in the reign of Theodosius II when a landowner opens the cave. Their return is taken as proof of bodily resurrection, a live controversy at the time. The story spread in Syriac, Greek and Latin and has a counterpart in the Quran's People of the Cave. Theodosius is historical; the sleepers are legend.