An East Roman (Byzantine) empress, Irene of Athens (752-803) convened the Seventh Ecumenical Council and restored the veneration of icons in the Byzantine Empire. Her usurpation of the imperial throne created a theoretical justification for the coronation of Charlemagne.

Contributed by Robert H. Hewsen, Professor of History, Rowan College of New Jersey (formerly Glassboro State College), Glassboro, New Jersey.

Name variations: (Greek) Eirene, meaning "Peace". Born c. 752; died August 15, 803; member of a patrician Greek family of Athens and, through her usurpation, last ruler of the Isaurian (actually, Syrian) dynasty; married: Emperor Leo IV; children: son Constantine VI, who died without male heirs.

The first woman ever to hold the throne of the Roman Caesars in her own right, however illegally, the empress Irene was born to an obscure but noble Greek family of Athens. Her beauty alone seems to have gained her the marriage to Leo, son of...