Marian Devotion And Imperial Politics:A Probe Into The Religious Factors Of Pulcheria's Regency

Religion played an important role from Rome to Byzantine.Polytheism had a great influence in Roman times,but Christianity dominated in Byzantine times.During the reign of Theodosius II,Marian Devotion was truly established and flourished in the Byzantine empire.Princess Pulcheria who ruled as a woman during this period made a great contribution.The reason why She was in power for a long time is the great influence of Marian Devotion.In other words,Pulcheria made use of the influence of Marian Devotion to achieved her political purpose,on the contrary,she pushed the final establishment of Marian Devotion in virtue of her political influence,and then consolidated and strengthened her political power.The reason why Marian Devotion could serve for Pulcheria was that Pulcheria devoted herself to God.And the greatest feature of the Marian Devotion was the virgin birth.Pulcheria imitated the virginity of the Virgin Mary and claimed to be the incarnation of the Virgin Mary,so chastity as her most powerful weapon helped her to seize,preserve,and secure power.In addition,the Vesta Virgin system also facilitated Pulcheria's long time regency.The Vesta Virgin system was founded by Numa and finally abolished by Theodosius I.The Vesta Virgin devoted her virginity to guard the sacred flame which symbolized Rome's prosperity and survival,and thus they got an extraordinary political position.It is not difficult to find that the common ground between the Vesta Virgin and Marian Devotion is to emphasize the purity of the female.When the Marian Devotion was established,polytheism occupied the leading status,but Christianity was still struggling.So it is conceivable that,in order to make the Roman government and people accept Christianity,Christianity would inevitably absorb the useful element of polytheism.Therefore,the noble position of virgin women rooted in Roman tradition would certainly affect Marian Devotion in some way.Marian Devotion is a kind of deformation and development of Vesta Virgin in the Christian culture,and they are in contact with each other.They guaranteed the long-term regency of the Pulcheria in the empire.Marian Devotion was folk cult in early stage of Pulcheria's regency,so its influence was not deep enough.However,the Vesta Virgin system had been inherited for a thousand years,and it had a profound influence within the whole empire,so the Vesta Virgin system played a crucial part in Pulcheria's early regency.After the Council of Ephesus,Marian Devotion transformed from folk cult to official cult in the Byzantine Empire,it became the leading factor why Pulcheria could hold the power in her latter regency.