IRENE (752-803) was the wife of Leo IV., emperor of the East. A poor but beautiful Athenian orphan, she speedily added the confidence to the love of her feeble husband, and at his death in 780 was left by him sole guardian of the empire, and of their young son Constantine VI. Seizing the supreme power in the name of the latter, Irene’s first endeavours were to revive the orthodox image-worship, which she had secretly cherished, although compelled solemnly to abjure it in the life-time of her iconoclastic father-in-law and husband. In 784 she obtained the elevation of Tarasius, a partisan of her own, to the patriarchate; and, at first suffering the laws against image-worshippers to fall into disuse, she assembled a council of clergy at Nicaea in 787 to discuss the whole question anew. An attempt to hold the council at Constantinople in the preceding year had been frustrated by the iconoclastic zeal of the soldiers. Under the auspices of a ruler whose wishes were so clearly known, the decision of this second council of Nice could take only one direction, and the Iconoclasts were hurled from their supremacy (vol. xii. p. 713). So long as Constantine remained a child, Irene was able to combine his interests and her own, and to rule wisely and faithfully; but as the prince approached maturity he began to grow restive under her autocratic sway. An attempt to free himself by force was met and crushed by the empress, who in her first indignation demanded that the oath of fidelity should thenceforward be taken to her name alone. The discontent which this occasioned swelled in 790 into open resistance, and the soldiers, headed by the Armenian guard, formally proclaimed Constantine VI. as the sole ruler. A hollow semblance of friendship was maintained between Constantine and ...