Aelia Eudocia Augusta was a Byzantine empress and poet of the 5th century CE. Originally named Athenais, she was the educated daughter of a pagan philosopher from Athens. After moving to Constantinople, she converted to Christianity and married Emperor Theodosius II around 421 CE.

As empress, she was a major patron of the arts and the church. Later in life, after a political conflict and accusations of adultery that historians debate, she lived in exile in Jerusalem until her death around 460 CE.

Eudocia is best known for her surviving poem, The Homeric Centos. This innovative work rearranges lines from Homer’s ancient Greek epics to tell stories from the Bible, from Creation to the Ascension of Christ. Another poem on the martyrdom of St. Cyprian is also attributed to her. Some sources credit her with other works, but these are lost or their attribution is uncertain.

Modern scholars see Eudocia as a unique figure of the early Byzantine period. Her work represents a direct fusion of classical Greek culture and Christian teaching, showing how the pagan literary tradition was adapted for new religious purposes. Her life story, from an Athenian scholar to a Christian empress, illustrates the complex intersections of gender, power, and cultural change in late antiquity.