Inscription.
[Illustration]
(e) The ninth tower north of the same gate bore two inscriptions. The higher was in honour, apparently, of an Emperor Constantine; the lower reads:
† ΝΙΚΑ Η ΤΥΧΗ ΛΕΟΝΤΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥ ΤΩΝ
ΘΕΩΦΥΛΑΚΤΩΝ ΔΕΣΠΟΤΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΗΡΙΝΗΣ ΤΗΣ ΕΥΣΕΒΕΣΤΑΤΗΣ
ΗΜΩΝ ΑΥΓΟΥΣΤΗΣ
“The Fortune of Leo and Constantine, the God-protected Sovereigns, and of Irene, our most pious Augusta, triumphs.”
If this inscription belongs to the reign of Leo the Isaurian, the Empress Irene here mentioned must be Irene, the first wife of Constantine Copronymus. In that case Maria, the wife of Leo himself, must have been dead[[404]] when the repairs which the inscription commemorates were executed. Irene was married to Constantine in 732, and died in 749 or 750.
It is possible, however, that the inscription should be assigned to the reign of Leo IV. and Constantine VI., so different is it from the inscriptions which belong undoubtedly to the time of Leo the Isaurian. If so, the empress named is the famous Irene who blinded her son, usurped his throne, restored the use of Icons, and gave occasion for the revival of the Roman Empire in the West by Charlemagne.