A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Zoe

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ZOE,

Fourth wife of Leo the Sixth, Emperor of Constantinople, was mother of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, during whose minority, 912, she governed with great wisdom and firmness. She crushed the rebellion of Constantine Ducas, made peace with the Saracens, and obliged the Bulgarians to return to their own country. Though thus entitled to the gratitude of her son and the people, she was obliged, by the intrigues of the courtiers, to retire to a private station, and she died in exile.