Aelia Verina (Greek: Βερίνα; died 484) was the Eastern Roman empress as the wife of Leo I.

They are assumed to have at least one sister as a hagiography of Daniel the Stylite names a brother-in-law of Verina and Basiliscus as Zuzus.

[2] Stefan Krautschick in his historical work Zwei Aspekte des Jahres 476 (1986) advanced a theory that the two siblings were related to Odoacer, the first barbarian King of Italy.

Armatus was identified as nephew of Verina and Basiliscus in other Byzantine sources, including a hagiography of Daniel the Stylite[5] and the Suda.

[3] However a counterargument to the theory is given by Penny Macgeorge in her own study Late Roman Warlords (2003), pages 284–285, based on the silence of both John Malalas and Malchus on a blood relation of Odoacer to the House of Leo.

[3] According to Amory, the varying ethnographic identities of both men may reflect both their mixed ancestry and their political association with the various groups.

In other words, the practice of intermarriage between the Roman military aristocracy and the dynasties derived from it on the one hand and various Germanic families of foederati.

Theodorus Lector, Theophanes the Confessor, Georgios Kedrenos and Michael the Syrian report Leo born in Thrace.

[8] Leo was at this point the tribune of the Mattiarii, a regiment wielding the mattea (Latin for mace) as their weapon.

Aspar, the magister militum ("Master of soldiers") of the Eastern Roman Empire, may have been unable to claim the throne for himself due to his Alanic origins and Arian religious beliefs.

[9] Aspar used his influence in order to become a kingmaker, having earlier engineered the elevation of Marcian who had served a middler-rank officer under him.

During her tenure as empress, she exerted influence over her husband and his court, living a life of luxurious royal comfort and peaceful.

To make himself more acceptable to the Roman hierarchy and the native Greek-speaking population of Constantinople, the new son-in-law of the imperial couple changed his name to Zeno.

Since Leo II was too young to rule himself, Verina and Ariadne prevailed upon him to crown Zeno as co-emperor, which he did on February 9, 474.

John Malalas attributes her hostility to an argument between them over a request the senior empress had made on her son-in-law.

John of Antioch and the hagiography of Daniel the Stylite imply that Verina was tricked in supporting the conspiracy.

Candidus and John of Antioch report that Verina was hoping to use the conspiracy to replace Zeno with Patricius, restoring herself to the position of empress in the process.

There is some doubt whether the description of Verina's motivation by Candidus and John of Antioch was accurate or just reflected the hostility of the chroniclers to her.

Eventually, Basiliscus ordered the death of Patricius, as the officer was a natural candidate to overthrow the new emperor.

[14] According to Candidus, after the death of Patricius, Verina intrigued in favour of Zeno, but her plan was discovered by Basiliscus, and only the intercession of Armatus spared her life.

It has been suggested that Constantinople was defenseless during Zeno's siege because the Magister Militum Strabo had moved north to counter this menace.

The Senate opened the gates of the city to Zeno, allowing the deposed emperor to retake the throne with Ariadne as empress.

The hagiography of Daniel the Stylite considers Illus responsible for pulling Verina into the initial conspiracy while hiding its actual goals.

Epinicus allowed Illus custody of the prisoner and the interrogation resulted in a confession implicating Verina.

[10] Illus recuperated from the attack in his native Isauria and reportedly refused to return to Constantinople while Verina was still residing in the Palace.

In theory Leontia outranking her older sister Ariadne who was born previous to the elevation of her parents to the throne.

John of Antioch attributes the entire revolt to Verina but the actual extent of her involvement is uncertain.

[16] John Malalas describes that Verina joined the new alliance with fervor, corresponding with various cities and trying to win their support for the revolt.

[10] The Georgian Chronicle, a 13th-century compilation drawing from earlier sources, reports a marriage of Vakhtang I of Iberia to Princess Helena of Byzantium, identifying her as a daughter of the predecessor of Zeno.