Editing Irene of Athens (section)

==Assessment and legacy==
Irene's reign represents the decline of the Isaurian dynasty. The legacy of the first and greatest Isaurian emperors, [[Leo III the Isaurian|Leo III]] and [[Constantine V]], was the rescue of the Empire from destruction at the hands of the [[Arabs]] and the [[Bulgars]], while Irene's reign saw increasing losses and threat of war.{{sfn|Auzépy|2008|p=254}} Her character also departs significantly from her Isaurian predecessors, who were typically warlike, just and [[populist]]. She contradicted them in the blinding of her son, abolishing of iconoclasm and military weakness. The ''[[tagma (military)|tagmata]]'', old guard units stationed in [[Constantinople]] who surrounded the emperor on the battlefield, were supported by Constantine V but demoted and reconstituted by Irene for frustrating the meeting of the iconodule council in 786. She elevated [[eunuchs in the Byzantine Empire|eunuchs]] to power against the imperial administration, one of the most significant of whom was [[Staurakios (eunuch)|Staurakios]]. In contrast, Constantine V supported the imperial office, which proved resilient to the political and military crises of the eighth century. It was Irene's financial laxity and benevolent tax policy that led to the palace coup by the minister of the treasury, [[Nikephoros I|Nikephoros]], in 802, which was witnessed by [[Charlemagne]]'s ambassadors.{{sfn|Auzépy|2008|pp=267, 277–278}}{{sfn|McCormick|2008|p=399}}

A female relative of Irene, [[Theophano, wife of Staurakios|Theophano]], was chosen by Nikephoros ({{reign|802|811}}) as the bride of his son and heir [[Staurakios]].{{sfn|Brubaker|Haldon|2011|p=359}}

Although Irene was an iconodule, [[Theophanes the Confessor]], one of the few major primary sources of the eighth century, depicts her very unsympathetically due to his dislike of the involvement of women in imperial matters.{{sfn|Louth|2008|p=125}} However, Irene's zeal in restoring the icons and [[monastery|monasteries]] made [[Theodore the Studite]] praise her as a [[saint]].<ref>''Theodori Studitae Epistulae'', Volume 2 (Berlin, 1992).</ref> He also commended her for ending the Isaurian policy of demanding payments from soldiers' widows as compensation for the loss of military personnel, in order for their households to continue receiving tax exemptions and a pension.{{sfn|Brubaker|Haldon|2011|p=745}}{{sfn|Auzépy|2008|p=269}} She is listed in some Byzantine Catholic and Eastern Orthodox sources as a saint commemorated on 7 August, but her name is not found in the [[Menaion]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hieromonk Makarios of Simonos Petra|title="The Synaxarion: The Lives of the Saints of the Orthodox Church," Volume Six|publisher=Holy Convent of the Annunciation of Our Lady|year=2008|isbn=|location=Ormylia, Chalkidiki, Greece|pages=403–04|quote="[Irene's] commemoration is . . . to be found in some manuscripts of the "Synaxarion of Constantinople."}}</ref>

===Media===
[[H. Rider Haggard]] incorporated Irene as a villain in his novel ''[[The Wanderer's Necklace]]''.<ref>Daniel D. McGarry, Sarah Harriman White (1963). ''Historical Fiction Guide: Annotated Chronological, Geographical, and Topical List of Five Thousand Selected Historical Novels''. Scarecrow Press, p. 58.</ref>