Turkey / Byzantium: Marcian (392-457); Byzantine emperor; from the book Icones imperatorvm romanorvm (Icons of Roman Emperors); Antwerp; 1645. Marcian was the son of a soldier from either Illyricum or Thracia; and spent much of his early life as an unremarkable soldier. He served under the powerful Alan generals Ardabur and Aspar in Africa; where he was taken prisoner by the Vandals. Returning to Constantinople; he became a senator and was later chosen as consort to Pulcheria; sister of the recently deceased Emperor Theodosius II. Marcian became emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire in 450.