Arcadius, (377?-408 A.D.), the first emperor of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. The elder son of Theodosius (I) the Great, he received the eastern part of the empire in 395, while his brother, Honorius, inherited the western part. Thereafter the empire was permanently divided. A weak ruler, Arcadius left government in the hands of a succession of ministers. He was dominated by his wife, Eudoxia, who in 404 exiled Chrysostom, patriarch of Constantinople, because he had denounced the worldliness of the royal court. Her action eventually led to the state's complete control over the church in the eastern empire.