Roman emperor of the East, grandson of Leo I, and son of Zeno. His grandfather, growing ill, felt compelled to name a successor but, deciding that his son-in-law Zeno, an Isaurian, was unpopular, made his grandson co-emperor, as Caesar and then Augustus, at the young age of five (or six). After his grandfather's death (Feb. 3, 474), Leo II became emperor, and his father was made co-emperor (February 9), but he survived only several months, leaving the throne to Zeno and his mother, Ariadne.