Bahram V dies after an eighteen-year reign, and is succeeded by his son Yazdegerd II as the fifteenth Sassanid king of the Persian Empire.

Aelia Eudocia, wife of Theodosius II, goes on a pilgrimage in 438 to Jerusalem, bringing back with her holy relics to prove her faith.

She arranges to remove the ban on Jews' praying at the Temple site, and the heads of the Jewish Community in Galilee issue a call “to the great and mighty people of the Jews” which begins, “Know that the end of the exile of our people has come!”

The last gladiatorial fights are held in the Colosseum (Rome) in 438; animal hunts will continue until at least 523.

Theodosius II forbids the divulging of secrets of naval carpentry, among other things, probably to avoid its spread to the rising Vandal power in North Africa.

A gentle, scholarly, easily dominated man who allows his government to be run by a succession of relatives and ministers, Theodosius supervises compilation of the Theodosian Code, published in February 438, which codifies the laws issued after 312.

The code outlines social restrictions against the Jews, placing limitations on where they can live and what they can wear.

Subject to extraordinary taxation, Jews may neither hold public office, build synagogues, or hold slaves, which last measure effectively bars them from agriculture.

Greek becomes an official language in the Eastern Roman Empire in 439.

Theodoret, bishop of Cyrrhus (Syria) from 423, has converted more than one thousand Marcionites in his diocese.

Yazdegerd II moves his court to Khorasan in the beginning of his reign to face the threat from the White Huns.

This results in Yazdegerd gaining control of Bactria, which secures the eastern flank of the Sassanid Empire.

The Great Lavra of St. Sabbas the Sanctified, known in Arabic as Mar Saba, is a Greek Orthodox monastery overlooking the Kidron Valley n the West Bank east of Bethlehem.

The year 483 is the traditional date for the founding of the monastery by Saint Sabas of Mutalaska, Cappadocia.

Today housing around twenty monks, it is considered to be one of the oldest inhabited monasteries in the world, and still maintains many of its ancient traditions.

One in particular is the restriction on women entering the main compound.

The Women's Tower, near the main entrance, is the only building that women can enter.

Hun and Roman envoys meet at Margum (modern Bosnia and Herzegovina), an important market town on the Sava River.

After negotiations, Attila and his brother Bleda who are present, accept a four-point peace plan.

Trading rights between the two states are confirmed and emperor Theodosius II pays an annual tribute of seven hundred pounds of gold.

Aetius, after checking the Visigoths at Toulouse between 437 and 439, returns to Italy in 440.