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Appendix: Prosopography of the Imperial Women

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2023

Byron Waldron
Affiliation:
University of Sydney
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Summary

The following prosopographical entries document every female family member attested in the sources. Sources are not comprehensively provided for Fausta, Helena and the daughters of Constantius, who maintained relevance after the Tetrarchic period and for whom PLRE provides more detailed documentation.

Anastasia: Daughter of Constantius and Theodora, who by 316 was married to the senator Bassianus (Origo 5.14; PLRE 1 Anastasia 1).

Constantia: Daughter of Constantius and Theodora, who in 313 married Licinius (Lact. DMP 43.2, 45.1; Eus. HE 10.8.3–4; PLRE 1 Constantia 1; Pohlsander [1993]).

Dioclea: The possible name of the mother of Diocletian. The Epitome de Caesaribus names both Diocletian’s mother and his birthplace as Dioclea (39.1). Dioclea is a variation on the name of the town of Doclea in Dalmatia, and Diocletian was indeed born in Dalmatia. However, the other sources that relate Diocletian’s Dalmatian origin locate his birth in Salona (Lact. DMP 19.6 [implied]; Eutr. 9.19; Const. Porphyr. De Them. 58. 1–2 [CSHB 18]; Zon. 12.32; cf. Aur. Vict. Caes. 39.26 [Illyricum]). No other source mentions the mother of Diocletian. The dual claim concerning mother and birthplace perhaps stems from a conflation of historical traditions (see also Syme [1971] 233; Barnes [1982] 31).

Eutropia 1: Wife of Maximian, and mother of Theodora, Maxentius and Fausta. She begot Theodora via an earlier marriage, possibly to the praetorian prefect Afranius Hannibalianus (see Theodora in this Appendix). She was born in Syria (Origo 4.12; Jul. Or. 1.6a; Epit. 40.12–13), and she was still alive in 325, when she informed Constantine of ceremonies in Palestine (Eus. VC 3.52; Soz. 2.4.6).

Eutropia 2: Daughter of Constantius and Theodora, and mother of Nepotianus, who in 350 usurped as Augustus (Eutr. 10.11; Zos. 2.43.2; PLRE 1 Eutropia 2). She was killed by Magnentius (Augustus 350–3) (Athan. Apol. Const. 6.5).

Fl. Maxima Fausta: Daughter of Maximian and Eutropia; born and raised in Rome (Jul. Or. 1.5c). In 307 she married Constantine, and she bore him five children: Constantinus (b. 316), Constantius (b. 317), Constantina, Constans (b. 320 or 323) and Helena. Constantine had her put to death soon after he had his eldest son Crispus executed in 326 (Pan. Lat. 7[6] passim; Lact. DMP 27.1, 30.2–3; PLRE 1 Fausta; Barnes [1982] 9, 43; Drijvers [1992a]; Woods [1998]; Olbrich [2010]).

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Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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