Flavia Maximiana Theodora
Flavia Maximiana Theodora, also known as Theodora, was a Roman Empress, wife of Constantius Chlorus.
She is often referred to as a stepdaugher of Emperor Maximian by ancient sources, leading to claims by historians Otto Seeck and Ernest Stein that she was born from an earlier marriage between Eutropia, wife of Maximian, and Afranius Hannibalianus.[1] This man was consul in 292 and praetorian prefect under Diocletian.
Timothy Barnes challenges this view stating that all "stepdaughter sources" derive their information from the partially unreliable work Kaisergeschichte (written in the 4th century), while more reliable sources refer Theodora as Maximian's natural daughter.[2] He concludes that she was born no later than c. 275 to an unnamed earlier wife of Maximian, possibly one of Hannibalianus' daughters.[3]
In 293, Theodora married Flavius Valerius Julius Constantius (later known as Constantius Chlorus), after he had divorced from his first wife, Helena, to strengthen his political position. The couple had six children:
- Flavius Dalmatius;
- Julius Constantius, father of Roman Emperor Julian and of the unnamed wife of Constantius II;
- Hannibalianus (must have died before the imperial purges that occurred in 337 because he is not listed among its victims);
- Anastasia, who was to marry Bassianus;
- Flavia Julia Constantia, wife of Roman Emperor Licinius;
- Eutropia, mother of Nepotianus.
References
- ↑ Aurelius Victor, Epitome de Caesaribus 39.25; Eutropius, Breviaria 9.22; Jerome, Chronicle 225g; Epitome de Caesaribus 39.2, 40.12, quoted in Timothy Barnes, New Empire, 33; Barnes, New Empire, 33.
- ↑ Origo Constantini 2; Philostorgius, Historia Ecclesiastica 2.16a, quoted in Barnes, New Empire, 33. See also Panegyrici Latini 10(2)11.4.
- ↑ Barnes, New Empire, 33–34.
Bibliography
- Barnes, Timothy D.. The New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982. ISBN 0-7837-2221-4
External links
Media related to Flavia Maximiana Theodora at Wikimedia Commons
| Royal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Prisca (wife of Diocletian) |
Empress of Rome 305–306 with Galeria Valeria (305–306) |
Succeeded by Galeria Valeria |
| Preceded by Eutropia (wife of Maximian) | ||