Flavia Maximiana Theodora
Flavia Maximiana Theodora (known as Theodora). She is often called Maximian's stepdaughter by ancient sources, leading to claims by Otto Seeck and Ernest Stein that she was born from an earlier marriage between Eutropia and Afranius Hannibalianus.[1] This would make her the stepdaughter of Maximian. Her parents would have been Flavius Afranius Hannibalianus and wife, divorced before 283, Eutropia, later wife of Maximian. Theodora's father would have been consul in 292, and praetorian prefect under Diocletian. Barnes challenges this view, saying that all "stepdaughter" sources derive their information from the partially unreliable work of history Kaisergeschichte, while other, more reliable sources, refer to her as Maximian's natural daughter.[2] Barnes concludes that Theodora 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;
- Hannibalianus (must have died before the imperial purges that occurred in 337 because he is not listed among its victims);
- Anastasia;
- Flavia Julia Constantia, wife of Roman Emperor Licinius;
- Eutropia, mother of Nepotianus.
[edit] References
- ^ Aurelius Victor, de Caesaribus 39.25; Eutropius, Breviaria 9.22; Jerome, Chronicle 225g; Epitome de Caesaribus 39.2, 40.12, quoted in 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.
[edit] External links
Media related to Flavia Maximiana Theodora at Wikimedia Commons
| Royal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Prisca - Eutropia |
Empress of Rome 305–306 (with Galeria Valeria) |
Succeeded by Galeria Valeria |
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