Empress Aelia Eudocia (Athenais)

by fljustice | May 20, 2021 | Essays/Research, History, Theodosian Women, Wonderful Women

Roman Empress Aelia Eudocia (Athenais)

Love story or political pawn?

(b. 400/1, d. 460, Empress 421-460)

Mosaic image of Aelia Eudocia (Athenais)

Empress Aelia Eudocia married Empress Pulcheria’s brother Theodosius II. She was born Athenais, the only daughter of a pagan Greek philosopher named Leontius who taught at the Academy in Athens. He educated his daughter and she later became known for her poetry and literature, some of which survives today. Athenais is also the protagonist in Rebel Empress, the third book in the Theodosian Women series. How did a beautiful, but poor, pagan girl attract the attention of the Most Christian Emperor Theodosius II?

The fanciful love story some ancient historians tell (writing a hundred years after the fact) goes like this: When Leontius died, he left his fortune to his sons Gessius and Valerius leaving only one hundred coins to Athenais because “her good fortune, surpassing that of all other women, will be enough.” (The assumption being that “good fortune” in this phrase refers to her beauty.) She asked her brothers to share, but they refused.

Athenais then went to Constantinople to live with an aunt and uncle and take her case to a higher magistrate. Supposedly, Empress Pulcheria observed Athenais make her case and was impressed, not only with the girl’s beauty, but her brains and elocution. Since she was on the lookout for a suitable wife for her brother she brought Athenais to his attention and it was love at first sight.

Athenais was baptized and took the Christian name Aelia Eudocia in tribute to Theodosius’ mother. (An aside: She used her Christian name only on formal occasions. She preferred Athenais among her family and intimate associates. I use Athenais to break up the Eudoxia/Eudocia confusing line of names.) In the love story, her wicked brothers fled after hearing she was marrying the Emperor, thinking Athenais would punish them. She recalled them and showered them with honors, showing her Christian charity and forgiveness for their sins. And everyone lived happily ever after—a romantic rags to riches story with moral themes to suit the times.

Kenneth G. Holum in his Theodosian Empresses: Women and Imperial Dominion in Late Antiquity tells a more probable story. The Hellene faction, including Theodosius’ boyhood friend Paulinus, were likely behind finding a more secular bride to counter Pulcheria’s strict religious influence at court. Pulcheria certainly wouldn’t want a sister-in-law who came with a raft of male relatives that could rival her own influence with her brother or even challenge him for the throne. Valerius, Gessius, and the uncle were given high offices and honors just before the wedding and for years after.

The previously pagan Athenais and saintly Pulcheria continued to clash over myriad political policies and church doctrine, but primarily over the big prize: influence over Theodosius. The fact that Athenais could produce a son gave her a leg up on Pulcheria until it became clear that no male heir was forthcoming. Athenais gave birth to one child who survived into adulthood, a daughter Licinia Eudoxia. A second daughter Flacilla died in childhood, and a son Arcadius was still born or died in early infancy snuffing Athenais’ fertility as a source of power.

But Athenais was smart as well as pretty. She learned the ins and outs of court politics and learned to wield her own sources of power which shifted over the years. How she did that and her fate at court is the subject of Rebel Empress, but she was best known for rebuilding Jerusalem. For those good works the Eastern Orthodox Church made her a saint, putting her on the same heavenly plain as her rival in life Pulcheria.

Coming next: Empress Justa Grata Honoria, Placidia’s wayward daughter.

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Image of mosaic showing Empress Aelia Eudocia (Athenais) licensed as Creative Commons By Elena Chochkova – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4485258

Empress Aelia Eudoxia

by fljustice | May 15, 2021 | Essays/Research, History, Theodosian Women, Wonderful Women

Roman Empress Aelia Eudoxia

Jezebel of the East?

(b.?, d. 404, Empress 395-404)

Was she or wasn’t she? It depends on whether you’re a modern historian who admires assertive women or a fifth century bishop. Eudoxia was the attractive daughter of a Romanized Frankish General and—initially—a pawn in a palace intrigue. After Theodosius’ death in early 395, his oldest son Arcadius became co-Emperor in Constantinople. The nobles and palace eunuchs schemed for control of the “lethargic” emperor. The eastern Prefect had a marriageable daughter, but the chief eunuch of the imperial household got there first. Before Theodosius’ body could arrive in Constantinople for burial, the eunuch’s choice, Eudoxia, married the new emperor while the prefect was out of town.

Once in power, Eudoxia proved she was no longer a pawn. She modeled herself on her dead mother-in-law, the sainted Flacilla, taking her nomen Aelia, and proving her fertility by having five living children. After three daughters, she finally gave birth to a male heir Theodosius II. Her oldest daughter Flacilla died young, but Pulcheria, Arcadia, and Marina (youngest child born after Theodosius) lived well into adulthood and I chronicle their stories in Dawn Empress: A Novel of Imperial Rome.

Also like her predecessor, she turned her eyes to the Church to enhance the imperial reign. Eudoxia lavished money on silver candle sticks and acquired saints’ relics to adorn the churches, but she went a step beyond Flacilla. Instead of serving the poor and destitute, Eudoxia engaged in politics directly affecting Church doctrine. When Arcadius’ advisors refused a petition from prominent Churchmen to demolish a pagan temple in Gaza, she arranged for her infant son to grant the request. She ordered her agent to “demolish to their foundations all temples of idols.”

In spite of these and other “good deeds” she ran afoul of the Bishop of Constantinople who considered her arrogant and greedy. And the nobles she bested didn’t like having an uppity woman in control of the emperor either. They openly gossiped about the parentage of the young heir, and named a favorite courtier of Eudoxia’s, Count John, as the true baby-daddy. That gossip still shows up in the history books, but without a paternity test, we can’t know the truth.

Bishop Chrysostom denounced the empress as a modern Jezebel, the embodiment of queenly evil, but he didn’t like women much. He preached against women taking on any role other than one of subservience. When the city prefect erected a silver statue of Eudoxia before the senate house, Chrysostom thundered another sermon, this time comparing the empress to Herodias who aimed “to have the head of John on a platter.” Eudoxia had him banished.

Unfortunately, Eudoxia didn’t have long to relish her victory. She died of a miscarriage on October 6, 404, but left a potent legacy for her daughter Pulcheria, when she came to power.

Coming up next: Empress Galla Placidia, the Twilight Empress, daughter of Theodosius.

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Coin image available through Creative Commons, licensed By Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. http://www.cngcoins.com, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47717643

Princess Serena

by fljustice | May 14, 2021 | Essays/Research, History, Theodosian Women, Wonderful Women

Roman Princess Serena

Executed for treason.

(b. ?, d. 409)

Theodosius I took his niece Serena into his household when his brother died. She became a powerful influence on him. He called her “daughter” and it’s said she was the only person who could soothe his frequent rages. To keep his best general Stilicho closely allied, he married him to Serena in 384. In spite of Stilicho spending much time in the field fending off invading Goths, they had three children: Maria, Thermantia, and Eucherius.

By all accounts it was a successful marriage between two astute political operators. When Theodosius died, he left his minor children (Emperor Arcadius in the East, Emperor Honorius and Princess Placidia in the West) in their care. Here’s where things get complicated. The noblemen and eunuchs of the Eastern court didn’t want the half-barbarian Stilicho anywhere near their dim-witted Emperor. Stilicho couldn’t run the entire empire as regent without their cooperation, so he retired to the West and left them to fight the Goths on their own.

In the meantime, Serena developed a “wicked step-mother” image—at least in later historian’s eyes. Nothing from primary or contemporaneous sources supports that theory. They claimed she promoted her own children by marrying her eldest daughter Maria to Honorius when they were just fourteen. When Maria died, she married Thermantia to Honorius and arranged an engagement between her son Eucherius and Princess Placidia. Intermarraige among the imperial families was quite common as a way to promote stability, but some modern historians believed she stifled Honorius and Placidia and shunted them aside at court. Supposedly, they hated her for it which had dire consequences later.

Honorius was only slightly more capable than his older brother. When he came of age, he also came under the influence of an anti-barbarian faction at his court. He executed Stilicho and his son, murdered the Arian wives and children of his barbarian auxiliary troops, and divorced Thermantia. Serena, as his first cousin, was spared and she retired to Rome with her remaining child. The Goths, bolstered by thousands of vengeful Roman-trained auxiliaries invaded Italy and laid siege to Rome while Honorius stayed safe behind the sheltering swamps of Ravenna.

Panic roiled the streets of Rome. Rumors flew that Serena sympathized with the barbarians because of her marriage to Stilicho and she planned to open the gates to the invaders. A delegation of senators appealed to the young Princess Placidia who also was in residence. She signed her cousin/foster mother’s death warrant. Serena was strangled (the traditional way of executing enemies of the state) in 409. This act didn’t scare the Goths and they put Rome under a ruinous seige for several months until the city paid them an exorbitant bribe to leave.

Most historians agree that the accusations against Serena were false and assumed Placidia’s motives for signing the death warrant were dislike or jealousy. I have an alternative theory which I explore in my novella Becoming the Twilight Empress.

Coming up next: Empress Aelia Eudoxia, married Theodosius’ son Arcadius.

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Cropped image of ivory triptych showing Serena, Stilicho, and Eugenius; in the Public Domain.

Empress Galla

by fljustice | May 13, 2021 | Essays/Research, History, Theodosian Women, Wonderful Women

Roman Empress Galla

Died young, but left a legacy.

(b. 370?, d 394, Empress 387-394)

After Aelia Flacilla’s death, the grieving Emperor Theodosius turned his eyes to a young imperial princess: Galla, the daughter of slain Emperor Valentinian I and sister of the co-emperor Valentinian II. When a usurper named Magnus Maximus decided he wanted young Valentinian’s portion of the empire, Galla’s mother Justina came to the Eastern court to plead for help.

There were several strikes against this match. The usurper Maximus had overthrown Valentinian II’s older brother Gratian four years before and Theodosius had not moved against him. Maximus hailed from Spain, as did Theodosius, and rose through the ranks of the army under the Emperor’s slain father. The armies of Britain and Gaul had acclaimed him in a legitimate way. The topper? Maximus espoused the Nicene faith. Galla and her mother Justina were staunch Arian Christians and the house of Valentinian bore some responsibility for Theodosius’s father’s execution.

But Justina showed off her beautiful teenaged daughter and caught the aging emperor’s attention. When Theodosius asked for Galla’s hand, Justina agreed only on the condition that he take up young Valentinian’s cause. Theodosius married Galla in 387, went to war, and destroyed Magus Maximus’ troops at the battle of Frigidus with considerable help from the Gothic auxiliaries.

It might have been love—historians say Theodosius doted on his beautiful bride. But it’s likely there was also a hefty dose of pragmatism and dynastic ambitions to his decision. By invading Italy, Maximus showed a level of ambition that could lead him to attack Theodosius next. Best case scenario? Maximus would be a strong ruler and not cooperate with the Eastern court. Worst case? Maximus would move on Theodosius in an effort to become sole Roman Emperor of both West and East. By marrying Galla, Theodosius allied himself with an existing imperial dynasty and secured a young malleable co-emperor in Valentinian II.

What did Galla think of this? We don’t know. We don’t even have a proven image of her, much less some primary sources on her thoughts and feelings. We do know she fulfilled her imperial duty by giving birth to three children. The middle child, a boy named Gratian, died in infancy. The youngest named John, died at birth with his mother in 394. Galla’s true legacy was in giving birth to her first child, a daughter, who grew up to be the formidable Empress Galla Placidia (protagonist in Becoming the Twilight Empress and Twilight Empress: A Novel of Imperial Rome). For that, in an otherwise brief and forgettable life, she will be remembered.

Coming up next: Princess Serena, the niece of Theodosius I and foster mother to his children.

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Image is of unknown Roman Empress licensed for Creative Commons by Francisco Anzola. https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71266755