Constantina

Constantina (also named Constantia and Constantiana; b. after 307/before 317 - d. 354) was the eldest daughter of Roman Emperor Constantine I and his second wife Fausta, daughter of Emperor Maximian. Constantina received the title of Augusta by her father, and is venerated as saint.

Life

In 335, Constantina married her cousin Hannibalianus, son of Flavius Dalmatius, whom Constantine had created "King of Kings and Ruler of the Pontic Tribes". Hannibalianus was murdered in 337, after the death of Constantine.^[1] For the second time, during the reign of her middle brother Constantius II, Constantina was married to Hannibalianus' and her own first cousin Gallus, who had been created a Caesar of the East and renamed Constantius around 349/350, which also presumably was the time of their marriage. Gallus was twenty-five or twenty-six at the time, whereas Constantina was substantially his senior. The Passio Artemii (12) alleges that the marriage was meant to ensure Gallus' loyalty but it may have had at least as much to do with Constantina who, besides having known power as Constantine's daughter and Hannibalianus' wife, had prompted the opposition of Vetranio (PLRE I, p. 954) to Magnentius, and whose hand had been sought from Constantius by ambassadors of Magnentius himself (Peter the Patrician fr. 16, Müller FHG IV, p. 190). The marriage, besides benefiting Constantius, extricated her from a dangerous situation in the Roman Empire and placed her in a position from which she might control the younger and inexperienced Caesar. On the other hand, it is possible that Constantius saw the marriage as a way to remove his intrusive — perhaps treasonous — sister from the volatile west. If the mention in the Passio Artemii (11) of letters from Constantina to her brother preserves a genuine tradition, it is possible Constantina even initiated the proposal that she marry Gallus. Her second marriage produced a daughter, whose name and fate are unknown.^[2] Gallus ruled over the East from Antioch, and his purpose was to keep under control the Sassanid menace. Gallus, however, alienated the support of his subjects with his arbitrary and merciless rule. Constantina supported her husband. When, after receiving the complaints of the Anthiocheans, Constantius called for Gallus, the caesar sent Constantina to her brother, with the purpose to mitigate his position in Constantius' consideration. Constantina, however, never reached Milan. She died in Caeni Gallicani, Bithynia. Her body was buried near Via Nomentana in Rome, in a mausoleum that later became the church of Santa Costanza, when Constantia was venerated as saint. Her magnificent porphyry sarcophagus is on exhibit in the Vatican Museums.

Character assessment

Edward Gibbon likened Constantina to one of the internal furies tormented with an insatiate thirst of human blood. The historian said that she encouraged the violent nature of Gallus rather than persuading him to show reason and compassion. Gibbon stated that her vanity was accentuated while the gentle qualities of a woman were absent in her makeup. She would have accepted a pearl necklace in return for consenting to the execution of a worthy nobleman.^[3]

Notes

References

Primary sources

• Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae Libri XXXI.

Secondary sources

• Morris, John; Arnold Hugh Martin Jones, and John Robert Martindale (1992). The prosopography of the later Roman Empire. Cambridge University Press, pp. 696-697. ISBN 0-521-07233-6. 
• DiMaio, Michael, "Constantina (daughter of Constantine I)", De Imperatoribus Romanis