| Basilina | |
|---|---|
| Born | Asia Minor |
| Died | 332/333 |
| Spouse | Julius Constantius |
| Issue | Julian |
| Dynasty | Constantinian |
| Father | Julius Julianus |
Basilina (Greek: Βασιλίνα; died 332/33312) was the wife of Julius Constantius and the mother of the Roman emperor Julian (r. 361–363) who in her honour gave the name Basilinopolis to a city in Bithynia (modern Pazarköy near Gemlik, in Turkey).2
Biography
Basilina was of Greek descent born in Asia Minor.34 She was either the daughter of Caeionius Iulianus Camenius,5 or more likely of Julius Julianus,12 and received a classical education (i.e., Homer and Hesiod) from Mardonius, a eunuch who grew up in the house of her father.1 She had a sister who became the mother of Procopius.6 She was a relative of Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, her son's tutor.
She became the second wife of Julius Constantius, whom she gave Julian;2 Basilina died a few months after childbirth.12 A Christian, Basilina initially favoured the Arians, but gave her lands as an inheritance to the church of Ephesus.2
References
References
Citations
- Baynes 1911, p. 63.
- Jones, Martindale & Morris 1971, "Basilina", p. 148.
- Norwich 1989, p. 83: "Julius Constantius [...] Constantine had invited him, with his second wife and his young family, to take up residence in his new capital; and it was in Constantinople that his third son Julian was born, in May or June of the year 332. The baby's mother, Basilina, a Greek from Asia Minor, died a few weeks later [...]"
- Bradbury 2004, p. 58: "JULIAN THE APOSTATE, FLAVIUS CLAUDIUS JULIANUS, ROMAN EMPEROR (332–63) Emperor from 361, son of Julius Constantius and a Greek mother Basilina, grandson of Constantius Chlorus, the only pagan Byzantine Emperor."
- DiMaio 1997.
- Ammianus Marcellinus. Res Gestae, 26.6.
Sources
- Baynes, Norman H. (1911). "CHAPTER III Constantine's Successors to Jovian: And the Struggle with Persia". The Cambridge Medieval History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 55–86.
- Bradbury, Jim (2004). The Routledge Companion to Medieval Warfare. London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-22126-9.
- DiMaio, Michael (22 February 1997). "The Siblings of Constantine I". De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
- Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin; Martindale, John Robert; Morris, John (1971). The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, Volume I: A.D. 260–395. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-07233-6.
- Norwich, John Julius (1989). Byzantium: The Early Centuries. New York: Knopf. ISBN 0-394-53778-5.