Anastasia (daughter of Constantius I)

Anastasia (fl. 310s) was a Roman woman of the Constantinian dynasty (a line of rulers who governed the Roman Empire during Late Antiquity).[1] Anastasia was the daughter of the Roman emperor Constantius I, the half-sister of the emperor Constantine the Great, and the wife of Bassianus.[1][2]

Anastasia
SpouseBassianus
HouseConstantinian dynasty
FatherConstantius I
MotherFlavia Maximiana Theodora

Anastasia's mother was Flavia Maximiana Theodora, the wife of Constantius I.[2][3] (It is also possible that Anastasia was the daughter of Helena, mother of Constantine I, and not a daughter of Maximiana Theodora.)[4]:184[5]:120-121

Anastasia was written about by the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus and the writer of the Anonymus Valesianus, a Latin history.[6] The Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae says that Roman baths in Constantinople (the Romans' capital city) had Anastasia's name.[6] Anastasia's name (Lua error in Module:Unicode_data at line 468: attempt to index field 'scripts' (a boolean value).) may mean that her father had sympathy for Christian or Jewish culture.[7]

There is no evidence that any of Constantius's daughters married before their father died.[8] Anastasia's sister Constantia may have been the first to marry, and may have been the oldest of the siblings. Constantia married in 313.[8] Anastasia herself married Bassianus in 316[8] or in 314.[9] At that time, Anastasia's half-brother Constantine was emperor. He planned to make Bassianus Latin: caesar (a junior co-emperor). Anastasia's brother-in-law Licinius (Constantine's junior co-emperor) did not want this to happen, and Bassianus did not become Latin: caesar. After this Constantine executed Bassianus. The Anonymus Valesianus says that Bassianus's execution was because Bassianus planned treason.[9] What became of Anastasia is unknown.[2] The encyclopaedia Brill's New Pauly says that Anastasia "must have still been alive" when Constantine built the city of Constantinople, because of the Roman baths there with her name (Latin: Thermae Anastasianae).[10]

In the 5th century, the Greek historians of Socrates Scholasticus and Sozomen both wrote that the Latin: Thermae Anastasianae got their name from another Anastasia, a daughter of the emperor Valens. This information is not correct.[11]

Related pages

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Jones, A. H. M.; Martindale, J. R.; Morris, J. (1971). "Anastasia 1". The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume 1, AD 260–395. Cambridge University Press. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-521-07233-5.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lightman, Marjorie; Lightman, Benjamin (2008) [2000]. "Anastasia (I)". A to Z of Ancient Greek and Roman Women (Revised ed.). New York: Facts On File. p. 20. ISBN 9780816067107.
  3. Kienast, Dietmar; Eck, Werner; Heil, Matthäus (2017) [1990]. "Constantius I. (1. März 293– 25. Juli 306)". Römische Kaisertabelle: Grundzüge einer römischen Kaiserchronologie (in Deutsch) (6th ed.). Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft (WBG). pp. 269–271. ISBN 978-3-534-26724-8.
  4. Tougher, Shaun (2012). "Imperial Blood: Family Relationships in the Dynasty of Constantine the Great". In Harlow, Mary; Larsson Lovén, Lena (eds.). Families in the Roman and Late Antique World. London: A&C Black. pp. 181–198. ISBN 978-1-4411-7468-0.
  5. Chausson, François (2007). Stemmata aurea: Constantin, Justine, Théodose : revendications généalogiques et idéologie impériale au IVe siècle ap. J.-C (in français). L'Erma di Bretschneider. pp. 106, 117, 120–121, 127–129, 137, 139–141, 151, 170, 256. ISBN 978-88-8265-393-4.
  6. 6.0 6.1 Jones, A. H. M.; Martindale, J. R.; Morris, J. (1971). "Eutropia 2". The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume 1, AD 260–395. Cambridge University Press. p. 316. ISBN 978-0-521-07233-5.
  7. Gregory, Timothy E. (2005) [1991], Kazhdan, Alexander P. (ed.), "Constantius Chlorus", The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium (online ed.), Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780195046526.001.0001, ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6, retrieved 2021-06-14
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Potter, David (2013). Constantine the Emperor. Oxford University Press. pp. 63–64, 321. ISBN 978-0-19-023162-0.
  9. 9.0 9.1 Kienast, Dietmar; Eck, Werner; Heil, Matthäus (2017) [1990]. "Constantin I. (25. Juli 306– 22. Mai 337)". Römische Kaisertabelle: Grundzüge einer römischen Kaiserchronologie (in Deutsch) (6th ed.). Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft (WBG). pp. 286–295. ISBN 978-3-534-26724-8.
  10. Bleckmann, Bruno (2006). "Anastasia [1] Half-sister of Constantine the Great". Brill's New Pauly. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e120050. ISBN 9789004122598.
  11. Portmann, Werner (2006). "Anastasia [2] Daughter of the emperor Valens". Brill's New Pauly. doi:10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e120050. ISBN 9789004122598.