Basilina

Basilina (Greek: Βασιλίνα; died 332/333^[1][2]) 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]

Basilina
Born	Asia Minor
Died	332/333
Spouse	Julius Constantius
Issue	Julian
Dynasty	Constantinian
Father	Julius Julianus

Biography

Basilina was of Greek descent born in Asia Minor.^[3][4] She was either the daughter of Caeionius Iulianus Camenius,^[5] or more likely of Julius Julianus,^[1][2] 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.^{[citation needed]}

She became the second wife of Julius Constantius, whom she gave Julian;^[2] Basilina died a few months after childbirth.^[1][2] A Christian, Basilina initially favoured the Arians, but gave her lands as an inheritance to the church of Ephesus.^[2]

References

Citations

1. Baynes 1911, p. 63.
2. Jones, Martindale & Morris 1971, "Basilina", p. 148.
3. 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 [...]"
4. 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."
5. DiMaio 1997.
6. 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.