Basilina
BornAsia Minor
Died332/333
SpouseJulius Constantius
IssueJulian
DynastyConstantinian
FatherJulius Julianus

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]

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. ^ a b c d Baynes 1911, p. 63.
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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

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