Maria (empress)

Roman empress

Maria

5th-century cameo depicting Maria (right) and her husband Honorius (left)

Roman empress

(in the West)

Tenure| 398 – 407

Born| c. 384
Died| 407
Ravenna
Burial|

Old St. Peter's Basilica

Spouse| Honorius
Dynasty| Theodosian
Father| Stilicho
Mother| Serena
Maria's pendant, now on display at the Louvre. The names of Maria's parents and husband are arranged to form the Chi Rho. The pendant reads, around a central cross (clockwise) on the obverse:
HONORI
MARIA
SERHNA
VIVATIS
STELICHO. and on the reverse,
STELICHO
SERENA
EUCHERI
THERMANTIA
VIVATIS

Maria (died 407) was a Roman empress as the first wife of the Western Roman Emperor Honorius. She was the daughter of the general Stilicho. It is uncertain when she was born, but she must have been no older than fourteen at the time of her marriage. Maria had no children, and died in 407. After her death, Honorius married her sister Thermantia.

## Family[edit]

Maria was a daughter of Stilicho, magister militum of the Western Roman Empire, and Serena. Her siblings were Eucherius and Thermantia. "De Consulatu Stilichonis" by Claudian reports that her unnamed paternal grandfather was a cavalry officer under Valens, Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire. Orosius clarifies that her paternal grandfather was a Romanized Vandal.[1] The fragmentary chronicle of John of Antioch, a 7th-century monk tentatively identified with John of the Sedre, Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch from 641 to 648[2] calls the grandfather a Scythian, probably following Late Antique practice to dub any people inhabiting the Pontic–Caspian steppe as "Scythians", regardless of their language. Jerome calls Stilicho a semibarbarian, which has been interpreted to mean that Maria's unnamed paternal grandmother was a Roman.[1]

The poem "In Praise of Serena" by Claudian and the "Historia Nova" by Zosimus clarify that Maria's maternal grandfather was an elder Honorius, a brother to Theodosius I.[3][4] Genealogists consider it likely that Maria was named after her maternal grandmother, tentatively giving said grandmother the name "Maria".[5][6]

## Marriage[edit]

In c. February, 398, Maria married Honorius, a cousin of her mother.[7] In the Epithalamion written in their honor, the poet Claudian places his flattering description of Maria in the mouth of Venus, a Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty and fertility.[8]

The date of her parents’ marriage is usually given as the year 384,[9][10][11] meaning that Maria would be, at most, 14 years old at the time of her marriage.[6]

## Empress[edit]

Although Claudian expressed hope that Maria would have a child,[12] that did not happen.[13] Some ancient sources attributed the couple’s childlessness to underhanded tactics. Zosimus blamed Serena,[14] while Philostorgius blamed Stilicho.[15] Doyle characterized Zosimus’ report of Serena administering drugs to her son-in-law for years as “outlandish.”[16] After her death in 407,[17] her sister Thermantia went on to marry Honorius.

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b Jones, Martindale & Morris, p. 853.
2. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia, "John of Antioch"
3. ^ Zosimus, Historia Nova 5.4.1
4. ^ Claudian, "In Praise of Serena", Loeb Classical Library, edition 1922
5. ^ Ronald Wells, "Ancient Ancestors"
6. ^ a b Jones, Martindale & Morris, p. 824.
7. ^ Ralph W. Mathisen, Honorius (395-423 A.D.)
8. ^ Claudian, "Epithalamium", Loeb Classical Library, edition 1922
9. ^ Williams, Stephen, Theodosius: The Empire at Bay, Yale University Press, 1994, p. 42
10. ^ McEvoy 2013, p. 143.
11. ^ Holum 1982, pp. 9–10.
12. ^ McEvoy 2013, p. 161.
13. ^ Holum 1982, p. 49.
14. ^ Zosimus, Historia Nova 5.28.2
15. ^ Philostorgius, Historia Ecclesiastica XII.2
16. ^ Doyle, Chris (2018-08-06). Honorius: The Fight for the Roman West AD 395-423. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-27807-8.
17. ^ Jones 1992, p. 720.

## Sources[edit]

* Holum, Kenneth G. (1982). Theodosian Empresses: Women and Imperial Dominion in Late Antiquity. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-04162-2.
* Jones, A.H.M.; J.R. Martindale & J. Morris (1971). Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. Vol. 1\. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-07233-6.
* Jones, A. H. M. (1992). The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume 2, AD 395-527. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521201599.
* McEvoy, Meaghan (2013). Child Emperor Rule in the Late Roman West, AD 367–455. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199664818.

Royal titles

Preceded by

Galla
First following the division with the Eastern Roman Empire

|  Western Roman Empress consort
398-407  | Succeeded by

Thermantia

* v
* t
* e

Roman and Byzantine empresses

Principate
27 BC – AD 235|

* Livia
* Livia Orestilla
* Lollia Paulina
* Milonia Caesonia
* Messalina
* Agrippina the Younger
* Claudia Octavia
* Poppaea Sabina
* Statilia Messalina
* Galeria Fundana
* Domitia Longina
* Pompeia Plotina
* Vibia Sabina
* Faustina the Elder
* Faustina the Younger
* Lucilla
* Bruttia Crispina
* Flavia Titiana
* Manlia Scantilla
* Julia Domna (w. Fulvia Plautilla)
* Julia Cornelia Paula
* Aquilia Severa
* Annia Faustina
* Sallustia Orbiana

Crisis
235–285|

* Caecilia Paulina (?)
* Tranquillina
* Marcia Otacilia Severa
* Herennia Etruscilla
* Cornelia Supera
* Cornelia Salonina
* Ulpia Severina
* Magnia Urbica

Dominate
284–610|

* Prisca
* Eutropia
* Galeria Valeria
* Flavia Maximiana Theodora
* Minervina (?)
* Fausta
* Valeria Maximilla
* Flavia Julia Constantia
* Eusebia
* Faustina
* Helena
* Charito
* Marina Severa
* Justina
* Domnica
* Constantia
* Laeta
* Aelia Flaccilla
* Galla

| Western Empire
395–480|

* Maria
* Thermantia
* Galla Placidia
* Licinia Eudoxia
* Marcia Euphemia
* Placidia
* Julius Nepos's wife

|

Eastern Empire
395–610|

* Aelia Eudoxia
* Aelia Eudocia
* Pulcheria
* Verina
* Ariadne
* Zenonis
* Euphemia
* Theodora
* Sophia
* Ino Anastasia
* Constantina
* Leontia

Eastern/
Byzantine Empire
610–1453|

* Fabia Eudokia
* Martina
* Gregoria
* Fausta
* Anastasia
* Eudokia
* Theodora of Khazaria
* Maria
* Tzitzak
* Maria
* Eudokia
* Anna
* Irene of Athens
* Maria of Amnia
* Theodote
* Theophano of Athens
* Prokopia
* Theodosia
* Thekla
* Euphrosyne
* Theodora
* Eudokia Dekapolitissa
* Eudokia Ingerina
* Theophano Martinakia
* Zoe Zaoutzaina
* Eudokia Baïana
* Zoe Karbonopsina
* Helena Lekapene
* Theodora
* Theophano
* Theodora
* Helena
* Zoë
* Theodora
* Catherine of Bulgaria
* Eudokia Makrembolitissa
* Maria of Alania
* Irene Doukaina
* Irene of Hungary (w. Dobrodeia of Kiev)
* Bertha of Sulzbach
* Maria of Antioch
* Agnes of France
* Margaret of Hungary
* Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamatera
* Eudokia Angelina
* Anna Komnene Angelina
* Philippa of Armenia
* Maria of Courtenay
* Irene Laskarina
* Anna of Hohenstaufen
* Elena Asenina of Bulgaria
* Theodora Palaiologina (w. Anna of Hungary)
* Irene of Montferrat
* Rita of Armenia
* Irene of Brunswick
* Anna of Savoy
* Helena Kantakouzene
* Irene Asanina (w. Irene Palaiologina)
* Keratsa of Bulgaria
* Irene Gattilusio
* Helena Dragaš (w. Anna of Moscow)
* Sophia of Montferrat
* Maria of Trebizond

See also|

* Roman emperor
* list
* Byzantine emperor
* Augustae

Italics indicates a consort to a junior co-emperor, underlining indicates a consort to an emperor variously regarded as either legitimate or a usurper, and bold incidates an empress regnant.

Authority control databases

International|

* FAST
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National|

* United States

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