Basilina

Basilina († 332/333) was the mother of the Roman emperor Julian (sole ruler 361–363).

Basilina was the daughter of a Praetorian prefect of the East ( praefectus praetorio Orientis ), who today is mostly identified with Iulius Iulianus , who was until 324 Praetorian prefect of the Emperor Licinius and 325 consul . Her brother, who was also called Iulianus , later became Comes Orientis under the rule of her son . Her father had her tutored by the highly educated Gothic eunuch Mardonios , who later also became the teacher of her son Julian. In addition, she was probably distantly related to Eusebius , the bishop of Nicomedia. Shortly after the inauguration of the new Roman capital Constantinople in 330, Basilina married Julius Constantius , the half-brother of the then Emperor Constantine . She probably gave birth to her only son Julian in Constantinople in 331, but died a few months later (332/333), although she was still young. Julian later named the city of Basilinopolis in Bithynia after her.

In the 4th century the Arian dispute raged , an intra-Christian conflict between the Arians and the Trinitarians or Orthodox who propagated the Trinity . In this conflict, Basilina seems to have initially been committed to Arianism: Athanasius the Great , an outstanding opponent of Arianism, accuses her of overthrowing Eutropius, who as Bishop of Adrianople had campaigned against Arianism, through her influence at court to have contributed. Reports about her will, in which she bequeathed land to the Church of Ephesus , show that she must have opted for Orthodoxy towards the end of her life .

literature

• Arnold Hugh Martin Jones , John Robert Martindale, John Morris : Basilina. In: The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (PLRE). Volume 1, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1971, ISBN 0-521-07233-6 , p. 148.
• Klaus Rosen : Julian. Emperor, God and haters of Christians . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-608-94296-3 , pp. 70ff., 76, 82, 103, 115.
• Otto Seeck : Basilina . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume III, 1, Stuttgart 1897, Col. 98 f.

Web links

• Michael DiMaio, Jr .: Short biography (English) at De Imperatoribus Romanis (with references).

Remarks

1. ↑ Libanios , orationes 18.8–9.
2. ^ For example PLRE I, pp. 148, 479; Klaus Rosen: Julian. Emperor, God and haters of Christians . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2006, p. 71f. Joseph Bidez in particular contributed to this clarification , cf. Joseph Bidez: Notes on quelques passages des écrits de l'empereur Julien . In: Mélanges Paul Thomas, Recueil de mémoires concernant la philologie classique . Bruges 1930, pp. 54–65, here pp. 57–63; see. also Joseph Bidez: Julian the Apostate . Callwey, Munich 1940, pp. 15f., 377.
3. ↑ See PLRE I, p. 470f .; Otto Seeck : Iulianos 39 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume X, 1, Stuttgart 1918, column 94 f .. Seeck first identified this Iulianus, probably wrongly, as Publilius Caeionius Iulianus , cf. Otto Seeck : Ceionius 28 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume III, 2, Stuttgart 1899, Col. 1863 f.
4. ↑ Seeck concludes, in: RE III, 1, col. 98, from Ammian 22,9,4, where it is noted that Julian was "distantly related" to Eusebius. He is followed by Rosen, Julian , p. 76.
5. ↑ On her early death Julian, Misopogon 352b.
6. ↑ Athanasius, History of the Arians 5: 1. Klaus Rosen: Julian. Emperor, God and haters of Christians . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2006, p. 76.
7. ↑ Palladios , Dialogus de vita Ioannis Chrysostomi 13; Photios , Bibliotheca 96.