Fausta

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Bronze coin with a portrait of Fausta
Follis Faustas; on the obverse her portrait, on the reverse Fausta as Salus , holding her sons Constantine II and Constantius II in her arms.

Flavia Maxima Fausta (* between 289 and 298 in Rome ; † 326 there ) was a Roman empress. The daughter of Emperor Maximian married Constantine I in 307 , to whom she bore several children, thus ensuring the continued existence of the Constantinian dynasty .

The year of birth of Fausta is controversial, opinions range from 289 to 298. According to a statement by the future emperor Julian , she was born and raised in Rome. Her father was Maximian , who at that time was Emperor of the West with the title Augustus (cf. Roman tetrarchy ); her mother was his wife, the Syrian Eutropia . Fausta was thus the younger sister of the future Emperor Maxentius ; her older half-sister was Flavia Maximiana Theodora , the Emperor Constantine I married.

In 307, her father married her to Constantine I , who at that time ruled Gaul and Britain as Caesar (lower emperor) . With the wedding, Maximian wanted to consolidate his alliance with Constantine, which he needed to support his emperor as Augustus , which was viewed as a usurpation by Oberkaiser Galerius . Constantine, whom Galerius did not recognize as Augustus , was also looking for allies. The connection with Fausta was also a legitimizing step - particularly important in a time of civil wars - because it was thus connected with the tetrarchical dynasty of the Hercules. Among the numerous speeches given at the wedding in March 307 was a surviving panegyric by an anonymous Gaulish speaker. Among other things, it claimed that Fausta and Konstantin had been engaged since childhood. The fact that Constantine was previously in a relationship with Minervina , with whom he fathered Crispus , as well as other evidence speak against this claim.

In 308 Maximian had to resign, however, and when he tried again in 310 to gain power, Constantine forced him to commit suicide. Various sources report in this context that Fausta contributed to the death of her own father by uncovering his conspiracy against Constantine. In reality Maximian had holed himself up in Massilia (Marseilles), but Constantine was able to force him to surrender. The uprising was already evident, Fausta didn't have to uncover anything.

The marriage with Constantine resulted in at least two sons who became emperors after Constantine's death in 337: Constantius II (* August 7, 317) and Constans (* approx. 320–323). Whether she was also the mother of Constantine II is uncertain and was already disputed in ancient times. Against this is the fact that Constantine's birth is usually placed in the sources in February 317, and consequently Constantius could not have been born to the same mother seven months later. Today's researchers therefore either assume that Constantine II had a different mother (a concubine ), or that he was born earlier. Fausta also gave birth to her husband's two daughters, Constantina and Helena . In 324, Constantine elevated his wife to Augusta , giving her a special honorary title and placing her on the same protocol level as himself.

In 326 a tragedy broke out between Constantine I, Fausta and his eldest son Crispus , who came from his first marriage: Constantine killed his son and shortly afterwards his wife Fausta. The explanations for this vary: According to one variant, Fausta is said to have accused Crispus of stalking her, whereupon Constantine had his son murdered. When he found that the accusations were false, he also had the perpetrator of the intrigue killed. It is also possible that both of them were involved in an intrigue against the emperor; the sources do not allow a clear explanation.

literature

Web links

Commons : Fausta  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Seeck, in: RE, Vol. VI, 2, col. 2085, argues for the years 293-298, while Timothy D. Barnes , The New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine , London 1982, p. 34, 289/90 assumes . Seeck, who is followed by Adolf Lippold, in: KlP, Vol. 2, Col. 522, argues with Maximian's stays in Rome and considers 298 to be the most likely - even if Fausta would have married at nine years of age. Cf. also Pohlsander, in: De Imperatoribus Romanis , note 3 .
  2. ↑ Julian, Speech 1,5c.
  3. ↑ Panegyrici latini 7 or 6. Otto Seeck, Eumenius 1) , in: RE, Vol. VI, 1 (1907), Col. 1105–1114, here Col. 1107 with the rhetor Eumenius , who is also the Panegyric 9 authored.
  4. ↑ Roger Rees, Layers of Loyalty in Latin Panegyric AD 289-307 , Oxford University Press, Oxford 2002, pp. 168-171.
  5. ↑ Lactanz , de mortibus persecutorum 30.2ff .; Zosimos 2.11; Eutropius 10.3.3; Hieronymus , Chronik 2324. Also Bruno Bleckmann , Konstantin der Große , Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1996, p. 48. Seeck, in: RE, Vol. VI, 2, Col. 2085 dismisses the allegations against Fausta as “fabulous” .
  6. ↑ Zosimos 2,20,2.
  7. ↑ The discussion is briefly outlined by Alexander Demandt , Die Spätantike. Roman history from Diocletian to Justinian 284–565 AD , CH Beck, Munich 1989, p. 70 with note 43, with references to the literature.
  8. ↑ On November 8, 324 according to Klaus Rosen, Constantine the Great: Kaiser between power politics and religion , Klett-Cotta Verlag, Stuttgart 2013, pp. 248–249.
  9. ↑ Cf. Elisabeth Herrmann-Otto , Konstantin der Große , Darmstadt 2007, pp. 141–146 and Oliver Schmitt, Constantin der Große , Stuttgart 2007, pp. 221–229, with a discussion of the difficult source situation and various research positions.
personal data
SURNAME Fausta
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fausta, Flavia Maxima
BRIEF DESCRIPTION roman empress
DATE OF BIRTH between 289 and 298
PLACE OF BIRTH Rome
DATE OF DEATH 326
Place of death Rome