Flavia Maximiana Theodora

Flavia Maximiana Theodora. On the reverse, the goddess Pietas, as goddess of the family.

Flavia Maximiana Theodora, also known as Theodora, was a Roman Empress, wife of Constantius Chlorus.

She is often referred to as a stepdaugher of Emperor Maximian by ancient sources, leading to claims by historians Otto Seeck and Ernest Stein that she was born from an earlier marriage between Eutropia, wife of Maximian, and Afranius Hannibalianus. This man was consul in 292 and praetorian prefect under Diocletian.

Timothy Barnes challenges this view stating that all "stepdaughter sources" derive their information from the partially unreliable work Kaisergeschichte (written in the 4th century), while more reliable sources refer Theodora as Maximian's natural daughter. He concludes that she was born no later than c. 275 to an unnamed earlier wife of Maximian, possibly one of Hannibalianus' daughters.

In 293, Theodora married Flavius Valerius Julius Constantius (later known as Constantius Chlorus), after he had divorced from his first wife, Helena, to strengthen his political position. The couple had six children:

• Flavius Dalmatius;
• Julius Constantius, father of Roman Emperor Julian and of the unnamed wife of Constantius II;
• Hannibalianus (must have died before the imperial purges that occurred in 337 because he is not listed among its victims);
• Anastasia, who was to marry Bassianus;
• Flavia Julia Constantia, wife of Roman Emperor Licinius;
• Eutropia, mother of Nepotianus.

Bibliography

• Barnes, Timothy D.. The New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982. ISBN 0-7837-2221-4

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Royal titles
Preceded by Prisca (wife of Diocletian)	Empress of Rome 305–306 with Galeria Valeria (305–306)	Succeeded by Galeria Valeria
Preceded by Eutropia (wife of Maximian)