Valeria Maximilla
| Valeria Maximilla | |
|---|---|
Empress of the Roman Empire | |
| Tenure | 306–312 (alongside Galeria Valeria 307–311, Fausta 309–312) |
| Born | before 293 |
| Died | after 312 |
| Spouse | Maxentius |
| Issue |
|
| Father | Emperor Galerius |
Valeria Maximilla (fl. 293–312) was the Empress of the Romans and wife of Emperor Maxentius.
Life
She was the daughter of Emperor
nobilissima
femina.
Her husband was acclaimed emperor in October 306 against the wishes of Valeria Maximilla's father, who tried to overthrow the usurper in 307 but without success. Maxentius remained the ruler of
Italy. Valeria and her husband were together before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge
, when she disappears from the historical record. Her fate is unknown. Their son, Romulus, died in 309.
Valeria Maximilla's portrait does not appear on any of the coinage issued under Maxentius, but she may have been depicted on a defaced sculpture now housed in the Capitoline Museums. If it is of Maximilla, it was likely defaced after her husband's overthrow, when his own images were also defaced.[1]
In St. Catherine's hagiography
Maximilla may be the nameless queen who appears in the
St. Catherine of Alexandria by Jacobus de Voragine (one of the fantastic stories in the "Golden Legend"). In this story, the queen converted to Christianity after meeting with Catherine, and the both of them were then tortured and executed by Maxentius, depicted here as a persecutor of Christians.[2]
In another similar version by 15th-century Italian hagiographer
feast day with Catherine: November 24 for the Russian Orthodox Church, and Nov. 25
for the Greek Orthodox Church.
See also
- List of Roman women
- List of Roman empresses
References
- ISBN 90-04-13577-4.
- ^ "The Life of Saint Katherine". The Golden Legend or Lives of the Saints compiled by Jacobus de Voragine. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
- Peter de Natalibus.] Catherine, Virgin and Martyr, suffered at Alexandria under Maxentius the Emperor. [...] the Queen Faustina, his wife, touched with pity, bribed Catherine's gaolers with the assistance of Porphyrius, captain of the host, and came by night to the prison.
- Maximinhad a wife named Faustina; and Maxentius, as I have before said, was never in Alexandria. Archbishop Falconius [Niccolò Carminio Falconi / Nicolaus Carminius Falconius, 18th c.] calls the empress "uxor illa per somnium Maxentii imperatoris."
- DiMaio, Jr., Michael. "Maxentius (306-312 A.D.)". De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and Their Families. Retrieved 7 December 2011.