Flavia Julia Constantia
293-330
Born: Eboracum, England
Died: Romano, Torino, Piemonte, Italy
<p><strong>Flavia Julia Constantia</strong> (after 293 – c. 330) was the daughter of the Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus and his second wife, Flavia Maximiana Theodora.</p> <p>In 313, Emperor Constantine I, who was the half-brother of Constantia, gave her in marriage to his co-emperor Licinius, on occasion of their meeting in Mediolanum. She bore a son, Valerius Licinianus Licinius, in 315, and when the struggle between Constantine and Licinius began in 316, she stayed on her husband's side. A second war started between the two emperors in 324; after Licinius' defeat, Constantia interceded with Constantine for her husband's life. Constantine spared Licinius life, and obliged him to live in Thessalonica as a private citizen, but the following year (325), he ordered that Licinius be killed. A second blow for Constantia was the death, also by order of Constantine, of her son Valerius.</p> <p>In the following years, Constantia lived at her brother's court, receiving honors (her title was <em>nobilissima femina</em>). She converted to Christianity,<sup><span>[</span>1<span>]</span></sup> supporting the Arian party at the First Council of Nicaea (325).<sup><span>[</span>2<span>]</span></sup></p> <p>The city of Constanţa, Romania is named after her.</p>