Valeria Maximilla

Valeria Maximilla (fl. 293–312) was the Empress of the Romans and wife of Emperor Maxentius.

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	Valerius Romulus unknown second son
Father	Emperor Galerius

Life

She was the daughter of Emperor Galerius and his first wife, whose name is unknown. She married Maxentius around 293 (the exact date is unknown) in what was likely an attempt to forge an alliance between the families of Galerius and Maxentius' father Maximian, himself Emperor in the West. She bore two sons: the eldest, Valerius Romulus, was born c. 295; the other son's name is not recorded, but might be Aurelius Valerius, who was executed in 312. As an emperor's daughter, she was entitled 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 Rome, Italy and Africa until 312, when Constantine I invaded 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]

Empress "Faustina" visiting St. Catherine

In St. Catherine's hagiography

Maximilla may be the nameless queen who appears in the hagiography of 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 Petrus de Natalibus, the queen was named "Faustina". She was accompanied to Catherine's jail by Porphyrius, an army captain. Along with Faustina, the captain and 200 of his soldiers also converted, and they were all supposedly martyred by Maxentius.[3][4] In Eastern Orthodox churches, Faustina, Porphyrius (called a stratelates) and the soldiers share a feast day with Catherine: November 24 for Russian Orthodoxes, and Nov. 25 for Greek Orthodoxes.

See also

• List of Roman women
• List of Roman empresses

References

1. Varner, Eric R. (2004). Mutilation and Transformation (Damnatio Memoriae and Roman Imperial Portraiture). Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV. pp. 219–220. ISBN 90-04-13577-4.
2. "The Life of Saint Katherine". The Golden Legend or Lives of the Saints compiled by Jacobus de Voragine. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
3. Coutts Lindsay (1885). Sketches of the History of Christian Art. John Murray. p. 62. [From 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.
4. Henry Hucks Gibbs, ed. (1884). The Life and Martyrdom of Saint Katherine of Alexandria. London: Nichols. p. 116. Peter de Natalibus gives her the name Faustina, under which name, he says, she was canonized, the day of her martyrdom being 9 Kal. Dec. I believe there is no evidence that Maximin had 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.