Caecilia Paulina (died 235/236) was a Roman

Empress The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

and consort to Emperor

Maximinus Thrax Gaius Julius Verus Maximinus "Thrax" () was a Roman emperor from 235 to 238. Born of Thracian origin – given the nickname ''Thrax'' ("the Thracian") – he rose up through the military ranks, ultimately holding high command in the army of th ...

, who ruled in 235–238.

Name

Her full titulature, ''Diva Caecilia Paulina Pia Augusta'', is preserved on an inscription (). On her coins she is termed simply Diva Paulina. The coins with her inscription were not struck during her life, but some time later, probably after she was

deified Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The origina ...

. No sculptural likenesses of her survive.

Life

Almost nothing is known about her life, as ancient writers rarely mentioned her by name. Her husband never set foot in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

,Meckler, Michael
Maximinus Thrax (235-238 A.D.)
roman-emperors.org. Accessed 2012-5-29. thus it is likely that neither did she, at least in her time married to the Emperor. She lived during the

Crisis of the Third Century The Crisis of the Third Century, also known as the Military Anarchy or the Imperial Crisis, was a period in History of Rome, Roman history during which the Roman Empire nearly collapsed under the combined pressure of repeated Barbarian invasions ...

, a time of the crumbling and near collapse of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

, caused by three simultaneous crises: external invasion, internal civil war, and economic collapse. While the 4th century historian

Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus, occasionally anglicized as Ammian ( Greek: Αμμιανός Μαρκελλίνος; born , died 400), was a Greek and Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquit ...

wrote about Paulina in his book on the Gordian emperors, this part of his work was lost, only the sections of his ''History'' covering the period 353–378 are extant. In a later passage, however, Marcellinus refers to the Empress as the good wife of the difficult husband who had: Paulina had one son, Gaius Julius Verus Maximus, appointed Caesar in 236 by his father, but both men were murdered by the soldiers in May 238. Paulina probably died around late 235 or early 236, as Maximus had her deified in 236. The city of

Anazarbus Anazarbus, also known as Justinopolis (, medieval Ain Zarba; modern Anavarza; ), was an ancient Cilician city. Under the later Roman Empire, late Roman Empire, it was the capital of Cilicia Secunda. Roman emperor Justinian I rebuilt the city ...

Cilicia Cilicia () is a geographical region in southern Anatolia, extending inland from the northeastern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Cilicia has a population ranging over six million, concentrated mostly at the Cilician plain (). The region inclu ...

struck coins in the name of "Thea Paulina" (the Greek equivalent of "Diva Paulina"), and dated them to the year 254 of that city's era which converts to 235/236 of the modern calendar. That Paulina is referred to as divine on the coins indicates that she was dead when the coins were produced.

Joannes Zonaras Joannes or John Zonaras ( ; 1070 – 1140) was a Byzantine Roman historian, chronicler and theologian who lived in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey). Under Emperor Alexios I Komnenos he held the offices of head justice and private s ...

claims that Maximinus executed his wife, but that accusation is unproven, and improbable if she was deified by her husband.

Name

Life

See also

References

Further reading