Claudia was the purported mother of Roman emperor

Constantius Chlorus Flavius Valerius Constantius ( – 25 July 306), also called Constantius I, was a Roman emperor from 305 to 306. He was one of the four original members of the Tetrarchy established by Diocletian, first serving as Caesar (title), ''caesar'' ...

according to ancient sources. These sources claim her to be a relative of Roman emperors

Claudius Gothicus Marcus Aurelius Claudius "Gothicus" (10 May 214 – August/September 270), also known as Claudius II, was Roman emperor from 268 to 270. During his reign he fought successfully against the Alemanni and decisively defeated the Goths at the Batt ...

and

Quintillus Marcus Aurelius Claudius Quintillus (died 270) was a short-lived Roman emperor. He took power after the death of his brother, Emperor Claudius Gothicus, in 270 CE. After reigning for a few weeks Quintillus was overthrown by Aurelian, who had be ...

, a claim modern historians tend to view with suspicion. Her name is reported by the source ''

Historia Augusta The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, Caesar (title), designated heirs and Roman usurper, usurpers from 117 to 284. S ...

''.

Attestation

The ''

'', an ancient but notoriously unreliable source, states that Constantius' father was a nobleman named Flavius Eutropius and his mother Claudia, who was the daughter of Crispus, the brother of emperors Claudius Gothicus and

. The historian

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 se ...

goes even further, writing that Constantius's mother was actually the daughter of Claudius Gothicus himself. Eutropius was uncertain if she was the daughter or sister of Claudius Gothicus.

Analysis

Modern historians have speculated that these connections with Claudius Gothicus and his brother

were fabricated by Constantius' son

Constantine the Great Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

to forge a more prestigious ancestry for himself during his reign, as well as to distance his father's memory from that of his adoptive father emperor

Maximian Maximian (; ), nicknamed Herculius, was Roman emperor from 286 to 305. He was ''Caesar (title), Caesar'' from 285 to 286, then ''Augustus (title), Augustus'' from 286 to 305. He shared the latter title with his co-emperor and superior, Diocleti ...

(as well as the rest of the

Tetrarchy The Tetrarchy was the system instituted by Roman emperor Diocletian in 293 AD to govern the ancient Roman Empire by dividing it between two emperors, the ''augusti'', and their junior colleagues and designated successors, the ''caesares''. I ...

). Claudius Gothicus had been a well liked emperor who had not been assassinated or killed in battle but died a natural death, he was pagan but hadn't persecuted Christians, and since the myth of him being the bastard son of

Gordian II Gordian II (; 192 – April 238) was briefly Roman emperor with his father Gordian I in 238, the Year of the Six Emperors. Seeking to overthrow Maximinus Thrax, he died in battle outside Carthage. Since he died before his father, Gordian II h ...

; as well as the claims of him being related to yet another emperor,

Probus Probus may refer to: People * Marcus Valerius Probus (c. 20/30–105 AD), Roman grammarian * Marcus Pomponius Maecius Probus, consul in 228 * Probus (emperor), Roman Emperor (276–282) * Probus of Byzantium (–306), Bishop of Byzantium from 293 t ...

, existed, he was a good choice for dynastic purposes. It was also convenient because Claudius Gothicus' reign was short and his greatest claim to fame was his military victory near Naissus, close to where Constantine was supposedly born. Giving Claudius's brother the name Crispus may also have been a way to try to explain Constantine's eldest son's name. Timothy D. Barnes speculated that instead of Claudia the emperor's mother may have been named "Julia Constantia" or similar. Vern L. and Bonnie Bullough have proposed that Constantius Chlorus may have been born from of his parents in a "concubinage" (''

concubinatus ''Concubinatus'' (Latin, "concubinage") was a monogamous union, intended to be of some duration but not necessarily permanent, that was socially and to some extent legally recognized as an alternative to marriage in the Roman Empire. Concubinage ...

'') relationship, instead of in a marriage ('' conubium''), thus explaining why Chlorus himself took his own son Constantinus by his possible concubine

Helena Helena may refer to: People *Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer * Saint Helena (disambiguation), this includes places Places Greece * Helena ...

(though some historians believe they were in a lawful marriage) as his full heir.

Legacy

Fictional or not, Constantine appears to have wanted to associate himself with Claudius Gothicus and works glorifying him were written in this wake. He also named one of his sons Flavius ''Claudius'' Constantinus, and his two other sons who became emperors (

Constantius II Constantius II (; ; 7 August 317 – 3 November 361) was Roman emperor from 337 to 361. His reign saw constant warfare on the borders against the Sasanian Empire and Germanic peoples, while internally the Roman Empire went through repeated civ ...

and

Constans Flavius Julius Constans ( 323 – 350), also called Constans I, was Roman emperor from 337 to 350. He held the imperial rank of '' caesar'' from 333, and was the youngest son of Constantine the Great. After his father's death, he was made ''a ...

) also stressed their connection to their supposed ancestor. Constantine's move to invent fictional ancestry may also have been copied by his brother-in-law and rival emperor

Licinius Valerius Licinianus Licinius (; Ancient Greek, Greek: Λικίνιος; c. 265 – 325) was Roman emperor from 308 to 324. For most of his reign, he was the colleague and rival of Constantine I, with whom he co-authored the Edict of Milan that ...

who began to circulate writings that he was descended from emperor

Philip the Arab Philip I (; – September 249), commonly known as Philip the Arab, was Roman emperor from 244 to 249. After the death of Gordian III in February 244, Philip, who had been Praetorian prefect, rose to power. He quickly negotiated peace with the S ...

Possible depictions

The woman standing behind Constantine and pointing at his eldest son

Crispus Flavius Julius Crispus (; 300 – 326) was the eldest son of the Roman emperor Constantine I, as well as his junior colleague ( ''caesar'') from March 317 until his execution by his father in 326. The grandson of the ''augustus'' Constantius ...

on the '' Gemma Constantiana'' has been speculated by several historians to be a depiction of Constantine's grandmother Claudia. Annie Nicolette Zadoks-Josephus Jitta came to this conclusion the second time she analyzed the cameo, and G.M.A. Richter agreed with her. Jitta argued this because the woman depicted wears a typical Claudian headdress and is pointing at Crispus, thus attempting to draw attention to the connection with her supposed father also named Crispus, and by proxy Gothicus. Martin Henig also believed the lady to represent Claudia.

Notes

References