Aurelia Prisca (died 315) was a Roman empress as the wife of the emperor
Diocletian
Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...
.
Biography
Prisca was already married and had a daughter with Diocletian when he became emperor. She was not granted the title of ''Augusta'' or ''Caesarissa'' but instead ''Nobilissima Femina''.
[ Lothar Wickert proposed in 1974 based on her daughter ]Galeria Valeria
Galeria Valeria (died 315) was the daughter of Roman Emperor Diocletian and wife of his co-emperor Galerius.
Biography
Born to Diocletian and Prisca, she married Galerius in 293, when her father elevated him to the position of Caesar. This m ...
's name that Prisca's ''nomen gentilicium
The (; or simply ) was a hereditary name borne by the peoples of Roman Italy and later by the citizens of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. It was originally the name of one's (family or clan) by Patrilineality, patrilineal descent. Howeve ...
'' may have been Galeria. He also theorized that her husband picked Galerius
Galerius Valerius Maximianus (; Greek: Γαλέριος; 258 – May 311) was Roman emperor from 305 to 311. He participated in the system of government later known as the Tetrarchy, first acting as '' caesar'' under Emperor Diocletian. In th ...
as a son-in-law and heir because he was related to Prisca. An inscription on a statue base at a temple to Jupiter in Salona gives her name as Aurelia Prisca.[ Byron Waldron has proposed that the name Aurelia might have been added to Prisca's name when Diocletian and his co-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 ...
exchanged their respective names "Valerius" and "Aurelius" with each other, to strengthen dynastic ties.
When her husband retired to Spalatum in 305, Prisca stayed with her daughter and son-in-law in Thessalonica
Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area) and the capital city, capital of the geographic reg ...
. When Galerius died in 311, 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 ...
was entrusted with the care of Prisca and her daughter Valeria. The two women, however, fled from Licinius to Maximinus Daia
Galerius Valerius Maximinus, born as Daza (; 20 November 270 – July 313), was Roman emperor from 310 to 313. He became embroiled in the civil wars of the Tetrarchy between rival claimants for control of the empire, in which he was defeated ...
. After a short time, Valeria refused the marriage proposal of Maximinus, who arrested and confined her in Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
and confiscated her properties. At the death of Maximinus, Licinius had Prisca and her daughter killed.
Christianity
According to the Latin writer Lactantius
Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius () was an early Christian author who became an advisor to Roman emperor Constantine I, guiding his Christian religious policy in its initial stages of emergence, and a tutor to his son Crispus. His most impo ...
, Prisca and her daughter Valeria were "forced to be polluted" by sacrificing to the Roman gods during the Great Persecution of 303.[Lactantius, ''De mortibus persecutorum']
15,1
Lactantius is, perhaps, implying that Prisca and Valeria were Christian or favorably disposed to Christianity. In later antiquity two Christian saints, Serena of Rome and Saint Alexandra, became known in legends as Diocletian's wife.
See also
* List of distinguished Roman women
** List of Roman and Byzantine empresses
The term Roman empress usually refers to the consorts of the Roman emperors, the rulers of the Roman Empire. The duties, power and influence of empresses varied depending on the time period, contemporary politics and the personalities of their h ...
** List of Augustae
(; plural ; ) was a Roman Empire, Roman imperial honorific title given to List of Roman and Byzantine empresses, empresses and women of the imperial families. It was the Feminine gender, feminine form of ''Augustus (title), Augustus''. In the ...
References
Sources
*
3rd-century Roman empresses
4th-century Roman empresses
People executed by the Roman Empire
Executed Roman empresses
Year of birth unknown
315 deaths
Diocletian
Nobilissimae feminae
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