![Wiener Dioskurides 6v (portrait detail)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Wiener_Dioskurides_6v_%28portrait_detail%29.jpg)
Anicia Juliana (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: Ανικία Ιουλιανή,
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
, 462 – 527/528) was a
Late Antique
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English has ...
Roman imperial princess, wife of the ''
magister militum
(Latin for "master of soldiers", plural ) was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, ...
'' of the
eastern Roman empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...
,
Areobindus Dagalaiphus Areobindus, patron of the great
Church of St Polyeuctus
The Church of St. Polyeuctus (; tr, Ayios Polieuktos Kilisesi) was an ancient Byzantine church in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey) built by the noblewoman Anicia Juliana and dedicated to Saint Polyeuctus. Intended as an assertion of Julia ...
in
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
, and owner of the ''
Vienna Dioscurides
The Vienna Dioscurides or Vienna Dioscorides is an early 6th-century Byzantine Greek illuminated manuscript of an even earlier 1st century AD work, '' De materia medica'' (Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς : Perì hylēs iatrikēs in the ori ...
''. She was the daughter of the
Roman emperor Olybrius
Anicius Olybrius (died 2 November 472) was Roman emperor from July 472 until his death later that same year; his rule as ''Augustus'' in the western Roman Empire was not recognised as legitimate by the ruling ''Augustus'' in the eastern Roman ...
() and his wife
Placidia
Placidia () was a daughter of Valentinian III, Roman emperor of the West from 425 to 455, and from 454/455 the wife of Olybrius, who became western Roman emperor in 472. She was one of the last imperial spouses in the Roman west, during the Fall ...
, herself the daughter of the emperor
Valentinian III
Valentinian III ( la, Placidus Valentinianus; 2 July 41916 March 455) was Roman emperor in the West from 425 to 455. Made emperor in childhood, his reign over the Roman Empire was one of the longest, but was dominated by powerful generals vying ...
() and
Licinia Eudoxia, through whom Anicia Juliana was also great-granddaughter of the emperor
Theodosius II
Theodosius II ( grc-gre, Θεοδόσιος, Theodosios; 10 April 401 – 28 July 450) was Roman emperor for most of his life, proclaimed ''augustus'' as an infant in 402 and ruling as the eastern Empire's sole emperor after the death of his ...
() and the
sainted empress
Aelia Eudocia
Aelia Eudocia Augusta (; grc-gre, Αιλία Ευδοκία Αυγούστα; 401460 AD), also called Saint Eudocia, was an Eastern Roman empress by marriage to Emperor Theodosius II (r. 408–450), and a prominent Greek historical figure in ...
. During the rule of the
Leonid dynasty
The Leonid dynasty produced five Roman emperors during Late Antiquity, reigning over the Roman Empire from 457 to 518. The dynasty's patriarch was Leo I, who was made Roman emperor in 457. Leo's daughter Ariadne became empress and mother to an ...
and the rise of the later
Justinian dynasty
The Byzantine Empire had its first golden age under the Justinian dynasty, which began in 518 AD with the accession of Justin I. Under the Justinian dynasty, particularly the reign of Justinian I, the empire reached its greatest territorial exte ...
, Anicia Juliana was thus the most prominent member of both the preceding imperial dynasties, the
Valentinianic dynasty
The Valentinianic or Valentinian dynasty was a ruling house of five generations of dynasts, including five Roman emperors during Late Antiquity, lasting nearly a hundred years from the mid fourth to the mid fifth century. They succeeded the ...
established by
Valentinian the Great () and the related
Theodosian dynasty
The Theodosian dynasty was a Roman imperial family that produced five Roman emperors during Late Antiquity, reigning over the Roman Empire from 379 to 457. The dynasty's patriarch was Theodosius the Elder, whose son Theodosius the Great was made ...
established by
Theodosius the Great
Theodosius I ( grc-gre, Θεοδόσιος ; 11 January 347 – 17 January 395), also called Theodosius the Great, was Roman emperor from 379 to 395. During his reign, he succeeded in a crucial war against the Goths, as well as in two ...
().
Her son
Olybrius Junior served as a
Roman consul
A consul held the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic ( to 27 BC), and ancient Romans considered the consulship the second-highest level of the ''cursus honorum'' (an ascending sequence of public offices to which politic ...
whilst only a child and married the niece of the emperor
Anastasius I (), the daughter of Anastasius's brother
Paulus. Despite Anicia Juliana's ambitions her son never became emperor, being ignored in the accession of
Justin I
Justin I ( la, Iustinus; grc-gre, Ἰουστῖνος, ''Ioustînos''; 450 – 1 August 527) was the Eastern Roman emperor from 518 to 527. Born to a peasant family, he rose through the ranks of the army to become commander of the imperial ...
() after the death of Anastasius and the fall of the Leonid dynasty.
Life
She married
Flavius Areobindus Dagalaiphus Areobindus, and their children included Olybrius,
consul
Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...
in 491. With her husband, she spent her life at the pre-
Justinian
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...
court of
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
, of which she was considered "both the most aristocratic and the wealthiest inhabitant".
Her glittering genealogy aside, Juliana is primarily remembered as one of the first non-reigning female patrons of art in recorded history. From what little we know about her personal predilections, it appears that she "directly intervened in determining the content, as well, perhaps, as the style" of the works she commissioned.
Her pro-Roman political views, as espoused in her letter to
Pope Hormisdas
Pope Hormisdas (450 – 6 August 523) was the bishop of Rome from 20 July 514 to his death. His papacy was dominated by the Acacian schism, started in 484 by Acacius of Constantinople's efforts to placate the Monophysites. His efforts to resolve ...
(preserved in the royal library of
El Escorial
El Escorial, or the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial ( es, Monasterio y Sitio de El Escorial en Madrid), or Monasterio del Escorial (), is a historical residence of the King of Spain located in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, u ...
) are reflected in the ''Chronicle'' of
Marcellinus Comes Marcellinus Comes (Greek: Μαρκελλίνος ό Κόμης, died c. 534) was a Latin chronicler of the Eastern Roman Empire. An Illyrian by birth, he spent most of his life at the court of Constantinople. His only surviving work, the ''Chronicl ...
, who has been associated with her literary circle. Whether Juliana entertained political ambitions of her own is uncertain, but it is known that her husband declined to take up the crown during the 512 riots. Although she resolutely opposed the
Monophysite leanings of Emperor
Anastasius, she permitted her son Olybrius to marry the Emperor's niece.
Artistic patronage
Juliana's name is attached to the ''
Vienna Dioscurides
The Vienna Dioscurides or Vienna Dioscorides is an early 6th-century Byzantine Greek illuminated manuscript of an even earlier 1st century AD work, '' De materia medica'' (Περὶ ὕλης ἰατρικῆς : Perì hylēs iatrikēs in the ori ...
'', also known as the ''Anicia Juliana Codex'', an
illuminated manuscript codex copy of
Pedanius Dioscorides
Pedanius Dioscorides ( grc-gre, Πεδάνιος Διοσκουρίδης, ; 40–90 AD), “the father of pharmacognosy”, was a Greek physician, pharmacologist, botanist, and author of '' De materia medica'' (, On Medical Material) —a 5-vo ...
's ''
De materia medica
(Latin name for the Greek work , , both meaning "On Medical Material") is a pharmacopoeia of medicinal plants and the medicines that can be obtained from them. The five-volume work was written between 50 and 70 CE by Pedanius Dioscorides, ...
'', known as the one of the earliest and most lavish manuscripts still in existence. It has a
frontispiece with a
donor portrait of Anicia Juliana, the oldest surviving such portrait in the history of manuscript illumination. The ''patrikia'' is shown enthroned and flanked by the personifications of ''
Megalopsychia'' (Magnanimity) and ''
Phronesis
''Phronesis'' ( grc, φρόνησῐς, phrónēsis), translated into English by terms such as prudence, practical virtue and practical wisdom, or, colloquially, sense (as in "good sense", "horse sense") is an ancient Greek word for a type of w ...
'' (
Prudence), with a small female allegory labelled "Gratitude of the Arts" () performing ''
proskynesis
Proskynesis or proscynesis , or proskinesis ( Greek , ''proskýnēsis''; Latin adoratio) is a solemn gesture of respect for the gods and people; among the Persians, it referred to a man prostrating himself and kissing the earth, or the lim ...
'' in honour of the ''patrikia'', kissing her feet.
A ''
putto
A putto (; plural putti ) is a figure in a work of art depicted as a chubby male child, usually naked and sometimes winged. Originally limited to profane passions in symbolism,Dempsey, Charles. ''Inventing the Renaissance Putto''. University of ...
'' is at Anicia Juliana's right side, handing her a codex and labelled with the , added in a later scribe's handwriting, interpreted as "the Desire to build", "the Love of building", or "the Desire of the building-loving woman".
The same hand has labelled the central figure as
''Sophia'' (Wisdom).
![Wiener Dioskurides 6v](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Wiener_Dioskurides_6v.jpg)
The badly damaged encircling inscription proclaims Juliana as a great patron of art and identifies the people of
Honoratae (a town on the Asiatic shore of the
Bosporus
The Bosporus Strait (; grc, Βόσπορος ; tr, İstanbul Boğazı 'Istanbul strait', colloquially ''Boğaz'') or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul in northwestern Tu ...
) as having given the codex to Anicia Juliana.
She probably received the book in gratitude for her having built a church in the town.
The inscription is corroborated by the 8th–9th-century chronicler
Theophanes Confessor in a notice of the year 512 that Anicia Juliana dedicated a church to the ''
Theotokos'' in Honoratae that year.
Emphasizing her membership of the ancient
patrician
Patrician may refer to:
* Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage
* Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...
Anicia ''
gens'' through her father Flavius Anicius Olybrius, the inscription reads:
Of her architectural projects, we know only three churches which she commissioned to be erected and embellished in Constantinople. The ornate
basilica
In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...
of
St Polyeuctus was built on her extensive family estates during the last three years of her life, with the goal of highlighting her illustrious pedigree which ran back to Theodosius I and
Constantine the Great
Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterran ...
. Until Justinian's extension of the
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...
, it was the largest church in the imperial capital, and its construction was probably seen as a challenge to the reigning dynasty.
[''The Cambridge Ancient History'', 1925. Page 70.] The dedicatory inscription compares Juliana to King
Solomon and overtly alludes to
Aelia Eudocia
Aelia Eudocia Augusta (; grc-gre, Αιλία Ευδοκία Αυγούστα; 401460 AD), also called Saint Eudocia, was an Eastern Roman empress by marriage to Emperor Theodosius II (r. 408–450), and a prominent Greek historical figure in ...
, Juliana's great-grandmother, who founded this church:
See also
*
List of Roman women
The list below includes Roman women who were notable for their family connections, or their sons or husbands, or their own actions. In the earlier periods, women came to the attention of (later) historians either as poisoners of their husbands ( ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Juliana, Anicia
462 births
520s deaths
Year of death uncertain
5th-century Christians
6th-century Christians
5th-century Italo-Roman people
6th-century Italo-Roman people
Anicii
Theodosian dynasty
5th-century Roman women
6th-century Roman women
Daughters of Roman emperors