__NOTOC__ Flavius Hannibalianus (also Hanniballianus; died September 337) was a member of the

Constantinian dynasty The Constantinian dynasty is an informal name for the ruling family of the Roman Empire from Constantius Chlorus (died 306) to the death of Julian in 363. It is named after its most famous member, Constantine the Great, who became the sole rul ...

, which ruled over the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

in the 4th century AD. Hannibalianus was the son of Flavius Dalmatius, and thus nephew of

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 ...

.Ammianus Marcellinus, xiv i.2.Aurelius Victor, 41.20 Hannibalianus and his brother Dalmatius were educated at Tolosa by rhetor Exuperius (who is probably not to be identified with St. Exuperius). In 320s, Constantine called Flavius Dalmatius and his sons to Constantinople. Hannibalianus married Constantine's elder daughter,

Constantina Flavia Valeria Constantina (also sometimes called ''Constantia'' and ''Constantiana''; el, Κωνσταντίνα; b. after 307/before 317 – d. 354), later known as Saint Constance, was the eldest daughter of Roman emperor Constantine the Grea ...

, in 335, and was made ''

nobilissimus ''Nobilissimus'' (Latin for "most noble"), in Byzantine Greek ''nōbelissimos'' (Greek: νωβελίσσιμος),. was one of the highest imperial titles in the late Roman and Byzantine empires. The feminine form of the title was ''nobilissima ...

''. He and Constantina might had a daughter named Constantia, who would later marry to Memmius Vitrasius Orfitus and become mother of Rusticiana, wife of

Quintus Aurelius Symmachus Quintus Aurelius Symmachus signo Eusebius (, ; c. 345 – 402) was a Roman statesman, orator, and man of letters. He held the offices of governor of proconsular Africa in 373, urban prefect of Rome in 384 and 385, and consul in 391. Symmachus ...

. In occasion of the campaign of Constantine against the

Sassanids The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

(337), Hannibalianus was made '' Rex Regum et Ponticarum Gentium'', "King of the Kings and of the Pontic People". Probably it was Constantine's intention to put Hannibalianus on the Pontic throne, after the defeat of the Persians. The Persian campaign did not take place, because Constantine died in May 337. Hannibalianus died, as did his brother, in the purge of the imperial family that followed.Zosimus, ii.40.3; Flavius Claudius Iulianus, ''Epistula ad Athenienses'', 270 C.

Notes

References

Primary sources

Ammianus Marcellinus Ammianus Marcellinus (occasionally anglicised as Ammian) (born , died 400) was a Roman soldier and historian who wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from antiquity (preceding Procopius). His work, known as the ''Res Gestae ...

, ''Rerum Gestarum XXXI'' *''

Epitome de Caesaribus The ''Epitome de Caesaribus'' is a Latin historical work written at the end of the 4th century. It is a brief account of the reigns of the Roman emperors from Augustus to Theodosius the Great. It is attributed to Aurelius Victor, but was writte ...

'' * Zosimus, ''Historia Nova''

Secondary sources

DiMaio, Michael, "Hannibalianus ''Rex Regum'' (335-337 A.D)", in ''DIR''
{{Authority control 337 deaths Constantinian dynasty 4th-century Romans Flavii Year of birth unknown Ancient Roman murder victims Nobilissimi