Basilina

310 – 332 · Generation III

Basilina was the mother of the emperor Julian, the last pagan ruler of Rome. Greek by descent and born in Asia Minor, she was probably a daughter of Julius Julianus, and she was educated in Homer and Hesiod by Mardonius, a eunuch raised in her father’s house. Her sister was the mother of the usurper Procopius, and she was related to Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia, who later tutored her son.

She married Julius Constantius as his second wife, a half-brother of Constantine the Great, and gave birth to Julian, but she died a few months after he was born. A Christian, she favoured the Arian party at first, but she left her lands to the church of Ephesus.

Julian remembered her. As emperor he named a city in Bithynia Basilinopolis in her honour, near the modern Pazarköy, close to Gemlik in Turkey.

Place in the family

• Basilina married Julius Constantius, a half-brother of Constantine I.

Read more on Wikipedia

Partners

• Married Julius Constantius (290 – 337) — one child together

Children

• Julian (331 – 363)

Sources

1. Basilina · Wikipedia
2. Julian (emperor) · Wikipedia