Eutropia
258 – ? · Generation II · Empress
Eutropia, a Syrian by origin, was married to the emperor Maximian, one of the four rulers of the Tetrarchy. She married him in the late third century, at a date that is not known, and she was still alive after 325.
Her children carried her into the heart of the age of Constantine. Her son Maxentius ruled Rome as emperor from 306 until Constantine defeated him at the Milvian Bridge in 312. Her daughter Fausta married Constantine and was the mother of three emperors, Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans.
Historians disagree over whether she was also the mother of Theodora, who married Constantius I. The majority of ancient sources call Theodora Maximian’s stepdaughter, which led to the idea that she was Eutropia’s child by an earlier husband, Afranius Hannibalianus, since Theodora named a son Hannibalianus. Timothy Barnes preferred the sources that call her Maximian’s daughter by an earlier wife. Julia Hillner, noting that Theodora named one of her daughters Eutropia, argues instead that Afranius was Eutropia’s brother, and that Maximian and Eutropia were both Theodora’s parents.
Place in the family
- The archive records 7 of her descendants, across 3 generations.
Partners
- Married Maximian (250 – 310) — 2 children together