Licinia Eudoxia

Ralph W. Mathisen
University of South Carolina

Licinia Eudoxia was born in 422, the daughter of the eastern emperor Theodosius II (408-450) and Aelia Eudoxia. In 424 she was betrothed to the western emperor Valentinian III (425-455) , and the marriage was performed in Constantinople in 437. She bore two children, Eudocia and Placidia. She received the title Augusta in 439. After Valentinian's murder at Rome in 455, she was compelled to marry his successor Petronius Maximus (455) , and it later was claimed that it was she who invited the Vandal Geiseric to Rome in the same year. After the ensuing sack, she and her two daughters were carried back to Carthage. It was not until the early 460s that she and Placidia were set free, and withdrew to Constantinople, where she spent the remainder of her years. Eudocia remained in Africa as the wife of Geiseric's son Huneric.

Bibliography

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Critical Studies:

De Salis, J.F.W. "The Coins of the Two Eudoxias, Eudocia, Placidia, and Honoria, and of Theodosius II, Marcian, and Leo I, Struck in Italy." Numismatic Chronicle 7(1867): 203-215.

Duckett, Eleanor Shipley. Medieval Portraits from the East and West. Ann Arbor, 1972.

Clover, Frank M. "The Family and Early Career of Anicius Olybrius." Historia 27(1978): 169-196.

Copyright (C) 1996, Ralph W. Mathisen. This file may be copied on the condition that the entire contents,including the header and this copyright notice, remain intact.