Serena (Roman)

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Serena (Roman)

Serena was a noblewoman of the late Western Roman Empire

Western Roman Empire

The Western Roman Empire refers to the western half of the Roman Empire, from its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, today widely known as the Byzantine Empire....
.

Her parents were Honorius, brother of the Emperor Theodosius I

Theodosius I

Flavius Theodosius , also called Theodosius I and Theodosius the Great , was Roman Emperor from 379 to 395. Reuniting the eastern and western portions of the empire, Theodosius was the last emperor of both the Eastern Roman Empire and Western Roman Empire....
, and his wife Maria. Theodosius adopted her as his daughter, and in 384 arranged her marriage to the upcoming military officer, Stilicho

Stilicho

Flavius Stilicho was a high-ranking general , Patrician and Consul of the Western Roman Empire, notably of barbarian birth....
. Stilicho's marriage to Serena ensured his loyalty to the House of Theodosius in the years ahead.

A resident at the court of her cousin, Honorius, she selected a bride for the court poet, Claudian

Claudian

Claudian was a Roman poet, who worked for Emperor Flavius Augustus Honorius and the latter's general Stilicho.A Greek language citizen of Alexandria, Claudian arrived in Rome before 395, and made his mark with a eulogy of his two young patrons, Probinus and Olybrius, thereby becoming court poet....
, and took care of Honorius' half-sister, her cousin Galla Placidia

Galla Placidia

File:Aelia Galla Placidia.jpgAelia Galla Placidia was the Empress consort of Constantius III, Western Roman Empire....
.

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Serena was a noblewoman of the late Western Roman Empire

Western Roman Empire

Theodosius I

Stilicho

Claudian

Galla Placidia

File:Aelia Galla Placidia.jpgAelia Galla Placidia was the Empress consort of Constantius III, Western Roman Empire....
. She and Stilicho had a son, Eucherius, and two daughters, Maria

Maria, daughter of Stilicho

Maria was the first Empress consort of Honorius , Western Roman Empire....
and Thermantia

Thermantia

Thermantia was the second Empress consort of Honorius , Western Roman Empire....
, both of whom married Honorius.

Zosimus

Zosimus

Zosimus was a Byzantine Empire historian, who lived in Constantinople during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I . According to Photios I of Constantinople, he was a comes, and held the office of "advocate" of the imperial treasury....
records how Serena, a Christian, took a necklace from a statue of Rhea Silvia

Rhea Silvia

Rhea Silvia , and also known as Ilia, was the mythical mother of the twins Romulus and Remus and Remus, who founded the city of Rome. Her story is told in the first book of Ab Urbe Condita of Livy and in fragments from Ennius, Annales and Fabius Pictor....
and placed it on her own neck. An old woman, the last of the Vestal Virgins, appeared, who rebuked Serena and called down punishment upon her for her act of impiety. Serena was then subject to dreadful dreams predicting her own untimely death.

Stilicho was executed on Honorius' orders in 408. During the siege of Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
by the Visigoths the following year, Serena was falsely accused of conspiring with the Goths, and was executed with Galla Placidia's consent.

Bibliography

Santo Mazzarino
Santo Mazzarino

Santo Mazzarino was an Italy historian, considered a leading 20th-century historian of ancient Rome. He was a member of the Accademia dei Lincei....
. Serena e le due Eudossie. Roma, Istituto Nazionale di Studi Romani, 1946 ISBN 9788873112211