The story of Saint Helena is one of the most famous classic Cinderella tales of all time in many countries and cultures. She is one of the most honored of the saints in the Eastern or Greek Orthodox Church. Strangely, her story is not a very well known one outside the Orthodox Church in the United States, even amongst the Roman Catholic community to which she is also a symbol of goodness and piety. It is one of those strange paradoxes of literature that the fairy tale is passed along by parents to their children from generation to generation while some of the stories of real people are all but forgotten.

Helena was born and grew up in the Roman province of Illyricum (modern Bosnia, Serbia, and Herzegovina) in the mid Third Century. Not much is known about her family, but they were probably quite poor because she found it necessary to work in a tavern as a servant girl, an occupation no daughter of a wealthy man would choose. In fact the status of STABVLARIA, or tavern girls were little better than prostitutes in the Roman world.

In her line of work, Helena was bound to gain the attention of men. These were often soldiers in the Roman army serving on the frontiers far from their homes. These soldiers who spent their lives guarding Rome's frontiers often took a local wife or mistress to ease the loneliness and discomfort of an army camp far from the civilized world they knew. Such was the case with Helena. A handsome but pale skinned Roman general had soon fallen deeply in love with the young Helena and took her as his mistress. This was Constantius Chlorus. who was later to become the emperor Constantius I. Our pale soldier might have married his local girl, but there was always the chance that he might be stationed back in the civilized world someday and be married into a family with influence and power. During ancient times, love was not considered an important reason to marry. Allying oneself with the proper family and making the right political connections were much more important reasons.

Like many frontier army families had done in the past, Constantius and Helena settled down to a life together on the edge of the empire. Before too long, their union produced a son, who was named Constantine. We might never have heard of this little family except for an event which now came to pass that brought sadness into the couple's life but ensured a prominent place in the history books for all three members.

The Roman emperor at that time was Diocletian, who had come to the throne in A. D. 284 after a fifty year period during which the man who was emperor seemed to receive the kiss of death as soon as he ascended the throne. Wars against external enemies, rebels at home, and the disconcerting tendency for the Praetorian Guard to choose a favorite, put him on the throne, and then murder him after a short reign had made it clear that some changes were needed in the government.

Diocletian came up with an idea that made the job of emperor a much safer one and greatly strengthened the Roman Empire during this period of crisis. He would share the government of the Roman Empire with another man, an imperial colleague.

The colleague would set up his court in a distant city, which made it hard to murder both emperors at the same time. Furthermore, the colleague would be bound to the senior augustus by family, friendship, and political ties that would hopefully ensure that he would not turn and become a rebel.

For the post of imperial colleague in the West, Diocletian now chose Maximianus, who became the Roman emperor in the West in April, A. D. 286. Diocletian would continue to rule in the East. In 293, Diocletian chose a Caesar who would succeed him on the throne. Maximianus was told to do the same and chose the successful and loyal general Constantius Chlorus to be his caesar.

As part of the process of building an unbreakable bond between the two augusti, and their two caesars, Maximian ordered Constantius to forsake Helena and take his own step - daughter Theodora as his wife. The boy Constantine was sent away to be raised in the household of Galerius, who was Diocletian's caesar.

Diocletian's plan was for the two augusti to rule for twenty years and then abdicate. The two caesars would then be promoted to augusti and would presumably have the experience to govern well. In this way the succession was not left up to chance and the new emperors would be prepared to rule. In A. D. 305, Diocletian willingly and Maximianus reluctantly gave up their thrones and passed along the leadership of empire in front of their troops.

Meanwhile, the seeds of jealousy which would tear this very sensible system apart had been sown. Constantine had become a popular general in his own right and Constantius immediately invited his son to join him in Britain. Galerius really did not want the young man to leave, considering hi almost a hostage to ensure that his father did not make any moves against Galerius. He grudgingly gave permission for Constantine to leave. Constantine left in the middle of the night before he was expected to and made a wild ride towards the coast of Gaul where his father was about to set sail for Britain. Constantine arrived just in time to catch the fleet before it left. Father and son were now joyously reunited after thirteen years. It appears that no one remembered the woman, Constantine's mother, that Constantius had loved so deeply twenty years ago.

The happy reunion of father and son was to be a very brief one. In 306, Constantius became sick and died at York, probably within shouting distance of the place where another emperor, Septimius Severus, had died almost two hundred years before. By one of those amazing coincidences of history, both emperors had died after having returned from a military campaign against the Picts in the north of Britain, a land that would later be called Scotland.

It was now after all these years that her son could now elevate Helena to the position of respect and honor that her husband was unable or unwilling to do. In an age when royal titles were multiplying and becoming ever more grandiose sounding, Constantine reverently bestowed upon his mother the title of NOBILISSIMA FEMINA, meaning "Most Honored and Noble Lady." Evidence of being accorded this title is symbolized on coins of the period by the adding of the letters NF in the obverse legend after the noblewoman's name.

This title is also the one chosen for the introduction to the section on Roman women in this author's present work. As time went on, the Role of Helena grew to where she held a position of power and influence in Constantine's government. By providing her son with wise counsel, she became as much the powerful woman behind the throne that Livia, Julia Domna, and Julia Maesa had been in previous ages.

The events of Helena's later life contain the elements of legend which have given her such a prominent place in Roman Catholic Church tradition. In A. D. 326, work was officially begun on the transformation of the small and ancient Greek town of Byzantium into the New Rome of Constantine's ambitious dreams. This city was to be named Constantinople and was a capital of Christianity and the Roman East until A. D. 1453. Helena was by now an old woman of eighty but she found the energy to embark on a lengthy pilgrimage to the holy places of Christianity. All along the path of her journey, the people venerated and expressed their love for their empress. Helena performed acts of charity, endowed churches, and collected holy relics in her travels. When she passed through a place, prisoners were granted a pardon.

The climax of Helena's storybook life was her discovery of the True Cross, which she duly brought back to be given a place of reverence in Constantine's new city. With a true flair for the dramatic, the bishop at Jerusalem unearthed a three - hundred year old cross from the earth of Calvary that had mysteriously never seen the ravages of time, soil, and wood - boring insects. While this relic may have been planted in an ingenious plot by the bishop to create an ancient artifact, a holy relic, and a miracle before the eyes of the eighty - year old empress, let us not allow the intrusion of archaeological facts ruin the impact of a good story. Regardless of the genuineness of the cross that had been discovered, these events helped to create a popular Church legend and secure a permanent place in history for this remarkable woman.

Not much is known about the empress Aelia Flaccilla. It is believed that she was a devout Christian and exerted considerable influence in the religious affairs of her husband. Theodosius I was the last really powerful Roman emperor and the last time both East and West were united was during his reign. He kept his court at Constantinople and it is within the Eastern society of this city that Flaccilla functioned as empress.

The one piece of historical evidence we have concerning the life of Aelia Flaccilla is related by Gibbon. During the late Fourth Century, there was a major religious controversy over Arianism, which was the kind of Christianity popular amongst the Goths and other Germanic nations. Theodosius and Flaccilla were devoutly Catholic, and it came about that Theodosius had the opportunity to discuss theology with Bunomius, a prominent Arian scholar. As Theodosius was not an educated man, having a soldier’s background, those close to him felt it would be unwise for Theodosius to converse with a learned leader of the heretics. It was feared that some well - thought out argument put forth by the scholar might actually undermine the faith of the emperor. The empress Flaccilla prayed fervently against such a meeting, and Theodosius subsequently dropped the idea.

Aelia Flaccilla had two sons, Arcadius and Honorius, who both became Roman emperors upon the final division of the Roman Empire. Arcadius began to rule in the East and Honorius in the West after Theodosius’ death in A. D. 395.

Eudoxia was the wife of the Roman emperor Arcadius and wielded a powerful influence over him. Arcadius didn’t seem to have either the intelligence or the will to rule the vast Late Roman Byzantine Empire and was heavily influenced by the officers and ministers of his consistory.

Eudoxia, like many of the women in the house of Theodosius I had a strong personality. She easily dominated her husband when it came to affairs of state. She had two very powerful enemies with which she had to deal, and she eventually brought about the ruin of both of them. The troubles with John of Cappadocia were simply struggles over power and turf. John of Cappadocia was Arcadius’ praetorian prefect who extorted every last penny in taxes out of the citizens of Constantinople. John Chrysostom (in Greek, Chrysostom is a name meaning The Golden Mouthed) was another individual who had incurred her wrath because his sermons about immorality seemed to be aimed directly at her. Eudoxia was able to get both men banished to inhospitable towns on the frontiers of the empire.

Eudoxia was the wife of the Roman emperor Arcadius and wielded a powerful influence over him. Arcadius didn’t seem to have either the intelligence or the will to rule the vast Late Roman Byzantine Empire and was heavily influenced by the officers and ministers of his consistory.

Eudoxia, like many of the women in the house of Theodosius I had a strong personality. She easily dominated her husband when it came to affairs of state. She had two very powerful enemies with which she had to deal, and she eventually brought about the ruin of both of them. The troubles with John of Cappadocia were simply struggles over power and turf. John of Cappadocia was Arcadius’ praetorian prefect who extorted every last penny in taxes out of the citizens of Constantinople. John Chrysostom (in Greek, Chrysostom is a name meaning The Golden Mouthed) was another individual who had incurred her wrath because his sermons about immorality seemed to be aimed directly at her. Eudoxia was able to get both men banished to inhospitable towns on the frontiers of the empire.

Eudocia was the wife of the Late Roman or Early Byzantine emperor Theodosius II. Her original name was Athenais, a pagan name honoring the goddess Athena. She had to give this name up and adopt the good Christian name of Eudocia before she could marry a Roman emperor. She married Theodosius II in A. D. 421.

Eudocia did not get along well with Theodosius' powerful sister Pulcheria and it is possible that Pulcheria turned Theodosius against his wife. At any rate, the marriage broke up in 442 or 443 and Eudocia moved to Jerusalem. She still retained her imperial title of Augusta, though.

Eudocia spent her later years in the performing of good works, giving alms to the poor, constructing buildings, and supporting the Monophysite Church. She returned to the orthodox Christian Faith before her death in 460.

Aelia Pulcheria was the sister of the Eastern Roman emperor Theodosius II. Theodosius was a weak ruler who did not take much of an active part in the government of the empire, but his sister Pulcheria was quite a gifted administrator. She was the one who held the actual ruling power during the long reign of Theodosius II.

Pulcheria and her brother Theodosius were children of the Eastern Roman emperor Arcadius and his wife Eudoxia. Eudoxia died in A. D. 404 and Arcadius in 408, leaving as orphans the seven year old Theodosius and his three sisters. Though she was only nine years old at the time, Pulcheria was already showing the strong personality and leadership abilities that were a common trait of the Theodosian women.

During Theodosius’ minority, the Eastern Roman Empire was fortunate to have the competent and faithful praetorian prefect Anthemius to act as regent for the young emperor. The education of the imperial children was left in the hands of a powerful group of priests. During their early years, the emperor and his sisters were taught that they held power only in the name of God and that service to the Church was a higher calling than imperial office. This education had such a great influence that the long reign of Theodosius II would be very different from the emphasis on imperial power and magnificence displayed during the reign of Arcadius.

In 414, Theodosius II bestowed the title of Augusta on the fifteen - year old Pulcheria. From that time on, the weak Theodosius was governed by his sister’s powerful personality. At an early age, Pulcheria took a vow of celibacy and assumed somewhat the character of a very powerful and holy nun watching over the government of the empire. This was, in fact, the image she strove to create in the minds of the people and it was largely the support of the church and people that insured that she would remain influential and powerful for decades to come. She also persuaded both of her sisters to take vows of celibacy as a precaution against their marrying a powerful individual who might prove a threat to Theodosius and his sister’s reign. Pulcheria was very powerful in Church politics as well. To a great degree, she was responsible for organizing the Council of Chalcedon in A. D. 451 and setting the agenda of issues to be decided.

In 421 Theodosius married the beautiful Eudocia, who had recently accepted Christianity and had discarded the pagan name of Athenais in favor of a new Christian one. Some historians believe that Pulcheria considered Eudocia a threat to her own power, and gradually turned Theodosius against her. In any case, Theodosius repudiated his wife and exiled her to Jerusalem. The natural consequence to this was that Pulcheria was once again in total control of her brother without anyone interfering with her.

After the death of Theodosius II in A. D. 450, Pulcheria married the strong and capable Marcian, an elderly senator who was known for his competence in governmental and military affairs. Pulcheria was fifty - one years old at the time. This was not a marriage for love, but existed simply to ensure a smooth succession and that the empire would be in good hands. The historians of the period are quite clear that Marcian respected her vow of celibacy and there was none of the affection that normally exists between married couples.

Pulcheria died in A. D. 453, having willed all her possessions to the poor. She is still respected as a saintly woman and an example of one who lived a holy life by the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Galla Placidia was the daughter of an emperor, half sister of two emperors, the wife of another emperor and the mother of yet another emperor. She was married first to a king of the Visigoths who carried her away as a captive, just another item of stolen plunder from the sack of Rome. She fell deeply in love with her barbarian king and only condescended to marry her second husband, a Roman emperor whom she merely tolerated after her one and only true love had died. She ruled as a regent, as a queen mother in fact if not in name and held the reins of empire in her strong hand, fulfilling the responsibilities of her throne better than any man alive at the time. She had the body of her infant son brought back home from far-off barbarian Spain in a little silver casket to be buried next to her in her mausoleum.

Galla Placidia even betrayed her own flesh and blood, joining in and encouraging the clamor of the citizens of Rome for the death of Serena, widow of the loyal and faithful Roman master general Stilicho. This kind and gentle woman was her aunt who had opened her home to the young princess while she was yet a very young girl, raising her as one of her own children. In her later years, Galla Placidia was held in high esteem and affection by the people of the Italian city of Ravenna. The Roman Empire was in a state of sad decline by then and Placidia had used her great wealth to build many churches in Ravenna and perform many charitable works to benefit the poor.

Placidia was born in the year A. D. 388, the only daughter of Emperor Theodosius I and the Empress Galla. Her mother died when she was a young girl and she was sent to the court of the emperor Honorius in the West to be raised after the death of Theodosius in 395. It was there that she was taken in and raised by Serena, the woman whose murder Placidia would so heartily encourage fifteen years later.

Placidia was in Rome at the time of its sack by Alaric and the Visigoths. She was carried off as part of the plunder but later married Alaric’s brother Athaulf in 414 after Alaric had died and Athaulf had become King of the Visigothic nation. The Roman princess and the barbarian king soon had a family.

Galla Placidia gave birth to baby boy whom she named Theodosius after her father. The infant died after a few weeks and was buried in Barcelona, Spain where Athaulf had settled his people after much wandering about Europe. After Athaulf was murdered in 416, Galla Placidia was treated shamefully by Singeric, the new Visigothic king. Instead of treating the widow of his predecessor with tenderness and compassion, Singeric forced her to walk twelve miles on foot ahead of his horse in the company of common prisoners.

Placidia did not have long to wait for justice, though. Singeric was not well liked by the Visigothic warrior elite and was mordered after a reign of only seven days by Wallia, a Visigothic warrior who won popularity by announcing his intention of making war on the Roman Empire. Wallia ended up selling Placidia back to her brother Honorius for 600,000 measures of grain. Placidia returned home in 416 to marry Constantius, a general of Honorius’a short time later. Constantius was made co-augustus in the West in A. D. 421 and became the Roman emperor Constantius III.

He died of pleurisy after a reign of only seven months. From this marriage, Galla Placidia had two children, Valentinian, who later became Emperor Valentinian III and Justa Grata Honoria, who is only remembered in history from a few coins bearing her portrait and a strange tale of forbidden love and treachery.

Honorius and Placidia soon quarreled and Placidia fled to Constantinople. The story is told that Honorius was very fond of his sister, often kissing her on the mouth in public. Tongues began wagging at court, telling tales of incest but in fact Honorius was probably only displaying immature and inappropriate brotherly affection. Soon, the affection turned into hatred as the result of stories told by two palace servants. The supporters of Placidia and those of Honorius even took the quarrel to the streets of Ravenna where they did battle with each other over the honor of their patrons. At this point, Galla Placidia decided that the wise course of action would be to flee to Constantinople and seek asylum at the court of Theodosius II.

In 423, Honorius died and Galla Placidia was made Augusta, or empress in the West. She was to rule in the name of her six - year old son Valentinian III.. Placidia soon proved to be a hard-nosed ruler who knew how to manage a declining economy and rebellious subjects. After the death of Honorius, Johannes, who had been Honorius’imperial secretary led a rebellion in Northern Italy. Johannes was soon captured and Placidia had him mounted backwards on a mule and paraded in front of the citizens of the city of Ravenna, where the Western capital had been established since A. D. 402. Johannes had his hand cut off before being led into the arena and executed before the six - year old emperor and the people of the city.

Later, Galla Placidia became the most powerful figures in the government of the West. She clashed with Aetius, the military genius who defended the West from barbarian invasions throughout the first half of the Fifth Century. She even went so far as to have Count Boniface of Africa elevated to the post of Master General and then sent him out after Aetius to arrest him. Aetius was not captured or killed and spent many years fighting for Galla Placidia’s cause once she decided to put her trust in him.

The art of holding onto political power has always been a very delicate one, mastered only by by those few individuals who posessed the particular kind of genius that allows them to see connections that are hidden from most normal minds and to assess the importance or potential threat of people and situations.

Galla Placidia had such a mind and ran the Roman government in the West for twenty years during one of the most perilous periods of its existence. She was able to make the most of Aetius’ military abilities and yet keep him from seizing the throne. It is unlikely that any man during this period could have done any better than she did, and it is certain that the two men who were on the throne in the East and the West could hot have remained on the throne if they hadn’t each had the help of an exceptional wom

an. Pulcheria, sister of Theodosius II in the East played much the same role there that Galla Placidia played in the West. The role of women was bedginning to change, though. Throughout the period of the Roman Empire, women of senatorial rank were expected to learn the skills of administering large estates and were often responsible for governing hundreds of slaves and dealing with supply merchants, contractors, and gov

ernment officials. They were thus often ready to step into the role of governing the empire for a weak husband or son who was the nominal emperor. The mid Fifth Century saw the beginnings of medieval society in Europe,. a period during which women lost much of their status in society and became almost as property. Historians of a later age often showed their strong disapproval of women in positions of power.

In the East, a trend of just the opposite nature was unfolding. The palace at Constantinople was to see strong women of the imperial family taking the reins of power in their hands starting with the Empress Eudoxia and continuing throughout the Fifth and first half of the Sixth Century.

Empresses Ariadne and Theodora held enormous power in the government of the early Byzantine Empire and Pulcheria was the capable regent for her brother Theodosius II during his minority. Indeed, the precedent set by Julia Domna and Julia Maesa, the powerful women of the Severan period who kept court at the Syrian city of Antioch seems to have been a feature of the Eastern empire through the reign of Irene in the Eleventh Century.

The later years of Galla Placidia’s life were uneventful, or at least did not capture the attention of an ancient chronicler and thus get written down. She mellowed somewhat in her old age and spent her fortune putting up public buildings and performing charitable works. She died in the year A. D. 450, fondly loved and missed by the citizens of Ravenna where she had spent the later years of her life.

Hypatia was an ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician who lived in the city of Alexandria in Egypt during the late Fourth and early Fifth Centuries A.D. She is generally thought to have been the first woman mathematician, but this is only because there are no surviving records of any earlier women who made contributions in the field. Hypatia received much of her education from her father Theon, who was also a mathematician of considerable ability. She taught and lectured at the fine Ptolemaic Library of Alexandria as well as the University of Alexandria and is known to have done work in math, science, philosophy, and astronomy. In the classical world, the role of a philosopher was a much broader one than we usually think of today. The ancient Greeks believed that all knowledge was somehow related and a philosopher could equally well discuss science, mechanics, mathematics, human values, and theories of government.

Alexandria, the city where Hypatia was born and lived was an amazing place and these were amazing times. Named after Alexander the Great and founded by his general Ptolemy after he had conquered Egypt, it had been one of the most important cities in the ancient world for almost 700 years. It was truly a crossroads of learning and commerce, being the capital of the greatest province in the Roman Empire at the time.

The culture was a mixture of that of ancient Greece and ancient Egypt, and Alexandria was located at a crossroads through which most of the trade between East and West must pass.

During the early 400's A.D., Alexandria shared the distinction of being a great metropolis with only two other cities, Constantinople and Antioch. All three were located in the region of the world that encompasses Turkey, the Middle East, and Egypt today. Even mighty Rome could not match these cities in size, importance, and splendor, for Rome’s greatness had been on the wane ever since the days of Marcus Aurelius. Alexandria was also the home of the world's greatest library.

Copies of almost every important manuscript in the ancient world were kept there. During this period, the Christian Church had become very powerful. A large part of the population of the Roman world looked to them for guidance and it seemed that the bishops of the large cities had as much or more power than even the emperor in Constantinople. Only a hundred years before the Christians were fleeing the persecutions of the emperor Diocletian. After Constantine's Edict of Milan gave them the freedom to worship God as they please, their political power and influence grew rapidly. By the middle of the fourth century, many important posts in the Roman government were occupied by Christians.

It was a combination of all of these things that set the stage for the tragedy that now took place. Cyril was bishop of Alexandria in 415 and it was his ambition to be the most powerful man in Alexandria, second only to the emperor himself. Cyril even defied Orestes, the prefect appointed by the emperor to govern Egypt. He even went so far as to incite a riot of monks in which one of them threw a stone, seriously injuring Orestes. Cyril also tried to have all Jews banished from the city so he could confiscate their property.

Hypatia was a very popular lecturer. Having been appointed to the chair of Philosophy at the University of Alexandria, her lectures attracted many rich and influential people. She would discuss the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle as well as methods for measuring the density of liquids or the properties of conic sections. Though she was a pagan herself, she had many influential friends, both pagan and Christian. She was even asked by a bishop in a distant city to build a hydrometer so that he could test his wines. One of her closest friends was the prefect Orestes, and it is probably this friendship that inflamed Cyril's hatred against her.

One day in March, A.D. 415, Hypatia was leaving one of her lectures and on her way home. She was attacked by a group of Church laymen and dragged from her chariot. These men supposedly had the job of visiting and aiding the poor and sick of the city who were under Cyril's care. In reality, many were criminals and thugs whom Cyril used to intimidate those who might oppose him. They dragged Hypatia into a church, humiliating her in the process. One Peter the Reader clubbed her to death, and her body was dismembered by the frenzied rabble and her remains were burned.

Christian leaders in Alexandria and elsewhere were shocked. Many wondered how a group who had endured such horrible persecutions could themselves turn around and subject others to the same kinds of atrocities. Empress Pulcheria immediately sent a special commissioner to investigate the feud between Cyril and Orestes.

There is no record, however, that anyone was ever punished for the murder of Hypatia. It was not common at all for a woman to fill the role of intellectual in the ancient world. Though women of the upper classes often were responsible for managing vast estates and there were quite a few powerful female rulers in antiquity, their role did not extend to academics and higher learning.

Hypatia lived almost two hundred years after the court of the Roman Empress Julia Domna played host to the brilliant literary and artistic personalities of the day. It would be almost six hundred years before Lady Murasaki and Anna Comnena wrote their detailed accounts of Heian Japan and Byzantine Constantinople. Unless research uncovers new information, the world would have to wait until the nineteenth century to see yet another famous woman mathematician, Lady Ada Lovelace, who programmed Charles Babbage's mechanical computer.

After the death of Hypatia there were very few mathematical developments in the Western world. For the next twelve hundred years, most mathematical progress would be made by the Arabs and the Chinese.

There are no likenesses of Hypatia in existence. The image displayed on the top of this page is an artists rendition of what a typical young Greek woman of the period might look like.

The middle of the Fifth Century was a time of great crisis for the dwindling remnant of the Western Roman Empire. What used to be the most powerful empire on Earth was just a small European state by A. D. 437, when Valentinian married Licinia Eudoxia, a distant relative. The Eastern Roman Empire was still a large and powerful one, ruling the lands from Illyricum (Modern day Serbia, Bosnia, and Herzegovina) to Mesopotamia and Egypt. The Western Empire claimed only Italy and a small part of Gaul (Modern France) by this time.

Licinia Eudoxia was the great granddaughter of Theodosius I, the last emperor to rule over both eastern and western halves of the Roman Empire. Valentinian was the grandson of Theodosius I. Marriage between distant relatives of the imperial family had by this time become commonplace.

After Valentinian III was murdered in 455, Petronius Maximus was elevated to the imperial throne. It was widely believed that he had had something to do with Valentinian's murder, but he was a very wealthy and powerful senator. He forced Valentinian's widow to marry him, and her daughter to marry his son. It is believed that she appealed to Gaiseric, the Vandal ruler of Africa for help. At any rate, that is the excuse Gaiseric offered for the foul deed he now set out to do.

Gaiseric turned his eyes toward the great wealth that remained in the city of Rome. Lacking an adequate army to protect herself, the Eternal City was a tempting target for a raiding warlord or pirate with only modest means. Gambling that Theodosius II in the East had had not the will nor the ability to defend the Western lands, Gaiseric launched his navy led largely by pirate captains and attacked Rome. The citizens of the city panicked when news reached them of the impending invasion. The people and their emperor Petronius Maximus fled. The cowardly emperor was killed by his own frightened and dismayed subjects while attempting to escape the doomed city. Gaiseric found little organized resistance and easily entered the city. He plundered the helpless city and its remaining inhabitants for two weeks, his often drunken troops burning, raping and pillaging at will.

Three of the most valuable prizes captured from the devastated city were Licinia Eudoxia and her two daughters. The eldest daughter, Eudocia (not the empress of the same name), was forced to marry Gaiseric's son Huneric. The three imperial ladies remained captives in Gaiseric's household until the Eastern emperor Leo was able to get Gaiseric to give the ladies up to him sometime in the 460's.

Licinia Eudoxia made her home in the Eastern capital of Constantinople after her release and the events of the rest of her life are lost to history. It is believed that she died sometime in 493.

Amalasuntha was the daughter of Theoderic, perhaps the most famous of the Ostrogothic kings in Italy. This was a strange period in the history of Europe. The official date for the fall of the Roman Empire in the West was A. D. 476, but from 493 until 526 Italy enjoyed the reign of an Ostrogothic king who ruled more like a Roman emperor. Theoderic was, in fact, on friendly terms with two of the three Eastern emperors who reigned in Constantinople during Theoderic’s reign in Italy. Theoderic had no sons, but he did have in Amalasuntha an intelligent and capable daughter who had received a good Roman education.

Amalasuntha had been married to Eutharic, an obscure Gothic nobleman. She gave birth to Athalaric in 518. Eutharic later died, leaving Amalasuntha a widow to raise their young son.

It was the custom amongst the Ostrogoths that a king should name someone to succeed him, subject to the approval of the Gothic nobility. During the final months of his life, Theoderic indicated that he wished Athalaric to succeed him as king and that Amalasuntha his mother should act as regent, managing the affairs of the kingdom while Athalaric was still a child.

It was over the education of the young prince that trouble began between Amalasuntha and the majority of the Gothic noblemen. Amalasuntha had appointed three learned and civilized Gothic tutors to ensure that Athalaric received a classical Roman education in law, rhetoric, and the humanities. The Goths placed a value on a man’s strength and ferocity in warfare. How could a son who feared the tutor’s whip grow up to face the sword and spear? Besides, Theoderic had been a good king and had not needed to know how to read. Soon, Amalasuntha discovered a plot by some of the noblemen to do away with her and she had the men executed. She did, however, relent and allow young Athalaric to have some rough young Gothic companions his own age with which to spend time. This did not work out, though. They succeeded not in instructing him in the arts of war but taught him to spend his time drinking and womanizing instead.

In 534, Athalaric died. Amalasuntha’s position was now critical. The Goths would not have a woman rule them in her own name; they had barely tolerated a woman as regent. She decided to offer the kingship to her cousin Theodahad if he would consent to sharing the ruling power with her.

It seems that Theodohad was nursing a grudge against her. Theodohad owned most of the land in the province of Tuscany. He had used extortion and strong-arm tactics to seize property belonging to his neighbors. The people of Tuscany had objected and petitioned Amalasuntha to do something and she made Theodohad give back some of the property he had extorted. Now that she had invited him to be king, it appeared that all was forgiven and they would rule together in harmony. Theodohad even wrote letters to the Senate praising her wisdom and promising to imitate her when he became king.

As soon as Theodohad became king, he did an incredibly stupid thing. He imprisoned Amalasuntha on an island in the middle of Lake Bolsena. What this ignorant and vengeful man did not know is that during the period when the Gothic nobles had threatened to depose her, Amalasuntha had secretly written to the Eastern emperor Justinian asking his protection if the discontented nobles had made a move against her.

Soon. Justinian got wind of the situation despite Theodohad’s clumsy attempt to conceal the facts. Justinian sent a fast messenger to Ravenna informing Theodohad that he would soon be there with an army if Amalasuntha was harmed.

These promises of aid to a lady in distress were to no avail. It was probably in April, 535 that Amalasuntha was murdered. The story that has come down to us is that she was strangled in her bath by relatives of the three traitors she has had executed. In spite of her great popularity and immaculate reputation amongst both Roman and Gothic subjects, Theodohad could not restrain himself from gratifying his hunger for revenge. The population of all Italy was shocked by this foul deed.

What Theodohad had bought for himself and Italy was a period of destructive war that lasted for most of the next fifteen years. Justinian did not need much of an excuse to invade Italy to reclaim the lost province and deal a death blow to the hated Aryan heresy at the same time. It was this intermittent warfare carried on first by Justinian’s general Belisarius, then later by Narses that finally finished off what was left of the ancient Roman Empire. Cities taken first by one side, then by the other, were burned and their buildings were thrown down. Atrocities were committed on the Italian population first by the gothic troops, then by the Byzantine. It was the beginning of a long period if oppression for the Italian people during which they were ruled by one petty ruler or city state after another. Nothing was to change for the peasantry for 1200 years except the name and nationality of their tormentors. It was a tragic state of affairs that was to last until the Italian liberator Garibaldi founded a new nation of Italy during the Nineteenth Century.

The coin at the top right hand corner of the page bears the monogram of the Gothic prince Athalaric. As far as we know, Amalasuntha did not strike any coins in her own name. She probably looked and dressed like most Sixth Century Roman noblewomen, when large, ornate earrings and wearing several strings of pearls both in the hair and about the neck was in fashion. The coin is a typical example of the tiny, crudely struck bronze coins of later Roman and Gothic kingdoms in the West. The coin is only about 12mm in diameter, and the image is an 8X magnification. Most of these coins are found in extremely worn or corroded condition and cannot be identified at all. This little coin is in extremely nice condition for a small bronze of a Western kingdom during this period.

One needs not be an historian to note that the very name "Messalina" has become synonymous with all the faults, vices and machinations of womankind. While it is true that many of the lusty and criminal infamies that are attributed to Claudius' Empress are evidently fables, not all are. Though Tacitus and Suetonius have made us think the worst at the mention of her name, she was more than a schemer and a senseless wanton. Surely, she was a captivating, capricious, unscrupulous wife who never minded using the weaknesses of her husband for gain. She came by her lust for power quite naturally it seems.

Her ancestry was every bit as illustrious as was her husbands. A direct relative of the Caesars, and a member of Caligula's Court as a young girl, by the time she married Claudius, he being 50+, she in her teens, she was a viper.

When her husband became emperor, she took more advantage of her husband's weaknesses. Early on, Claudius recalled from exile Agrippina and Julia Livilla, who had been banished by Caligula. Messalina found them a threat, as they were favorites of their emperor uncle. It was not long before the jealous empress found a way to have Julia Livilla exiled with Seneca, under the "Lex de Adulteriis". Agrippina, like her mother was rather virtuous, and was not easily maligned, even by Messalina. She managed to stay in Rome, but under the Empress' eye.

In a lust for wealth, Messalina began selling her influence to sovereign allies and the upper classes who wished imperial favors. She controlled the contractors of public works, and interfered with the financial affairs of the empire any time a way to make money for herself could be found. Though certainly a few of Claudius freedmen/administrators were loyal to him, namely Pallas and Narcissus, Messalina controlled the majority. She kept the Emperor Claudius hedged about with her minions, and in so doing, cut him off from much of the truth of her reign of terror.

Where Livia Augusta had, at least publicly, advocated traditional values of morality, decency, and family values, Messalina put forth the more Asiatic corruption and pomp she most likely learned at Caligulaís court. Livia, a puritanical proponent of Roman conservatism and patrician tradition was Messalina's opposite.

It was because the general populace did not scorn the traditions, and wished to see a virtuous woman at the side of the emperor, that Messalina became hated. Adored and supported by those who gained wealth and position due to her schemes, she was considered a dissipated Baccante by the man on the street. His opinion was that she should be condemned to exile with the many other unfaithful Roman wives. He considered her an affront to all things Roman. The middle classes considered the emperor a semi-sacred magistrate, and an example to be followed. Claudius became a scorned leader because if he didnít know of Messalinaís corruptionís, he was weak. If he did know he was worse than she, to the minds of patrician and lower class alike.

The situation gradually became grave and dangerous. The state was being weakened by the power struggles. The power and extortions of the freedmen were breeding discontent. Both by what she actually did, and the gossip. Messalina was made a monster in the minds of the people. But she seemed invulnerable, and could wield great power to her own wicked ends, and only the emperor himself, could stop her.

The people finally turned their anger upon poor Claudius, declaring his weakness was responsible for her conduct. For seven years Messalina remained the great weakness of the otherwise accomplished reign of her husband. The situation came to a head and ultimately resolved itself through Messalinaís growing lust for power...and a man.

Caius Silius, the consul-designate, and known as the handsomest man in Rome at the time, was Messalinaís love interest. Such was her passion for him, that she determined to marry him. According to historians, she wanted to shock the city with the sacrilege of a bigamous marriage played out publicly. It was done boldly with a large religious ceremony while Claudius was in Ostia.

Many question this reasoning. That she was cruel, dissolute and avaricious all agree, but mad, the lady was not. To do such a thing, she must have had a reason compelling enough to engage and employ the conspiratorial assistance of the many who aided her in this venture.

It is conjectured that by some feminine wile, Messalina convinced Claudius to divorce her for a short time. One explanation was that her astrologer predicted that her ìhusbandî would be harmed on a certain day, and he ìdivorcedî her, knowing she would take a temporary ìhusbandî to protect him from said harm. She then took the opportunity to repudiate him publicly with a religious ceremony.

But, the larger question is...why? After seven years of a free hand, would she risk it all? For love? Hardly.

One plausible theory is predicated upon the idea that Siliusí aristocratic family was well known to be devoted to the faction of Germanicus and Agrippina. And Messalinaís choice of husband had more to do with political survival than feminine emotion.

She must have long wondered what would become of her if a plot upon Claudiusí life succeeded. Surely the assassins would kill her as they had Caesonia after the murder of Caligula. There was no other member of the Imperial family of age enough to reign, no one to protect her even if she lived. Seeing Claudius as weak, she needed to consolidate her position. She chose her next husband from a powerful and popular family, hoping to win over the Praetorian Guard and the legions to her cause. Ingenious.

This plot, so well organized and opportune, even gave Claudiusí most loyal freedmen cause to vacillate. So powerful and secure was her plot, that she was able to secure the assistance of Roman society, the prefect of the guard and more to get the divorce, marry in public and feast with abandon.

Had it not been for Claudiusí loyal freedman Narcissus, the emperor might have lost the day, and his life.

Messalina was beheaded by the guard at the order of her husband, thus ending her seven year reign of terror.

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