Galla (wife of Julius Constantius)

For other people named Galla, see Galla (disambiguation).

Galla was the first known wife of Julius Constantius, a member of the Constantinian dynasty.

Galla
Diedbefore 332
SpouseJulius Constantius
IssueUnnamed son[1]
Unnamed daughter
Gallus
DynastyConstantinian

Biography

Galla was the sister of the consul Neratius Cerealis and of the praetorian prefect Vulcacius Rufinus.[2]

She married Julius Constantius, son of Constantius Chlorus and half-brother of Emperor Constantine I. They had three children: a son, who died with his father in the purges of 337,[3] a daughter, who married her cousin Constantius II,[a] and finally Constantius Gallus, later Caesar of the East, born around 325.[5] It has been proposed that Galla and Julius had another daughter, who may have been the mother of the empress Justina.[6]

Galla died before her husband, as Gallus was then entrusted to the care of Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia.[7]

Notes

  1. ^ Her name was probably Galla, Julia or Constantia, the names of her parents.[4]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Martindale & Morris, p. 226.
  2. ^ Probably Neratius was her brother and Vulcacius her half-brother, as "Gallus" is a cognomen of the Neratii (Jones, p. 198).
  3. ^ Julian, Letter to the Athenians, 270D.
  4. ^ Noel Emmanuel Lenski, The Cambridge companion to the Age of Constantine, Volume 13, Cambridge University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-521-52157-2, p. 107.
  5. ^ Libanius xviii.10.
  6. ^ Lenski, p. 97.
  7. ^ Banchich, Thomas M., "Gallus Caesar (15 March 351 – 354 A.D.)", DIR (1997)

Bibliography