Serena
Serena portrayed with her husband Stilicho and son Eucherius, c. 400
Bornbefore 379[1]
Died409
SpouseStilicho
IssueEucherius
Maria
Thermantia
DynastyTheodosian
FatherHonorius[1]
MotherMaria[1]

Serena (died 409) was a Theodosian imperial woman, niece of Theodosius I as the daughter of Theodosius’ brother Honorius.

Her father died prior to the year 379, after which she was adopted by her uncle.[1] In 384, Theodosius arranged her marriage to a rising military officer, Stilicho.[2] 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, and took care of Honorius' half-sister, her cousin Galla Placidia. She and Stilicho had a son, Eucherius, and two daughters, Maria and Thermantia, successively the first and second wives of Honorius.

According to the pagan historian Zosimus, Serena took a necklace from a statue of Rhea Silvia and placed it on her own neck. However, this was later dismissed; Serena was not a pagan and did not associate with them.

Stilicho was executed on Honorius' orders in 408, and Eucherius was also killed soon after. During the siege of Rome by the Visigoths the following year, Serena was falsely accused of conspiring with the Goths, and was executed with Galla Placidia's consent.

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Jones, Martindale & Morris, p. 824.
  2. ↑ Stephen Williams & Gerard Friell, Theodosius: the Empire at Bay, (Routledge, 1994): 42, 189

Bibliography

  • Jones, A.H.M.; J.R. Martindale & J. Morris (1971). Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire. Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-07233-6.
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