Aelia Flaccilla coins Roman Imperial catalog

Empress Aelia Flacilla (?-386), wife of Theodosius I, mother of Arcadius and Honorius

Flacilla (Elia Flavia Flacilla) Greek. Πλακίλλα, Φλακίλλα; + 386/387), Augusta, wife of Emperor Theodosius I the Great (379-395).

Flacilla was from Spain, where she married Theodosius, who at that time was not yet emperor, but was in disgrace. The wedding took place around 376. The name Eliya indicates an aristocratic origin. She bore the emperor two sons and a daughter, Pulcheria (until 379).

In 383 she received the title of Augusta. Among her relatives, her sister's husband Nebridius, prefect of Constantinople in 386, is known.

All sources claim that Flacilla was pious, helped the poor and herself ministered to the sick and disabled. The church historian Sozomen reports that Flacilla was an ardent supporter of the Nicene faith and prevented Theodosius I from meeting with Anomaeus Eunomius, bishop of Cyzicus, fearing that the bishop would incline the emperor to heresy in conversation.

Flacilla died in 386 or 387, briefly outliving her infant daughter Pulcheria, who died in 385.

Saint Gregory of Nyssa pronounced funeral eulogies in memory of his mother and daughter (“A Word of Consolation on the Death of Pulcheria” and “A Funeral Oration on the Death of Flacilla,” in which he portrayed Flacilla as a virtuous woman, an assistant to her husband, who was not inferior to him either in philanthropy or in piety , nor in justice, and praised the Christian virtues of Flacilla: meekness, humility, modesty.The word of St. Gregory of Nyssa is written according to the laws of the genre, therefore it represents an idealized portrait, but not a single source contains information that contradicts this praise.
The location and circumstances of Flacilla's death are also revealed from the tombstone, although the cause is still not entirely clear. St. Gregory mentions "the bitterness of the waters which she desired but did not deserve." The cause of death may have been water from a contaminated source.

 

 

AEL FLACILLA AVG
SALVS REIPVBLICAE

383-388
copper
Antioch
23 mm.
Draped bust in the diadem right / Aelia Flacilla Augusta
Aelia Flacilla standing front, holds scroll / Wellbeing of Republic
Value - $80-100

 

 

AEL FLACILLA AVG
SALVS REIPVBLICAE

379-388
copper
Constantinople
14 mm.
Draped bust in the diadem right / Aelia Flacilla Augusta
Venus sitting right, holds shield / Wellbeing of Republic
Value - $20-40

 

 

 

 

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