Flavia Valeria Constantina, later known as Saint Constance, was the eldest daughter of Roman emperor Constantine the Great and his second wife Fausta, daughter of Emperor Maximian.
12 Facts About Constantina
1.
2.
Some time before mid 320s, Constantina was born to the emperor Constantine and empress Fausta.
3.
Constantina was sister to Constantine II, Constans, Constantius II, Helena and half-sister to Crispus.
4.
In 335, Constantina married her cousin Hannibalianus, son of Flavius Dalmatius, whom Constantine I had created Rex Regum et Ponticarum Gentium, "King of Kings and Ruler of the Pontic Tribes".
5.
Gallus was twenty-five or twenty-six at the time, whereas Constantina was substantially his senior.
6.
Constantina's body was sent back to Rome and entombed near Via Nomentana in a mausoleum her father, Emperor Constantine I, had started building for her.
7.
Constantina accepted a necklace as a bribe for securing the execution of a nobleman.
8.
When, after receiving the complaints of the Anthiocheans, Constantius II summoned both Gallus and Constantina, but according to Ammianus Constantina, in her last attempt at using her political power, journeyed ahead to meet with her brother the emperor to try to pacify him in his conflict with her husband Constantius Gallus, during which she died from illness.
9.
Ammianus Marcellinus portrays Constantina as cruel, violent, and arrogant: "her pride was swollen beyond measure; she was a Fury in mortal form, incessantly adding fuel to her husband's rage, and as thirsty for human blood as he".
10.
The story, with considerable elaborations, survives in various literary forms, and as a figure from the life of Agnes, Constantina appears in the late 14th enamelled scenes on the Royal Gold Cup in the British Museum.
11.
Constantina's relics were placed by Pope Alexander IV under a new altar.
12.
Today, the grave of Constantina is in the church of Santa Costanza, Rome.