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Fausta Flavia Maxima, Roman Empress, (289-326A.D.) She was the daughter of the Roman Emperor Maximianus. To seal the alliance between them for control of the Tetrarchy, Maximianus married her to Constantine I in 307. Constantine and Fausta had been betrothed since 293.
Fausta had a part in her father's downfall. In 310 Maximian died as a consequence of an assassination plot against Constantine. He decided to involve his daughter Fausta in the plot, but she decided to reveal the attempt to her husband, and the assassination was disrupted. Maximian died, by suicide or by assassination, in July of that same year.
Empress Fausta was held in high esteem by Constantine and proof of his favour was that in 323 she was proclaimed Augusta, previously she held the title of Nobilissima Femina. However 3 years later Fausta was put to death by Constantine. Although the real reasons are not clear, Constantine put her to death following the execution of Crispus, his eldest son by a previous marriage to Minervina, in 326. According to the ancient sources, she accused Crispus of rape, and was then executed when her charge was discovered to be false. Modern commentators have tended to ignore the allegation of rape and to seek some other explanation for what happened. It has often been argued that Fausta wanted to get rid of Crispus who was a dangerous rival for her sons in the competition to succeed Constantine. The Emperor ordered the damnatio memoriae of his wife. Significantly her sons once in power never revoked this order.
Her sons became Roman Emperors: Constantine II reigned 337 - 340, Constantius II reigned 337 - 361, and Constans reigned 337 - 350. She also bore three daughters Constantina, Helena and Fausta. Of these, Constantina married her cousins, firstly Hannibalianus and secondly Constantius Gallus, and Helena married Emperor Julian. Apparently a genealogical claim that her daughter Fausta became mother of Emperor Valentinian I is without foundation (Valentinian I and children of Constantine I's second marriage were born in years close to each other, i.e they were of the same generation).
Bibliography
J.W. Drijvers, 'Flavia Maxima Fausta: Some Remarks', Historia 41 (1992) 500- 506.
D. Woods, ‘On the Death of the Empress Fausta’, Greece & Rome 45 (1998), 70-86.
External links
Media related to Fausta at Wikimedia Commons