Licinia Eudoxia
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Solidus minted in Thessalonica to celebrate the marriage of Valentinian III to Licinia Eudoxia, daughter of the Eastern Emperor Theodosius II. On the reverse, the three of them in wedding dresses. |
Licinia Eudoxia (
422-
462) was a
Roman Empress, daughter of Eastern Emperor
Theodosius II and wife of the Western Emperors
Valentinian III and
Petronius Maximus.
Eudoxia was the only daughter of the long-reigning Eastern emperor Theodosius II and of his wife, the poetess
Aelia Eudocia. She married the Western Emperor Valentinian III on
29 October 437, in
Thessalonica, marriage that marked the reunion of the two halves of the
House of Theodosius. In
439 Eudoxia was granted the title of
Augusta, with the birth of her daughter
Eudocia.
In
455, Valentinian was murdered, probably by his collaborator,
Petronius Maximus. In the days that followed the death of the emperor, Petronius Maximus rose to the imperial power, and obliged Licinia Eudoxia to marry him, in order to strengthen his position. It is possible that Eudoxia, who was not happy of marrying the killer of his husband, called for the help of the African
Vandals king
Gaiseric, who had engaged one of his sons to Eudoxia's eldest daughter. Genseric moved to Rome very quickly. Petronius Maximus opted for fleeing, but he was killed by the mob of Rome. When the Vandals arrived in Rome, they sacked the city, and took, among the other prisoners, Eudoxia and her two daughters, Eudocia and Placidia. The three women stayed prisoners in
Carthage for seven years, until a large ransom was payed by the Eastern Emperor
Leo I. She and Placidia withdrew to Constantinople, but Eudocia stayed in Africa as wife of
Huneric, Gaiseric's son, and was mother of
Hilderic. Placidia later became the wife of
Olybrius.
