Mary (d. 407) was the first empress of Honor, the Roman Emperor of the West.
Video Maria (empress)
Family
She is the daughter of Stilicho, the magister of the militia of the Western Roman Empire, and Serena. Mary is the sister of Eucherius and Thermantia. "De Consulatu Stilichonis" by Claudian reported that his unnamed paternal grandfather was a cavalry officer under Valens, Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire. Orosius explained that his paternal grandfather was a Romanized Vandal. The separate chronology of John Antioch, a seventh-century monk tentatively identified with John of Sedre, the Patriarch of the Orthodox Syrian Antioch of 641 to 648 calls the grandfather Scythian, probably following the Antiquity End practice to dub everyone who inhabits Pontic- Caspian steppe as "Scythians", regardless of their language. Jerome calls Stilicho a semilibarian, who has been interpreted that his unnamed grandmother is a Roman.
The poem "In Praise of Serena" by Claudian and "Historia Nova" by Zosimus explains that Mary's maternal grandfather was an elder Honorius, a brother of Theodosius I. Both are the sons of Count Theodosius and Thermantia, as clarified in "The Romana's Historia" "by Paul the Deacon The genealogist considers the possibility that Mary is named after her maternal grandmother while giving the granny the name "Mary".
Maps Maria (empress)
Wedding
At c. February, 398, Mary marries Honorius, her first maternal cousin, once removed. Her husband was the son of Theodosius I and his first wife, Aelia Flaccilla. Honorius was not yet fourteen. The Epithalamion was written in their honor by Claudian survives. He puts his flattering description of Mary at the mouth of Venus, the Roman goddess who is principally associated with love, beauty and fertility, equivalent to the Greek goddess Aphrodite. "E'en though there is no blood tie with you to the royal house, even though you have never got in touch with it, but your beauty will make you worthy of a kingdom.What face would prefer to win the royal scepter Is it better to adorn the palace" More red from the roses of your lips, whiter than ice neck frost, cowslips are no more yellow than your hair, no fire brighter than your eyes. With how well an outer space eyebrow space meets on your forehead! How just a blend that makes your face red, your justice is not too much red! Your finger is more pink than Aurora, your shoulder is stronger than Diana, even your mother you surpass. If Bacchus, Ariadne's lover, could change his bald essay into a constellation how could a prettier maid not have a crown of stars? "
There is a scientific debate about how old Mary is. It depends on when the parents get married. Passages of "De Consulatu Stilichonis" by Claudian, reported that Stilicho first rose to prominence through successfully negotiating a peace treaty with the Sassanid Empire, then chosen by Theodosius I to marry his nephew. The report appears to report that (1) Stilicho negotiated a reciprocal friendship agreement between Theodosius I and Shapur III (2) Theodosius I and Aelia Flaccilla acted as the adoptive parents to Serena, possibly after the death of their biological parents. The agreement is usually dated 384, but dates no later than 387 have been proposed for the treaty and the marriage that follows. By any estimate, Mary would be at least fourteen at the time of her marriage.
Empress
According to Zosimus's note, "When Mary will marry Honorius, her mother, thinks she is too young for a marriage state and does not want to delay marriage, even though she thinks that to give up so young and gentle someone in the arms of a man who offers violence to nature, to a woman who knows how to manage such affairs, and in her way of making Mary have to stay with the emperor and share her bed, but that she should not have the power to rob her virginity. At that moment Mary died as a virgin, and Serena, who, could be expected to be the grandmother of a young emperor or queen, for fear of his diminished influence, using all his attempts to marry his other daughter with Honorius. "The account may have tried to explain why Mary died without giving birth. But this may also be explained by the young age of the imperial couples, the story of Honorius being anesthetized by Serena's mother-in-law is considered fantasy. Her sister Thermantia went on to marry Honorius.
References
Source
- Stilicho's Profile in the Proopica of the Next Roman Empire
- Profile of his sister, Thermantia in Roman Empire Prosopography Then
- Zosimus, New History. London: Green and Chaplin (1814). Book 5.
Source of the article : Wikipedia