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Anicia Juliana (Greek: Ανικία Ίουλιανή,Constantinople, after 461 – 527/528) was aLate Antique Roman imperial princess, wife of themagister militum of theeastern Roman empire,Areobindus Dagalaiphus Areobindus, patron of the greatChurch of St Polyeuctus inConstantinople, and owner of theVienna Dioscurides. She was the daughter of theRoman emperorOlybrius (r. 472) and his wifePlacidia, herself the daughter of the emperorValentinian III (r. 425–455) andLicinia Eudoxia, through whom Anicia Juliana was also great-granddaughter of the emperorTheodosius II (r. 402–450) and the empressAelia Eudocia. During the rule of theLeonid dynasty and the rise of the laterJustinian dynasty, Anicia Juliana was thus the most prominent member of both the preceding imperial dynasties, theValentinianic dynasty established byValentinian the Great (r. 364–375) and the relatedTheodosian dynasty established byTheodosius the Great (r. 379–395).
Her sonOlybrius Junior served as aRoman consul whilst only a child and married the niece of the emperorAnastasius I (r. 491–518), the daughter of Anastasius's brotherPaulus. Despite Anicia Juliana's ambitions her son never became emperor, being ignored in the accession ofJustin I (r. 518–527) after the death of Anastasius and the fall of the Leonid dynasty.
She was born inConstantinople after 461.[1]
In 478, emperorZeno offered her hand in marriage toTheodoric, but it did not take place.[2]
She marriedFlavius Areobindus Dagalaiphus Areobindus, and their children includedOlybrius,consul in 491. With her husband, she spent her life at the court of Constantinople during the reign ofLeo I toJustinian I, of which she was considered "both the most aristocratic and the wealthiest inhabitant".[3]
In 512, a group ofpro-Chalcedonian rioters dissatisfied with emperorAnastasius went to Juliana and Areobindus' home and proclaimed Areobindus emperor. However, he had fled the city.[4]
Anicia Juliana was a prolific patron of art. From what little we know about her personal predilections, it appears that she "directly intervened in determining the content, as well, perhaps, as the style" of the artworks she commissioned.[5]
Her pro-Roman political views, as espoused in her letter toPope Hormisdas (preserved in the royal library ofEl Escorial) are reflected in theChronicle ofMarcellinus Comes, who has been associated with her literary circle. Whether Juliana entertained political ambitions of her own is uncertain, but it is known that her husband declined to take up the crown during the 512 riots. Although she resolutely opposed theMonophysite leanings of EmperorAnastasius, she permitted her son Olybrius to marry the Emperor's niece.[6]
Juliana's name is attached to theVienna Dioscurides, also known as theAnicia Juliana Codex, anilluminated manuscriptcodex copy ofPedanius Dioscorides'sDe materia medica, known as one of the earliest and most lavish manuscripts still in existence. It has afrontispiece with adonor portrait of Anicia Juliana, the oldest surviving such portrait in the history of manuscript illumination. Thepatrikia is shown enthroned and flanked by the personifications ofMegalopsychia (Magnanimity) andPhronesis (Prudence), with a small female allegory labelled "Gratitude of the Arts" (Medieval Greek:Eucharistia ton technon) performingproskynesis in honour of thepatrikia, kissing her feet.[7] Aputto is at Anicia Juliana's right side, handing her a codex and labelled with the Greek:ΠΟΘΟΣ ΤHΣ ΦΙΛΟΚΤΙΣΤΟΥ,romanized: pothos tes philoktistou,lit. 'yearning of the creation-lover', added in a later scribe's handwriting, interpreted as "the Desire to build", "the Love of building", or "the Desire of the building-loving woman".[7] The same hand has labelled the central figure asSophia (Wisdom).[7]
The badly damaged encircling inscription proclaims Juliana as a great patron of art and identifies the people ofHonoratae (a town on the Asiatic shore of theBosporus) as having given the codex to Anicia Juliana.[7] She probably received the book in gratitude for her having built a church in the town.[7] The inscription is corroborated by the 8th–9th-century chroniclerTheophanes Confessor in a notice of the year 512 that Anicia Juliana dedicated a church to theTheotokos in Honoratae that year.[7] Emphasizing her membership of the ancientpatrician Aniciagens through her father Flavius Anicius Olybrius, the inscription reads:[7]
ΙΟΥ ΔΟΞΑΙϹΙ(Ν ΑΝΑϹϹΑ?) | Hail, oh princess, Honoratae extols |
| —Codex Vindobonensis med. gr. 1. f. 6v.[7][8] | —translation from Iohannis Spatharakis (1976) and Bente Kiilerich (2001) |
Of her architectural projects, we know only three churches which she commissioned to be erected and embellished in Constantinople. The ornatebasilica ofSt Polyeuctus was built on her extensive family estates during the last three years of her life, with the goal of highlighting her illustrious pedigree which ran back to Theodosius I andConstantine the Great. Until Justinian's extension of theHagia Sophia, it was the largest church in the imperial capital, and its construction was probably seen as a challenge to the reigning dynasty.[9] The dedicatory inscription compares Juliana to KingSolomon and overtly alludes toAelia Eudocia, Juliana's great-grandmother, who founded this church:
Eudocia the empress, eager to honor God, first built here a temple of Polyektos the servant of God. But she did not make it as great and beautiful as it is... because her prophetic soul told her that she would leave a family well knowing how to adorn it. Whence Juliana, the glory of her blessed parents, inheriting their royal blood in the fourth generation, did not disappoint the hopes of the empress, the mother of a noble race, but raised this from a small temple to its present size and beauty. (Greek Anthology, I.10)
