Anicia Juliana (ca. 462 - ca. 528) was a Roman imperial princess, the daughter of the Western Roman Emperor Olybrius, of the House of Anicii. With her husband Areobindus, whom she married in 479, she spent her life at the pre-Justinian court of Constantinople, of which she was considered "both the most aristocratic and the wealthiest inhabitant" [1] The two bore a son named Flavius Anicius Olybrius who held the consulship in 491, an age fifteen years before his father. He went on to marry Eirene, daughter of the emperor Anastasius I, a marriage which Juliana had hoped he would inherit him the throne. Sadly when Anastasius died there was no clear successor and the throne was given to an elderly and uneducated guard of the emperor, Justin I. Despite being offered the throne, Aerobindus declined in 512 after a series of riots had broken out in the city. To the dispair of Juliana he later fled leaving little chance of her occupying the throne, disappointed that her husband had failed her, the ascension of Justin I was the last straw. A true blue-blood of generations of royalty, Juliana was disgusted that her rightful title be given to an elderly guard to was born a peasant; it was now that she needed to concretely declare her own royal past, present and future, a statement made not only with the medical treatise of Dioscorides but of her basilica she built in 215, dedicated to St. Polyeuctus. Juliana's basilica was built during the last three years of her life and replaced another which built by the Empress Eudocia. Much larger is scale and grandeur, its goal was to highlight her illustrious pedigree which ran back to Theodosius I and Constantine the Great and to stand as a challenge to the reigning dynasty of Justin I. To further emphasise herself as the rightful ruler, St. Polyeuctus’ relics, including his skull, were transferred to Constantinople during the Fifth Century; this movement of relics increased the importance of the Capital, and the choice for Saint Polyeuktos was used to stress the imperial family connections with Eudocia. It stood for ten years as the city's largest and most sumptuous church until Justinian's extension of the Hagia Sophia. Immortalized in the poems of the Palatine Anthology (Greek poems of
Juliana is known chiefly for her portrait in the magnificently illuminated medical treatise of Dioscorides, which is now preserved in
Anicia is presented with the closed book by the allegory of the ‘Gratitude for the arts’. Possibly Her Embodiment of dynastic ideology is exemplified in the inscription at her feet, reading ‘Great Patron’, and is reinforced by her attire. This navy lined robe with crown was worn only by those granted with ecclesiastic power to be used throughout the state. Imperial duties and patronage were reserved for men, however in Juliana this is not the case suggesting her to be of great importance and stature.
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[2] Harrison, R. M., A
Bibliography
Harrison, R. M., A
Natalie Harris Bluestone, Double Vision: Perspectives on Gender and the Visual Arts, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1995
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