Person:Flavia Unknown (2)

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Flavia Maximiana Theodora (c. 275 – before 337) was a Roman empress, wife of Constantius Chlorus.

She is often referred to as a stepdaughter of Emperor Maximian by ancient sources, leading to claims by historians Otto Seeck and Ernest Stein that she was born from an earlier marriage between Eutropia, wife of Maximian, and Afranius Hannibalianus.^[1] This man was consul in 292 and praetorian prefect under Diocletian.

Timothy Barnes challenges this view stating that all "stepdaughter sources" derive their information from the partially unreliable work Kaisergeschichte (written in the 4th century), while more reliable sources refer to Theodora as Maximian's natural daughter.^[2] He concludes that she was born no later than c. 275 to an unnamed earlier wife of Maximian, possibly one of Hannibalianus' daughters.

Before 21 April 289, Theodora married Flavius Valerius Constantius (later known as Constantius Chlorus), after he had divorced from his first wife, Helena, to strengthen his political position. The couple had six children:

• Flavius Dalmatius;
• Julius Constantius, father of Roman emperor Julian and of the unnamed wife of Constantius II;
• Hannibalianus;
• Anastasia, who was to marry Bassianus;
• Flavia Julia Constantia, wife of Roman emperor Licinius;
• Eutropia, mother of Nepotianus.