Editing Fausta

{{Short description|Roman empress from 307 to 326}}
{{for-multi|the opera|Fausta (opera)|the Catholic saint|Saint Fausta}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2018}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Fausta
| title       = [[Augusta (honorific)|Augusta]]
| image        = P1070865 Louvre tête de Fausta Ma4881 rwk.JPG
| image_size   = 
| alt          = Female head statue
| caption      = Possible portrait of Fausta<!-- ", most probably before her marriage to Constantine" – not in source. -->, [[Louvre]]<ref>[http://laststatues.classics.ox.ac.uk/database/detail.php?record=LSA-573 http://laststatues.classics.ox.ac.uk, LSA-573 (J. Lenaghan)]</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=statue |date=300–325 |url=https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010278397 |access-date=2024-09-25 |website=Musée du Louvre Collections database}}</ref>
| succession   = [[List of Roman empresses|Roman empress]]
|consort=yes
| reign  = 307–326
| birth_date   = 
| birth_place  = [[Rome]], [[Italy]]
| death_date   = 326
| death_place  = 
| burial_place = 
| spouse       = [[Constantine I]]
| issue        = {{unbulleted list|[[Constantina]]|[[Constantine II (emperor)|Constantine II]]|[[Constantius II]]|[[Constans]]|[[Helena (wife of Julian)|Helena]]}}
| issue-link   = 
| issue-pipe   = 
| full name    = Flavia Maxima Fausta{{sfn|Woods|1998|p=70}}
| dynasty      = [[Constantinian dynasty|Constantinian]]
| father       = [[Maximian]]
| mother       = [[Eutropia]]
| religion     = 
}}

'''Flavia Maxima Fausta ''Augusta'''''{{Efn|She received the honorific ''[[Augusta (honorific)|Augusta]]'' in 324 AD.}} (died 326 AD) was a Roman empress. She was the daughter of [[Maximian]] and wife of [[Constantine the Great]], who had her executed and [[damnatio memoriae|excluded from all official accounts]] for unknown reasons. Historians [[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]] and [[Zonaras]] reported that she was executed for [[adultery]] with her stepson, [[Crispus]].

==Family==
Fausta was the daughter of the emperor [[Maximian]] and his wife [[Eutropia]]. As her age is nowhere outright attested, scholarly estimates have ranged from 289/290{{sfn|Barnes|1982|p=34}} to the end of the 290s.{{sfn|Drijvers|1992|p=502}}{{sfn|Waldron|2022|p=191 with n. 98}} To seal the alliance between them for control of the [[Tetrarchy]], Maximian married her to [[Constantine I]] in 307.{{sfn|Drijvers|1992|p=500}}

Constantine at first tried to present Maximian's suicide as an unfortunate tragedy, but later started spreading another version where Fausta was involved in her father's downfall. Barnes observed that the story "shows clear signs of being invented during Constantine's war against Maxentius."{{sfn|Barnes|1973|pp=41-42}}

During her marriage, she had 5 children.<ref>Hans Pohlsander, [http://www.roman-emperors.sites.luc.edu/fausta.htm Fausta (293-326 A.D.)]</ref> Fausta held the title of ''[[nobilissima]] femina'' up until 324,{{sfn|Drijvers|1992|pp=500-501}} when Constantine held her in high enough regard to grant her the title of ''[[Augusta (honorific)|augusta]]'', which she received together with Constantine's mother [[Helena, mother of Constantine I|Helena]].{{sfn|Woods|1998|p=70}}{{sfn|Drijvers|1992|p=501}}{{sfn|Stephenson|2010|p=217}}

==Execution==
In 326, Fausta was put to death by Constantine, following the execution of [[Crispus]], his eldest son by Minervina.{{sfn|Woods|1998|p=70}} The circumstances surrounding the two deaths were unclear. Various explanations have been suggested; in one, Fausta is set against Crispus, as in the anonymous ''Epitome de Caesaribus'',{{sfn|Woods|1998|pp=70-71}} or conversely her adultery, perhaps with the stepson who was close to her in age, is suggested.

According to the Latin ''Epitome de Caesaribus'' and the ''[http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/philostorgius.htm Ecclesiastical History]'' of Philostorgius (as epitomized by Photius), Fausta was executed by being locked in a bath which was over heated,{{sfn|Woods|1998|pp=70-71}} in connection with the death of Crispus, which "people [thought]" was caused by Fausta's accusation of unclear nature. <blockquote>But Constantine, having obtained rule over the whole Roman Empire by remarkable success in wars, ordered his son Crispus to be put to death, at the behest (so people think) of his wife Fausta. Later he locked his wife Fausta in overheated baths and killed her, because his mother Helena blamed him out of excessive grief for her grandson.<ref>Epitome de Caesaribus, 42.11–12</ref></blockquote>

[[Zosimus (historian)|Zosimus]], on the other hand, suggests adultery as the reason: <blockquote>He killed Crispus, who had been deemed worthy of the rank of Caesar, as I have said before, when he incurred suspicion of having sexual relations with his stepmother Fausta, without taking any notice of the laws of nature. Constantine's mother Helena was distressed at such a grievous event and refused to tolerate the murder of the young man. As if to soothe her [feelings] Constantine tried to remedy the evil with a greater evil: having ordered baths to be heated above the normal level, he deposited Fausta in them and brought her out when she was dead.<ref>Barnes, Timothy. ''Constantine Dynasty, Religion and Power in the Later Roman Empire'', 145.</ref></blockquote>

In [[Zonaras]]' version written in the 12th century, Crispus' death was caused by Fausta's retaliatory accusation of rape following her unsuccessful sexual advances toward him. But when Constantine realized his innocence, he punished her, mirroring the myth of [[Phaedra (mythology)|Phaedra]] and Hippolytus.<ref>[[Lynda Garland|Garland, Lynda]]. ''Questions of Gender in Byzantine Society'', 108.</ref> Scholars have noted that if Crispus was found to be innocent, his condemnation of memory should have been lifted, but it was not.{{sfn|Drijvers|1992|p=505}}{{sfn|Stephenson|2010|p=221}}{{sfn|Woods|1998|p=73}}

Although Hans Pohlsander dismissed the idea of Fausta's death being accidental, viewing the condemnation of memory to be certain proof that Constantine intended to kill his wife, David Woods' response was that, "Accidents continue to happen even to people deep in disgrace."{{sfn|Woods|1998|p=86}} He suggested that Crispus and Fausta were not actually executed, offering the connection of overheated bathing with contemporaneous techniques of abortion,{{sfn|Woods|1998|p=76}} a suggestion that implies an unwanted, adulterous pregnancy from her relationship with Crispus{{sfn|Stephenson|2010|p=222}} and a fatal accident during the abortion.

[[File:Follis-Fausta-constantinople RIC 012.jpg|thumb|left|Fausta, as [[Salus]], holding her two sons, [[Constantine II (emperor)|Constantine II]] and [[Constantius II]]]] 
Constantine I ordered the ''[[damnatio memoriae]]'' of Fausta and Crispus around 326 with the result that no contemporary source records details of her fate: "[[Eusebius of Caesarea|Eusebius]], ever the sycophant, mentions neither Crispus nor Fausta in his ''Life of Constantine'', and even wrote Crispus out of the final version of his ''Ecclesiastical History'' (''HE'' X.9.4)", Constantine's biographer Paul Stephenson observes.{{sfn|Stephenson|2010|p=220}} Although [[Julian (emperor)|Julian]] praised Fausta in his panegyric to [[Constantius II]],<ref>Julian, "Panegyric in honour of Constantius", 9. {{Wikisource-inline|Panegyric in honour of Constantius|single=true}}</ref> there is no other evidence of her memory being rehabilitated.{{sfn|Pohlsander|1996|p=54}}{{sfn|Drijvers|1992|p=501}}

==In popular culture==
Fausta is an important antagonist in [[Dorothy L. Sayers]]' chronicle-play ''[[The Emperor Constantine]]'' (1951). In addition, Fausta was portrayed by [[Belinda Lee]] in the film ''[[Constantine and the Cross]]'' (1961).

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
*{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/299163 | jstor=299163 | title=Lactantius and Constantine | last1=Barnes | first1=T. D. | journal=The Journal of Roman Studies | date=7 December 1973 | volume=63 | pages=29–46 | doi=10.2307/299163 | s2cid=163051414 | url-access=subscription }}
* {{cite book |last=Barnes |year=1982 |first=Timothy D. |title=The New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine |publisher=Harvard University Press |doi=10.4159/harvard.9780674280670 |place=Cambridge, MA |isbn=0-674-28066-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/newempireofdiocl0000barn/mode/1up}}
*{{cite journal |last=Drijvers |year=1992 |first=Jan Willem |title= Flavia Maxima Fausta: Some Remarks |journal=[[Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte|Historia]] |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=500–506 |jstor=4436264}}
*{{cite book |last=Pohlsander |first=Hans A. |year=1996 |title=The Emperor Constantine |url=https://archive.org/details/emperorconstanti0000pohl|publisher=Routledge |isbn=0-415-31938-2}}
*{{Cite book |last=Stephenson |first=Paul |url=https://archive.org/details/constantineuncon0000step|title=Constantine: Unconquered Emperor, Christian Victor |date=2010 |publisher=London, Quercus |isbn=978-1-4683-0300-1 |language=en}}
*{{cite book |last=Waldron |first=Byron |year=2022 |title=Dynastic Politics in the Age of Diocletian, AD 284-311 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=9781474498654}}
* {{cite journal|last=Woods|first=David|year=1998|journal=Greece & Rome|title=On the Death of the Empress Fausta|volume=45|issue=1|pages=70–86|doi=10.1093/gr/45.1.70|doi-access=free}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Fausta}}
* {{Cite Americana|wstitle=Fausta, Flavia Maximiana|short=x}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-roy}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Galeria Valeria]]<br /><small>(or [[Minervina]])</small>}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Empress of Rome]]|years=307–326|regent1=[[Galeria Valeria]]|years1=307–311|regent2=[[Valeria Maximilla]]|years2=307–312|regent3=[[Flavia Julia Constantia]]|years3=313–324}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Daughter of Julius Constantius]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Roman empresses}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Year of birth missing]]
[[Category:326 deaths]]
[[Category:Constantinian dynasty]]
[[Category:Flavii]]
[[Category:Daughters of Roman emperors]]
[[Category:Deaths from asphyxiation]]
[[Category:Executed Roman empresses]]
[[Category:Murdered ancient Roman empresses]]
[[Category:3rd-century Roman women]]
[[Category:4th-century Roman empresses]]
[[Category:Constantine the Great]]
[[Category:4th-century executions]]
[[Category:People executed by the Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Damnatio memoriae]]
[[Category:Nobilissimae feminae]]
[[Category:People executed for adultery]]
[[Category:Mothers of Byzantine emperors]]