Anicia Juliana

Anicia Juliana (Greek: Ανικία Ίουλιανή, Constantinople, after 461 – 527/528) was a Late Antique Roman imperial princess, wife of the magister militum of the eastern Roman empire, Areobindus Dagalaiphus Areobindus, patron of the great Church of St Polyeuctus in Constantinople, and owner of the Vienna Dioscurides.

Despite Anicia Juliana's ambitions her son never became emperor, being ignored in the accession of Justin I (r. 518–527) after the death of Anastasius and the fall of the Leonid dynasty.

[5] Her pro-Roman political views, as espoused in her letter to Pope Hormisdas (preserved in the royal library of El Escorial) are reflected in the Chronicle of Marcellinus Comes, who has been associated with her literary circle.

[7] A putto is at Anicia Juliana's right side, handing her a codex and labelled with the Greek: ΠΟΘΟΣ ΤHΣ ΦΙΛΟΚΤΙΣΤΟΥ, romanized: pothos tes philoktistou, lit.

[7] Emphasizing her membership of the ancient patrician Anicia gens through her father Flavius Anicius Olybrius, the inscription reads:[7]

The ornate basilica of St 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 and Constantine the Great.

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.