Galla Placidia: The Last Roman Empress

by Hagith Sivan

Overview

The astonishing career of Galla Placidia (c. 390-450) provides valuable reflections on the state of the Roman empire in the fifth century CE. In an age when emperors, like Galla's two brothers, Arcadius (395-408) and Honorius (395-423), and nephew, Theodosius II (408-450), hardly ever ventured beyond the fortified enclosure of their palaces, Galla spent years wandering across Italy, Gaul and Spain first as hostage in the camp of Alaric the Goth, and then as wife of Alaric's successor. In exile at the court of her nephew in Constantinople Galla observed how princesses wield power while vaunting piety. Restored to Italy on the swords of the eastern Roman army, Galla watched the coronation of her son, age six, as the emperor of the western Roman provinces. For a dozen years (425-437) she acted as regent, treading uneasily between rival senatorial factions, ambitious church prelates, and charismatic military leaders.

This new biography of Galla is organized according to her changing roles as bride, widow, bereaved mother, queen and empress. It examines her relations with men in power, her achievements as a politician, her skills at establishing power bases and political alliances, and her efficiency at accomplishing her desired goals. Using all the available sources, documents, epigraphy, coinage and the visual arts, and Galla's own letters, Hagith Sivan reconstructs the turning points and highlights of Galla's odd progression from a bloodthirsty princess at Rome to a bride of a barbarian in Gaul, from a manipulative sister and wife of emperors at the imperial court at Ravenna to a beggar at the court of her relatives in Constantinople, and from a devious regent of the western Roman empire to a collaborator of popes in Rome.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195379136
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/31/2011
Series:	Women in Antiquity
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Hagith Sivan is Associate Professor of History, University of Kansas

Table of Contents

Abbreviations
Introduction
1. A Wedding in Gaul
2. Funerals in Barcelona
3. The Making of an Empress
4. Restoration and Rehabilitation
5. A Bride, A Book, and a Pope
6. Between Rome and Ravenna
7. Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

"The book contains much that is useful and interesting about the life of women in the Late Empire. The picture of [Galla Placidia] that emerges is of a strong, determined and formidable woman who was able to survive her ordeals and maintain focus upon ensuring the right of her son to become western Emperor. For anyone wishing to delve deeper into the life of women in Late Antiquity this is compulsory reading." —UNRV.com

"A distinct, plausible, and thought-provoking portrait of a woman who remains frustratingly beyond our reach."—Bryn Mawr Classical Review

From the Publisher