СЪПРУГИТЕ ХРИСТИЯНКИ НА ПОСЛЕДНИТЕ ГОНИТЕЛИ
CHRISTIAN WIVES AND THE LAST PERSECUTORS

Summary/Abstract: The fourth century was a turning point for the Roman Empire. With the edict of Emperor Galerius (305–311) the Christianity from a persecuted religion be-came an equal to the other cults, and during the reign of Emperor Theodosius I the Great (379 – 395) it was declared for the sole and only official religion in the entire Empire. However, the last oppressions against Christians started at the beginning of the century. The representatives of the First and Second Tetrar-chy (293 – 306) were the initiators of the persecutions. Later, during the joint rule of Constantine and Licinius (308 – 324) when a conflict arose between them, Licinius renewed again the chasings in the Eastern part of the Empire. It is an intriguing fact that some of the last persecutors’ wives were actual-ly Christians – like Priska, the wife of Diocletian (284 – 305); Valeria, the daughter of Diocletian and Galerius’ wife; Helena, the first wife of Constan-tius Chlorus and the mother of Constantine I; and Constantia, the daughter of Constantius Chlorus from his marriage to Theodora, and the wife of Licinius I. Usually the attention is drawn to Helena as the mother of Constantine I the Great. Indeed, the historical sources provide the most information about her life. Little is still known about the lives of Priska, Valeria, though Lactantius tells their stories in his work „On the death of the persecutors“ (De mortibus persecutorum). Constantia arouses the greatest curiosity – despite the fun-damental differences between her and her husband, she begged her brother Constantine to spare Licinius’ life; although Constantine later ordered her husband Licinius I and their son Licinius II to be killed, she managed to overcome their loss and continued to reside in Constantine’s court.

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