Galla | |||||
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Empress consort of the Roman Empire | |||||
Tenure | 387–394 | ||||
Predecessor | Aelia Flaccilla | ||||
Successor |
Aelia Eudoxia in the East; Maria in the West |
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Born | between 370 and 375 Constantinople |
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Died | 394 (aged 19–24) | ||||
Spouse | Theodosius I | ||||
Issue | Gratian Galla Placidia, Empress of the Western Roman Empire |
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Dynasty |
Valentinian Dynasty (by birth) Theodosian Dynasty (by marriage) |
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Father | Valentinian I | ||||
Mother | Justina | ||||
Religion | Arianism |
Full name | |
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Flavia Galla |
Flavia Galla (died 394 CE) was an Empress of the Roman Empire and a Princess of the Western Roman Empire. She was the second Empress consort of Theodosius I. She was daughter of Valentinian I and his second wife Justina.
Little is known of Galla, including her full name. Galla is the female cognomen for Gallus and, in Latin, gallus could mean both an inhabitant of Gaul and a rooster.
Galla is listed as one of four children of the marriage by Jordanes. Her paternal uncle Valens was Emperor of the Eastern Roman Byzantine Empire from 364 to his death in the Battle of Adrianople (9 August 378). Her father was emperor of the Western Roman Empire from 364 to his death on 17 November 375 and was previously married to Marina Severa. The only known child of that marriage was Gratian, Western Roman Emperor from 375 to his assassination on 25 August 383. Her mother was previously married to Magnentius, a Roman usurper from 350 to 353. However both Zosimus and the fragmentary chronicle of John of Antioch report that Justina was too young at the time of her first marriage to have children. Galla thus had no known maternal half-siblings.
Galla had three full-siblings. Her only brother was Valentinian II, first co-emperor with Gratian from 375 and then the only legitimate Western Roman Emperor from 383 to his death by hanging on 15 May 392. His death was officially reported as a suicide but Arbogast, his magister militum was suspected to have had a hand in it, an accusation found in the writings of Socrates of Constantinople, Orosius, and Zosimus. Sozomen was less certain and mentioned both versions of how Valentinian II died.