UC Santa Cruz

Anikia Juliana, a woman with the title epiphanestate (επιφανιστάτη) or noblissima–meaning most well-known or most noble–and ostensibly the last illustrious member of the Theodosian dynasty, lived in Constantinople in the late fifth and early sixth century AC. She was one of the most aristocratic women in the city at the time, a patrikia or patrician, and, according to legend, she controlled great wealth. Legend also indicates that her wealth may have intimidated a male leader of the time–one almost synonymous with the early- to mid-sixth century–Justinian I.In this dissertation, I consider Juliana’s matronage in relation to the matronage and patronage of elite men and women from the first century BC to the sixth century AC across the Roman and what became the Byzantine empire. In doing so, I also situate her matronage within these customary practices to demonstrate that her philanthropy was at once traditional and unique. From her program of building and renewal in and around Constantinople, it is clear that Juliana tapped into the standards of matronage established by prominent women, like Augusta Livia, and reframed for a Christian milieu by Augusta Helena, but also expanded upon them to suit her needs. Using the most famous of her renewed monuments, the church of St. Polyeuktos, as a case study, I show that the connections to her female family members signaled by her monuments conveyed serious theological and, thereby, political messages to the public but also illustrate the importance of matrilineage to at least one woman. I seek to uncover more about the lived experience of Juliana, a descendant of two prominent households, as a way to understand the lived experience of other women.