Olympias of Armenia
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Olympias[1] (Greek: Ὀλυμπιάς, flourished 4th century, died 361)[2] also known as Olympia,[3] sometimes known as Olympias the Elder[4] to distinguish her from her niece of the same name,[5] was a Christian Roman noblewoman, and a queen of Armenia by marriage to king Arsaces II (Arshak II). Through her father, Olympias was connected to the Constantinian dynasty and through marriage was related to the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia.
Olympias' family was of Greek ancestry.[2] Her father was Flavius Ablabius, a wealthy Cretan[6] politically active in the Eastern and Western halves of the Roman Empire;[7] her mother's identity is not preserved.[5] Ablabius was one of the most important Roman Senators of Constantinople,[8] holding the Praetorian prefecture of the East from 329 to 337/338 and a consulship in 331.[6] Olympias had one known sibling, a brother called Seleucus.[5] She was born and raised either in Constantinople or in Antioch, her father's base during his political career.[9] Her date of birth is uncertain, possibly falling between the years 324 and 330, and little is known of her early life.
Constantinian dynasty
Ablabius acquired great influence over the Roman emperor Constantine I,[10] who agreed to an engagement between his son Constans and Olympias.[11] Constantine I died shortly afterwards in May 337, and Constans inherited the throne in partnership with his brothers Constantine II and Constantius II. In 338 Ablabius was executed after falling out with Constantius II, and the marriage of Olympias and Constans never took place; the two nonetheless lived together and treated each other as a married couple.[4] After Constans' death in 350, Olympias remained in Constantinople with his surviving relatives.
Queen of Armenia
Arsaces (Arshak) II, the Roman client king of Arsacid Armenia, was greatly favored by Constantius II, who remitted all the taxes[2] on Armenian royal lands in Anatolia.[3] As a sign of the renewed Arian Christian political alliance between Armenia and Rome, Constantius married Olympias to Arsaces II;[1][2] Athanasius of Alexandria criticized this decision in a letter addressed to the Anchorites, saying that Olympias deserved to marry a Roman emperor and not a foreign king.[3][12] She was escorted to her new home by Nerses I, reigning Armenian Catholicos.[2] The Romans commemorated the occasion with special medals bearing the portrait of Olympias, mother of Alexander the Great, with the Latin caption OLYMPIAS REGINA or of queen Olympias.[2]
Olympias is the first known wife of Arsaces II. Although Olympias had no children with Arsaces II, they appeared to have a happy marriage, as Arsaces II loved Olympias.[13] The Romans considered Olympias as the legitimate wife of Arsaces II as this Queen consort, maintained her influence on her husband. Arsaces II was faithful to the Roman and Christian alliance[14] and Olympias would have become a very powerful, wealthy and influential woman in Armenian society.