Valeria Maximilla
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| Valeria Maximilla | |
|---|---|
_Valeria_Maximilla_-_Musée_Saint-Raymond_Ra,_127.jpg) Possible portrait, Musée Saint-Raymond.[1] | |
| Empress of the Roman Empire | |
| Tenure | 306–312 (alongside Galeria Valeria 307–311, Fausta 309–312) |
| Born | before 293 |
| Died | after 312 |
| Spouse | Maxentius |
| Issue |
|
| Father | Emperor Galerius |
Valeria Maximilla (fl. 293–312) was a Roman Empress and wife of Emperor Maxentius.
Maximilla was the daughter of Emperor Galerius and his first wife, whose name is unknown. Around 293 (the exact date is unknown), she married Maxentius, son of Emperor Maximian, in what was likely an attempt to forge an alliance between the families of Maximian and Galerius. They had two sons. The eldest, Valerius Romulus, died in 309; the other son's name is not recorded, but might be Aurelius Valerius, who was executed in 312. As an emperor's daughter, she was entitled nobilissima femina.
Maxentius was acclaimed emperor in October 306 against the wishes of Maximilla's father, who unsuccessfully tried to overthrow the usurper in 307. Maxentius remained the ruler of Rome, Italy, and Africa until 312, when Constantine I invaded Italy. Valeria and her husband were together before his defeat at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, after which she disappears from the historical record. Her fate is unknown.
Valeria Maximilla's portrait does not appear on any of the coinage issued under Maxentius, but she may have been depicted on a defaced sculpture now housed in the Capitoline Museums. If it is of Maximilla, it was likely defaced after her husband's overthrow, when his own images were also defaced.[2]
