Constantia

• a Roman proper name, Lact. Mort. Pers. 15, 1, 6; Amm.21, 15, 6.

1. Flavia Valeria Constantia, also called Constantina, the daughter of Constantius Chlorus Caesar and his second wife, Theodora, was born after A. D. 292 and before A. D. 306, either in Gaul or Britain. She was a half-sister of Constantine the Great, who gave her in marriage in 313 to C. Valerius Licinianus Licinius Augustus, master of the East. In the civil war which broke out between Constantine and Licinius in 323, the latter was entirely defeated at Chrysopolis, now Scutari opposite Constantinople, and tied to Nicomedeia, where he was besieged by the victor. In order to save the life of her husband, who was able neither to defend the town nor to escape, Constantia went into the camp of her brother, and by her earnest entreaties obtained pardon for Licinius. Afraid, however, of new troubles, Constantine afterwards gave orders to put him to death; but this severity did not alter his friendship for his sister, whom he always treated with kindness and respect. Constantia was first an orthodox Christian, having been baptized by pope Sylvester at Rome; but she afterwards adopted the Arian creed. It appears that she was governed by an Arian priest, whose name is unknown, but who was certainly a man of great influence, for it was through him that she obtained the pardon of Arius, who had been sent into exile in 325, after his opinion had been condemned by the council at Nicaea. During the negotiations concerning the recall of Ari us, Constantia fell ill, and, being visited by her brother Constantine, besought him on her death-bed to restore Arius to liberty. She died some time afterwards, between 328 and 330. She had a son by Licinius, whose name was Flavius Licinianus Licinius Caesar. (Philostorg. 1.9; Theophan. pp. 9, 27, ed. Paris; Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 10.8; Socrat. 1.2 ; Zosim. ii. pp. 17, 28.)

2. Flavia Maxima Constantia, the daughter of the emperor Constantius II. and his third wife, Faustina, was born shortly after the death of her father in A. D. 361. In 375 she was destined to marry the young emperor Gratian, but, on her way to the emperor, was surprised in Illyria by the Quadi, who had invaded the country, and would have been carried away into captivity but for the timely succour of Messalla, the governor of Illyria, who brought her safely to Siriniuum. When a child of four years, she had the misfortune to be seized with her mother by Procopius, a cousin of the emperor Julian, who had raised a rebellion in 365, and who carried his captives with him in all his expeditions, in order to excite his troops by their presence. Constantia died before her husband Gratian, that is, before 383, leaving no issue. (Amm. Marc. 21.15, 25.7, 9, 29.6.) [W.P]

CONSTA´NTIA or CONSTANTI´NA (Κωνσταντία, Hier. p. 714; Κωνσταντίνα, Suid., Steph. B. s. v. Nicephorium; Procop. B. P. 2.13; Ammian. 18.7), a town of some importance in Mesopotamia, on the road between Nisibis and Carrhae, at no distance from Edessa, which, after his departure from Nisibis, was the residence of the Dux Mesopotamiae till the foundation of Dara (Procop. de Aed. 2.5). There is considerable variation in different authors in the way in which the name of this town is written. Stephanus B calls it Constantina, and states that it was another name for Nicephorium; Suidas, Constantina and Constanteia, which latter form occurs also in the Itinerary of Hierocles. In the Excerpt. Procop. ap. Photium, it is called Constantia; so also in the Notit. Imp. Roman. under the Dux Mesopotamiae. Evagrius (H. E. i.) entitles Sophronius Κωνσταντιναίων Ἐπισκόπον, and in the list of the bishops who subscribed the Council of Chalcedon, he is called Bishop of Constantinopolis in the province of Osrhoene. It appears to have borne other names, as Antoninopolis and Maximianopolis, in the fourth century, to have been nearly destroyed by an earthquake, but to have been rebuilt by Constantinus. (Chron. Edess. ap. Asseman. Bibl. Or. 1. p. 395; Malala, Chron. 12. p. 312.)

CONSTA´NTIA (Coutances), a place in the NW. of Gallia, which Ammianus (15.11) calls Castra Constantia. In the Notitia the Civitas Constantia is mentioned as being in Lugdunensis Secunda. A local tradition assigns the foundation of this place to Constantius Chlorus, the father of Constantine. Ammianus says that the Sequana (Seine) enters the sea near Constantia; but his geography of Gallia is very inexact. The name of the Pagus Constantinus is the origin of the name Côtantin, which in the ante-revolutionary geography of France designated the peninsula in which Coutances is situated.

The name of several cities: (1) in Cyprus;

(2) in Phoenicia;

(3) in Palestine;

(4) in Mesopotamia;

(5) in Rhaetia, now Constanz.