Alexandra of Antioch explained

Alexandra (Greek, Modern (1453-);: Άλεξάνδρα, flourished 4th century) was a Greek noblewoman.

Little is known on the origins and life of Alexandra. Alexandra was from the city of Antioch and her brother was a certain Calliopius^[1] a rhetor who served as a grammaticus and assistant-teacher under Libanius, and later, ca. 388, served as a magister epistolarum in the imperial court.^[2]

Alexandra married a wealthy rhetor called Seleucus.^[3] Alexandra bore Seleucus two known children:

• Daughter Olympias, born in 361,^[4] who later became a great Christian saint.^[5] It is possible, however, that Olympias was the daughter of an otherwise unknown man named Seleucus.^[6]
• Either a son or daughter, who was a parent of Olympias and Seleucus^[7]

Alexandra is known as one of the correspondents from the surviving letters of Libanius as her husband was an intimate friend of Libanius, Julian and Calliopius.^[8] She was a cultivated woman, in which Libanius highly praised and admired her.^[9]

In 361 Alexandra remained in Antioch, while her husband was in Euphratensis, on imperial business^[10] on behalf of Constantius II and later Julian the Apostate. In 362, Alexandra accompanied Seleucus to Cilicia in Anatolia where Julian sent Seleucus there, as the emperor made him either high-priest or perhaps Roman governor in that province.^[11]

Libanius thanked Alexandra for slaves she sent to him as a gift, but bemoans the fact that they arrived without an accompanying letter.^[12] After this moment, no more is known of her.

Sources

• A.H.M. Jones, J.R. Martindale & J. Morris, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume 1, AD 260–395, Cambridge University Press, 1971
• E.A. Wallis Budge, Paradise of the Holy Fathers Part 1, Kessinger Publishing, 2003
• P. Moret & B. Cabouret, Sertorius, Libanios, iconographie: a propos de Sertorius, journée d'étude, Toulouse, 7 avril 2000 [suivi de] autour de Libanios, culture et société dans l'antiquité tardive : actes de la table ronde, Avignon, 27 avril 2000, Presses Univ. du Mirail, 2003
• Selected Letters of Libanius: From the Age of Constantius and Julian, Liverpool University Press, 2004

Notes and References

1. Jones, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume 1, AD 260-395, p.818
2. Jones, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume 1, AD 260-395, p.175
3. Jones, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume 1, AD 260-395, p.p.175&818
4. Jones, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume 1, AD 260-395, pp. 642-643
5. Budge, Paradise of the Holy Fathers Part 1, p.163
6. Jones, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume 1, AD 260-395, p.818
7. Moret, Sertorius, Libanios, iconographie: a propos de Sertorius, journée d'étude, Toulouse, 7 avril 2000 [suivi de] autour de Libanios, culture et société dans l'antiquité tardive : actes de la table ronde, Avignon, 27 avril 2000, p.207
8. Selected Letter of Libanius: From the Age of Constantius and Julian
9. Selected Letter of Libanius: From the Age of Constantius and Julian, p.193
10. Selected Letter of Libanius: From the Age of Constantius and Julian, p.193
11. Jones, The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume 1, AD 260-395, Parts 260-395, p.818
12. Selected Letter of Libanius: From the Age of Constantius and Julian, p.194