Albia Dominica

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Albia Dominica (c. 337 - after 378) was a Roman Augusta, wife to Emperor Valens.

Dominica was the daughter of the powerful and unpopular praetorian prefect Petronius. She was married to Valens (c. 354) and bore several daughters, Anastasia and Carosa, before she bore a son and heir, Valentinianus (366-373) whose early death was a great blow to his parents. The empress is accused, with no proof, of having urged her husband to persecute the Trinitarian sect. Valens perished in battle against the Goths at the Battle of Adrianople (378), and the empress paid the citizens out of the public treasury to arm themselves against the invaders.

After the death of her husband she ruled and defended Byzanz against the attacking Goths until his successor, Theodosius I arrived. The date of her death is unknown.

[edit] References

• J. McCabe, The Empresses of Rome (1911).
• "Women in power Year 1- 500" url accessed 10/01/07