Basilina was the wife of Julius Constantius

Julius Constantius

Julius Constantius was a politician of the Roman Empire and a member of the Constantinian dynasty, being a son of emperor Constantius Chlorus and his second wife Flavia Maximiana Theodora, a younger half-brother of emperor Constantine I and the father of emperor Julian.- Biography :Julius...

 and the mother of Roman Emperor Julian, who in her honour gave the name Basilinopolis

Basilinopolis

Basilinopolis is a Catholic titular see. The original see, in Asia Minor, was a small village in Bithynia Prima, which then obtained the rank of a city under, or perhaps shortly before, Julian the Apostate, whose mother was Basilina....

to a city in Bithynia

Bithynia

Bithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian Bosporus and the Euxine .-Description:...

 (modern Pazarköy near Gemlik

Gemlik

Gemlik is a harbor town bordering the Sea of Marmara in Western Turkey, at approximately 29 kilometres from Bursa and not far from Istanbul. Gemlik was called Kios until 1922 when its Greek inhabitants left Asia Minor because of the population exchange. In2004, Gemlik had approximately 70,000...

, in Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

).

Biography

Basilina was born of Greek origin, the daughter of Caeionius Iulianus Camenius or, more likely, of Julius Julianus

Julius Julianus

Julius Julianus was a politician of the Roman Empire, related to the Constantinian dynasty.- Life :He served Licinius as praetorian prefect from at least spring 315 to September 324, until Constantine I definitively defeated Licinius...

, she was educated by Mardonius, a eunuch

Eunuch

A eunuch is a person born male most commonly castrated, typically early enough in his life for this change to have major hormonal consequences...

 who grew up in the house of her father. She became the second wife of Julius Constantius

Julius Constantius

Julius Constantius was a politician of the Roman Empire and a member of the Constantinian dynasty, being a son of emperor Constantius Chlorus and his second wife Flavia Maximiana Theodora, a younger half-brother of emperor Constantine I and the father of emperor Julian.- Biography :Julius...

, whom she gave Julian; Basilina died a few months after childbirth. Her sister was the mother of Procopius

Procopius (usurper)

Procopius was a Roman usurper against Valens, and member of the Constantinian dynasty.- Life :According to Ammianus Marcellinus, Procopius was a native and spent his youth in Cilicia, probably in Corycus. On his mother's side, Procopius was related, a maternal cousin, to Emperor Julian, since...

.

A Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

, initially she favoured the Arians, but gave her lands as an inheritance to the church of Ephesus

Ephesus

Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era...

. She was a relative of Bishop Eusebius of Nicomedia

Eusebius of Nicomedia

Eusebius of Nicomedia was the man who baptised Constantine. He was a bishop of Berytus in Phoenicia, then of Nicomedia where the imperial court resided in Bithynia, and finally of Constantinople from 338 up to his death....

, her son's tutor.