Serena was a noblewoman of the late Western Roman Empire

Western Roman Empire

The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....

.
She was the adopted daughter of Theodosius
. Theodosius adopted her as his daughter, and in 384 arranged her marriage to a rising military officer, Stilicho

Stilicho

Flavius Stilicho was a high-ranking general , Patrician and Consul of the Western Roman Empire, notably of Vandal birth. Despised by the Roman population for his Germanic ancestry and Arian beliefs, Stilicho was in 408 executed along with his wife and son...

. Stilicho's marriage to Serena ensured his loyalty to the House of Theodosius in the years ahead.

A resident at the court of her cousin, Honorius, she selected a bride for the court poet, Claudian

Claudian

Claudian was a Roman poet, who worked for Emperor Honorius and the latter's general Stilicho.A Greek-speaking citizen of Alexandria and probably not a Christian convert, Claudian arrived in Rome before 395. He made his mark with a eulogy of his two young patrons, Probinus and Olybrius, thereby...

, and took care of Honorius' half-sister, her cousin Galla Placidia

Galla Placidia

Aelia Galla Placidia , daughter of the Roman Emperor Theodosius I, was the Regent for Emperor Valentinian III from 423 until his majority in 437, and a major force in Roman politics for most of her life...

. She and Stilicho had a son, Eucherius, and two daughters, Maria

Maria, daughter of Stilicho

Maria was the first Empress consort of Honorius, Western Roman Emperor.-Family:She was a daughter of Stilicho, magister militum of the Western Roman Empire, and Serena. Maria was a sister of Eucherius and Thermantia. "De Consulatu Stilichonis" by Claudian reports that her unnamed paternal...

 and Thermantia

Thermantia

Aemilia Materna Thermantia was the second Empress consort of Honorius, Western Roman Emperor.-Family:She was a daughter of Stilicho, magister militum of the Western Roman Empire, and Serena. Thermantia was a sister of Eucherius and Maria...

, both of whom married Honorius.

Zosimus

Zosimus

Zosimus was a Byzantine historian, who lived in Constantinople during the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I . According to Photius, he was a comes, and held the office of "advocate" of the imperial treasury.- Historia Nova :...

 records how Serena, a Christian, took a necklace from a statue of Rhea Silvia

Rhea Silvia

Rhea Silvia , and also known as Ilia, was the mythical mother of the twins Romulus and Remus, who founded the city of Rome...

 and placed it on her own neck. An old woman, the last of the Vestal Virgins, appeared, who rebuked Serena and called down punishment upon her for her act of impiety. Serena was then subject to dreadful dreams predicting her own untimely death.

Stilicho was executed on Honorius' orders in 408. During the siege of Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 by the Visigoths the following year, Serena was falsely accused of conspiring with the Goths, and was executed with Galla Placidia's consent.