
Theodora was the eldest daughter, or perhaps stepdaughter, of Maximianus Herculius and his wife Eutropia. In order to strengthen the dynastic relationship between himself and Herculius when Maximianus Herculius appointed him as his Caesar (junior emperor) in the west with the right of succession on 1 March 293, Constantius I put aside his wife Helena and married Theodora. She bore him six children: Flavius Dalmatius, Julius Constantius, Hannibalianus, Constantia, Anastasia, and Eutropia.



