Chrysostom, Ammianus, and the Death of the Empress Eusebia

A homily by John Chrysostom recording the misfortunes suffered by a succession of emperors beginning with Constantine I includes a description of the death of Eusebia, the second wife of Constantius II, as a result of treatment for infertility, where the woman responsible for this treatment is said to have destroyed herself also, by which is presumably meant that she was executed for her apparent role in the empress’ death. It is argued that this description of the death of Eusebia deserves to be taken seriously, and that the prime candidate for identification as the woman held responsible for her death is Assyria, the wife of the magister peditum Barbatio, who was executed together with him in 359. Ammianus seems to have deliberately concealed this aspect to the execution of Barbatio and Assyria in order to pursue a particular characterisation of Barbatio’s death as a result of the same sort of vicious but baseless rumours that he had himself used against his rivals until this point.