Best Empress

Catherine II, known as Catherine the Great, was the German-born empress of Russia from 1762 until her death in 1796. She came to power after the overthrow of her husband, Peter III, and presided over territorial expansion toward the Black Sea and through the partitions of Poland. Catherine correspon...

Queen Victoria was monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1837 until her death in 1901, a reign of more than sixty-three years. She married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840, and their descendants entered numerous European royal families. Although political powe...

The Bust of Livia Drusilla is an ancient Roman marble portrait currently held in the Louvre Museum in Paris. It depicts Livia Drusilla (58 BCE–29 CE), the influential wife of Emperor Augustus, who was the first Roman empress and mother of Emperor Tiberius. Rendered in the classical style, the sculpt...

This Roman marble portrait bust in the Louvre depicts Julia Domna (c. 160–217 CE), empress consort of Septimius Severus and one of the most influential women of the Severan dynasty. Julia Domna was born in Emesa, Syria, and exercised significant political and cultural influence during her husband's...

The relics of Saint Helena are enshrined in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli in Rome. Helena was the mother of Roman Emperor Constantine the Great and is venerated for her late-life Christian pilgrimage to Palestine around 326 AD. According to historical tradition, she discovered the relic of...

This Roman marble portrait bust depicts Faustina the Elder, who died in 141 CE and was the wife of Emperor Antoninus Pius. It is held in the Capitoline Museums in Rome. After her death, the Roman Senate deified her, leading to an extensive program of posthumous portraiture that often features her di...

Housed in a church in Troyes, France, these relics are attributed to Saint Helena, the 4th-century mother of Roman Emperor Constantine the Great.