Constantius was born in Dacia Ripensis, a Roman province on the south bank of the Middle Danube – the empire's frontier – with its capital at Ratiaria (modern Archar). He was the son of Eutropius, whom the "Historia Augusta" claimed to be a nobleman from northern Dardania, in the province of Moesia Superior, and Claudia, a niece of the emperors Claudius Gothicus and Quintillus. Modern historians suspect this maternal connection to be a genealogical fabrication created by his son Constantine I, and that his family was of humble origins. Constantine probably sought to dissociate his father's background from the memory of Maximian. The claim that Constantius was descended from Claudius Gothicus is attested only after 310 and does not appear to have been made while Constantius was alive.