Galeria Fundana (c. 40 – aft. 69) was a
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
empress, the second wife of
Roman emperor Vitellius
Aulus Vitellius (; ; 24 September 1520 December 69) was Roman emperor for eight months, from 19 April to 20 December AD 69. Vitellius was proclaimed emperor following the quick succession of the previous emperors Galba and Otho, in a year of ci ...
.
Biography
Early life
Suetonius
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire.
His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...
tells us that Galeria was the daughter of an ex-
praetor
Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vario ...
, and bore two children during her marriage, a son and a daughter. Gwyn Morgan assumes she was related to
Publius Galerius Trachalus, "
Otho
Marcus Otho (; born Marcus Salvius Otho; 28 April 32 – 16 April 69) was the seventh Roman emperor, ruling for three months from 15 January to 16 April 69. He was the second emperor of the Year of the Four Emperors.
A member of a noble Etru ...
's alleged speechwriter".
Empress
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historiography, Roman historians by modern scholars.
The surviving portions of his t ...
, who writes unfavourably about Vitellius, claims that Galeria was a woman of "exemplary virtue" who "took no part in
itellius'shorrors." Tacitus specifically notes she protected Galerius Trachalus from her husband when he purged the supporters of his defeated rival Otho.
Later life
Her son Vitellius, renamed Germanicus by his father in 69, was killed after supporters of
Vespasian
Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Empi ...
took control of Rome, together with Vitellius himself. Galeria's life was spared and she was allowed to bury her husband. Her daughter,
Vitellia married twice:
Decimus Valerius Asiaticus
Decimus Valerius Asiaticus (around 5 BCP.J. Sijpesteijn"Another οὐσία of Decimus Valerius Asiaticus in Egypt" ''Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'', 79 (1989), p. 19347 AD,Alston, ''Aspects of Roman History AD 14-117'', p. 92 el, ...
was her first husband, and after his death in 69 AD she was helped by Vespasian to make a good marriage to an unnamed man.
John Xiphilinus
Joannes Xiphilinus (also John Xiphilinus; el, Ἰωάννης Ξιφιλῖνος), wikt:epitomator, epitomator of Dio Cassius, lived at Constantinople during the latter half of the 11th century AD. He was a monk and the nephew of Patriarch Joh ...
, ''Epitome Historiarum Dionis Cassii'', 201-202 Historian
Settipani has proposed that her second son-in-law was
Libo Rupilius Frugi
Libo Rupilius Frugi (died 101) was a Roman senator and an ancestor of the emperor Marcus Aurelius. He served as suffect consul in 88.
Life
His full name may have been Lucius Scribonius Libo Rupilius Frugi. He was one of the sons and among the chi ...
and that his daughter
Rupilia Faustina
Marcus Annius Verus ( 50 – 138 AD) was the paternal grandfather and adoptive father of the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, and father-in-law of emperor Antoninus Pius. Biography
Verus was the son of an elder Marcus Annius Verus, who gained the r ...
was also Vitellia's daughter, thus explaining the use of the nomen Galeria among female members of the
Nerva–Antonine dynasty
The Nerva–Antonine dynasty comprised 7 Roman emperors who ruled from 96 to 192 AD: Nerva (96–98), Trajan (98–117), Hadrian (117–138), Antoninus Pius (138–161), Marcus Aurelius (161–180), Lucius Verus (161–169), and Commodus (180 ...
.
[Rupilius]
Strachan stemma.
References
{{Reflist
40s births
Fundana
1st-century Roman empresses
Year of death unknown