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Herennia Cupressenia Etruscilla was an Augusta and later
As with most third-century Roman empresses, very little is known about her. She was probably from a senatorial family. It is assumed that her ancestors settled in
Statue of Herennia Cupressenia Etruscilla
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herennia Etruscilla 3rd-century Roman empresses 3rd-century viceregal rulers Decian dynasty Augustae Etruscilla 3rd-century women rulers
regent
A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
of the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
, married to Emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
Decius
Gaius Messius Quintus Traianus Decius ( 201 ADJune 251 AD), sometimes translated as Trajan Decius or Decius, was the emperor of the Roman Empire from 249 to 251.
A distinguished politician during the reign of Philip the Arab, Decius was procla ...
, and mother of Emperors Herennius Etruscus
Quintus Herennius Etruscus Messius Decius (died June 251) was briefly Roman emperor in 251, ruling jointly under his father Decius. His father was proclaimed emperor by his troops in September 249 while in Pannonia and Moesia, in opposition to ...
and Hostilian
Hostilian ( la, Gaius Valens Hostilianus Messius Quintus; died 251) was briefly Roman emperor in 251. Hostilian was born to Decius and Herennia Etruscilla at an unknown date and elevated to ''caesar'' in 250 by Decius. After Decius and Herenn ...
. She served as regent of the Roman Empire during the reign of her son Hostilian in 251.
Life
As with most third-century Roman empresses, very little is known about her. She was probably from a senatorial family. It is assumed that her ancestors settled in Etruria
Etruria () was a region of Central Italy, located in an area that covered part of what are now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and northern and western Umbria.
Etruscan Etruria
The ancient people of Etruria
are identified as Etruscan civiliza ...
n lands. Herennia married Decius probably before 230 and gained the title Augusta when Decius became emperor 249. When Decius and Herennius were defeated and killed in the Battle of Abrittus
The Battle of Abritus, also known as the Battle of Forum Terebronii, occurred near Abritus (modern Razgrad) in the Roman province of Moesia Inferior in the summer of 251. It was fought between the Romans and a federation of Goths, Gothic and Scyt ...
in 251, she became regent during the minority of her thirteen-year-old son Hostilian. Hostilian died of the plague later that year, thus ending her mandate as regent. She sank into obscurity after her sons perished.
While information about her is scarce, coins with her portrait are numerous and easy to obtain. Legends on coins struck at Rome only ever give her name as 'Herennia Etruscilla' but billon tetradrachm
The tetradrachm ( grc-gre, τετράδραχμον, tetrádrachmon) was a large silver coin that originated in Ancient Greece. It was nominally equivalent to four Greek drachma, drachmae. Over time the tetradrachm effectively became the standard ...
s struck at Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...
supply the Cupressenia element in abbreviation: ΕΡ ΚΟΥΠ ΑΙΤΡΟΥCΚΙΛΑ (Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: ''Her. Koup. Aitrouskila''), showing that her full name was Herennia Cup(ressenia) Etruscilla. The Cupressenia element is expanded from the 'ΚΟΥΠ' in the Alexandria coin legends, from the Latin ''cupresseus'' "cypress tree
Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word ''cypress'' is derived from Old French ''cipres'', which was imported from Latin ''cypressus'', the la ...
" and symbol of Juno
Juno commonly refers to:
*Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods
*Juno (film), ''Juno'' (film), 2007
Juno may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters
*Juno, in the film ''Jenny, Juno''
*Ju ...
.Lewis and Short (1879 and numerous later impressions), A Latin Dictionary, p. 499, and Livy 27.37.12.
See also
*Women in ancient Rome
Freeborn women in ancient Rome were citizens (''cives''), but could not vote or hold political office. Because of their limited public role, women are named less frequently than men by Roman historians. But while Roman women held no direct politi ...
* List of Roman women
The list below includes Roman women who were notable for their family connections, or their sons or husbands, or their own actions. In the earlier periods, women came to the attention of (later) historians either as poisoners of their husbands ( ...
References
External links
Statue of Herennia Cupressenia Etruscilla
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herennia Etruscilla 3rd-century Roman empresses 3rd-century viceregal rulers Decian dynasty Augustae Etruscilla 3rd-century women rulers