Statilia Messalina (c. AD 35 – after 68) 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 ...
patrician woman, a Roman Empress and third wife to Roman Emperor
Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 unt ...
.
Biography
Background
The ancient sources say little of her family; however,
Suetonius states that she was a great-great-granddaughter of
Titus Statilius Taurus
Titus Statilius Taurus was the name of a line of Roman senators. The first known and most important of these was a Roman general and two-time consul prominent during the Triumviral and Augustan periods. The other men who bore this name were hi ...
, a Roman general who was awarded a
triumph for his victory and was twice
consul
Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...
. She was either the daughter of
Titus Statilius Taurus Corvinus
Titus Statilius Taurus Corvinus was a member of the Titus Statilius Taurus family of Roman Senators which went back to Titus Statilius Taurus, the general of emperor Augustus. Corvinus was consul in 45 AD during the reign of the Emperor Claudius wi ...
, consul in 45 AD, and who was involved in a plot against the
Emperor Claudius
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor ...
, or a daughter of the sister of Corvinus, Statilia Messallina.
[Syme, R., ''Augustan Aristocracy'', p. 377] Her grandmother might have been
Valeria Messalina Corvina, one of the daughters of
Roman senator
The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...
Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus
Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus (64 BC – AD 8 or c. 12) was a Roman general, author, and patron of literature and art.
Family
Corvinus was the son of the consul in 61 BC, Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger,Syme, R., ''Augustan Aristocracy'', ...
who served as consul in 31 BC.
Marriages
Her fourth husband was the consul
Marcus Julius Vestinus Atticus to whom she may have borne a son (who died in 88 AD). Around 65 AD, she became Nero's mistress. After the death of the emperor's second wife
Poppaea Sabina
Poppaea Sabina (AD 30 – 65), also known as Ollia, was a Roman empress as the second wife of the Emperor Nero. She had also been wife to the future emperor Otho. The historians of antiquity describe her as a beautiful woman who used intrigues ...
, Vestinus was forced to commit suicide in 66, so Nero could marry Statilia.
Although witty and scheming, she was far less flamboyant than her predecessor and kept a rather low profile in the public eye. She was one of the few of Nero's courtiers who survived the fall of his reign. After Nero's death,
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 Etr ...
promised that he would marry her, before his suicide in 69 AD.
See also
*
Julio-Claudian family tree
Around the start of the Common Era, the family trees of the gens Julia and the gens Claudia became intertwined into the Julio-Claudian family tree as a result of marriages and adoptions.
Descendancy of the emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynast ...
References
Citations
Bibliography
* Syme, R., Augustan Aristocracy
* Griffin, Miriam, ''Nero. The End of a Dynasty.'' Batsford, London, 1984
* Raepsaet-Charlier M.-Th., ''Prosopographie des femmes de l'ordre sénatorial (Ier-IIe siècles),'' 2 vol., Louvain, 1987, 360 ff.
* Zanker, P, Fittschen, K., ''Katalog der römischen Porträts in den Capitolinischen Museen und den anderen kommunalen Sammlungen der Stadt Rom,'' Mainz am Rhein, 1983, 75, Taf.93.94.
*''
Annals
Annals ( la, annāles, from , "year") are a concise historical record in which events are arranged chronologically, year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record.
Scope
The nature of the distinction between ann ...
''
*''
Lives of the Twelve Caesars''
*''
Satires
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or ...
''
External links
Coinage of Statilia
{{Authority control
35 births
1st-century deaths
1st-century Roman empresses
Roman patricians
Messalina
Valeria Messalina (; ) was the third wife of Roman emperor Claudius. She was a paternal cousin of Emperor Nero, a second cousin of Emperor Caligula, and a great-grandniece of Emperor Augustus. A powerful and influential woman with a reputation ...
Wives of Nero