Valeria or Valeria Messalla was the fifth wife of two-term

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 throu ...

and

Roman dictator A Roman dictator was an extraordinary magistrate in the Roman Republic endowed with full authority to resolve some specific problem to which he had been assigned. He received the full powers of the state, subordinating the other magistrates, co ...

Lucius Cornelius Sulla Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (; 138–78 BC), commonly known as Sulla, was a Roman general and statesman. He won the first large-scale civil war in Roman history and became the first man of the Republic to seize power through force. Sulla ha ...

Biography

Early life

Valeria was the daughter of a man named Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger and Hortensia. She had a brother named

Marcus Valerius Messalla Rufus Marcus Valerius Messalla Rufus (c. 104/3 – 26 BC), was a Roman senator who was elected consul for 53 BC. Family Messalla was the son of Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger and Hortensia (sister of the consul of 69 BC). He had a sister, Valeria M ...

who was consul in 53 BC.

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for h ...

calls her a sister of the orator

Quintus Hortensius Quintus Hortensius Hortalus (114–50 BC) was a famous Roman lawyer, a renowned orator and a statesman. Politically he belonged to the Optimates. He was consul in 69 BC alongside Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus. His nickname was ''Dionysia'' ...

, but this is a mistake, Plutarch probably confused her as his sister instead of niece (Hortensius' sister being Hortensia, Valeria's mother).

Marriages

An "alert young divorcee", as

Ronald Syme Sir Ronald Syme, (11 March 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a New Zealand-born historian and classicist. He was regarded as the greatest historian of ancient Rome since Theodor Mommsen and the most brilliant exponent of the history of the Roma ...

writes, she attracted the notice of Sulla at the theatre. She and her cousin Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger were seated behind Sulla due to being relatives of a recently retired chief vestal named Caecilia Metella Balearica, which explains why she as a relatively unimportant woman was seated so close to the dictator. Apparently as she passed by him she plucked out a part of his

toga The toga (, ), a distinctive garment of ancient Rome, was a roughly semicircular cloth, between in length, draped over the shoulders and around the body. It was usually woven from white wool, and was worn over a tunic. In Roman historical tra ...

(likely a single thread) which he noticed and turned around to look at who had touched him, she then excused herself and explained that she had meant no harm and had only attempted to take a part of the piece as she had hoped that it would grant her some of Sulla's famous luck. He was seemingly amused by her explanation and charmed by her personality, they continued to exchange some words. Later on in the evening he would apparently keep looking back at her and asked questions to his companions about who she was. He then learned that she was unmarried and the niece of Quintus Hortensius Hortalus who was a son-in-law to one of Sullas major supporters. Her family was likely surprised but delighted by his interest in her and would have encouraged her to reciprocate it. It is likely that her cousin Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger who had accompanied her owed his status as

pontifex A pontiff (from Latin ''pontifex'') was, in Roman antiquity, a member of the most illustrious of the colleges of priests of the Roman religion, the College of Pontiffs."Pontifex". "Oxford English Dictionary", March 2007 The term "pontiff" was l ...

to Sulla. He married her towards the end of his life. When he retired from public life to a villa in southern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, she accompanied him. She was pregnant at the time of his death in 78 BC and had a daughter,

Cornelia Postuma Cornelia Postuma or Postuma Cornelia (born between 78-77 BC) was the only daughter of Roman Dictator Sulla and his fifth wife Valeria Messalla. She was Sulla's fifth and final known child. Life Postuma was delivered some months after Sulla's dea ...

, some months later. It is possible that she was infected by the disease which killed her husband and died not much later after giving birth to Postuma.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valeria Wives of Sulla 1st-century BC Roman women 1st-century BC Romans Valerii Messallae Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown