Vistilia was a Roman matron of the
gens Vistilia known by her contemporaries for having seven children by six different husbands;
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...
was more impressed by the fact most of her pregnancies were remarkably brief. Five of her sons became
consuls
A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...
, her daughter
Milonia Caesonia
Milonia Caesonia (died AD 41) was Roman empress as the fourth and last wife of the emperor Caligula from their marriage in AD 39 until they were both assassinated in 41.
Life Early life
The daughter of Vistilia, Milonia was born toward the beg ...
became Roman empress through her marriage to
Caligula
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germanicu ...
, and her granddaughter
Domitia Longina
Domitia Longina ( 50–55 – 126–130s AD) was a Roman empress and wife to the Roman emperor Domitian. She was the youngest daughter of the general and consul Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo. Domitia divorced her first husband, Lucius Aelius Lamia P ...
became empress through her marriage with
Domitian
Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavi ...
. Due to her fertility Vistilia became a byword for prodigious fecundity in antiquity.
Biography
Her brother was probably
Sextus Vistilius
Sextus is an ancient Roman '' praenomen'' or "first name". Its standard abbreviation is Sex., and the feminine form would be Sexta. It is one of the numeral ''praenomina'', like Quintus ("fifth") and Decimus ("tenth"), and means "sixth". Althoug ...
, a former
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 ...
, who was a close friend to the Roman General
Nero Claudius Drusus
Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus (38–9 BC), also called Drusus the Elder, was a Roman politician and military commander. He was a patrician Claudian on his birth father's side but his maternal grandmother was from a plebeian family. He was the ...
, the younger brother to Roman Emperor
Tiberius
Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...
. In the opinion of Frederik Juliaan Vervaet, this made Vistilia "an extremely valuable bride, whose connections offered her husbands and their joint children fantastic prospects. Four marriages, three ''clarissimi mariti'' before 10 BC." But when Drusus died of a fall from his horse in 9 BC, "marriage to Vistilia, from a praetorian family, suddenly became a lot less interesting for ambitious and high-ranking senators descending from noble families."
[Vervaet]
"A Note on Syme's Chronology of Vistilla's Children"
''Ancient Society'', 30 (2000), p. 99
But then Sextus was admitted to the ''
cohors amicorum {{short description, Roman Latin term meaning "cohort of friends"
''Cohors amicorum'' is a Latin term, literally meaning "cohort of friends". The notion cohort is to be taken not in the strict, military sense (primarily the constitutive unit of a Ro ...
'', and her value as a bride was restored; she married twice more. When Tiberius charged Sextus for criticizing the morals of his great-nephew,
Caligula
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germanicu ...
, he excluded Sextus from his company. By the time Sextus committed suicide in 32, Vervaet notes "he had long outlived his utility."
[
]
Issue
Vistilia was married six times and had seven children. Syme identifies the children as follows, with his dates of birth:[Syme]
"Domitius Corbulo"
''Journal of Roman Studies'', 60 (1970), p. 31
*Glitius, born c. 15 BC, the father of Publius Glitius Gallus Publius Glitius Gallus was a Roman senator active in the late 1st century AD. He was suffect consul at some yet undetermined ''nundinium'' in the first century.
According to Pliny the Elder, a Glitius was the first husband of Vistilia, famous for ...
, ordinary consul during the reign 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 ...
;
*Publius Pomponius Secundus
Publius Pomponius Secundus was a distinguished statesman and poet in the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius. He was suffect consul for the ''nundinium'' of January to June 44, succeeding the ordinary consul Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passien ...
, born c. 14 BC, tragedian and suffect consul in 44;
*Quintus Pomponius Secundus
Quintus Pomponius Secundus was a Roman aristocrat of the first century, and consul ''suffectus'' in AD 41 as the colleague of Gnaeus Sentius Saturninus.Gallivan, "The Fasti for the Reign of Claudius", pp. 407, 424. His brother was the poet and s ...
, born c. 12 BC, suffect consul in 41;
*Orfitus, born c. 11 BC, father of Servius Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus
Servius Cornelius Scipio Salvidienus Orfitus was the name of several Roman men who lived during the early Roman Empire. They were descendants of Orfitus who was adopted by Servius Cornelius Scipio, an otherwise unknown member of the patrician bra ...
, ordinary consul in 51; and
*Publius Suillius Rufus
Publius may refer to:
Roman name
* Publius (praenomen)
* Ancient Romans with the name:
** Publius Valerius Publicola (died 503 BC), Roman consul, co-founder of the Republic
**Publius Clodius Pulcher (c. 93 BC – 52 BC), Republican politician
* ...
, born between 10 BC and 7 BC, suffect consul in 41, and father of Marcus Suillius Nerullinus
Marcus Suillius Nerullinus was a Roman senator, who was active during the Principate. He was consul ''ordinarius'' in the year 50 with Gaius Antistius Vetus as his colleague.
Nerullinus was the son of Publius Suillius Rufus, who was suffect c ...
, ordinary consul in 50;
*Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo
Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo (Peltuinum c. AD 7 – 67) was a popular Roman general, brother-in-law of the emperor Caligula and father-in-law of Domitian. The emperor Nero, highly fearful of Corbulo's reputation, ordered him to commit suicide, which ...
, born between 4 BC and AD 1, Roman general and suffect consul in 39, who was the father to Roman Empress Domitia Longina
Domitia Longina ( 50–55 – 126–130s AD) was a Roman empress and wife to the Roman emperor Domitian. She was the youngest daughter of the general and consul Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo. Domitia divorced her first husband, Lucius Aelius Lamia P ...
; and
*Milonia Caesonia
Milonia Caesonia (died AD 41) was Roman empress as the fourth and last wife of the emperor Caligula from their marriage in AD 39 until they were both assassinated in 41.
Life Early life
The daughter of Vistilia, Milonia was born toward the beg ...
, born AD 5, the most famous, who became a Roman Empress and fourth wife to Roman Emperor Caligula
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germanicu ...
.
See also
* Vistilia (prostitute)
* Plautia (mother of Aelius Caesar)
Plautia was a Roman empire, Roman woman of Roman senate, senatorial rank whom Classical scholars believe lived in the late first century and early second century AD. No direct evidence of her existence has yet been found. Ronald Syme comments abou ...
* 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 ( ...
* 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 ...
References
{{Authority control
Vistilii
1st-century BC Roman women
1st-century BC Romans
1st-century Roman women