Domitia Lepida

All you want to know about Domitia Lepida

Roman imperial dynasties
Julio-Claudian dynasty

Bust of Domitia Lepida , mother of Messalina
Chronology
Augustus 27 BC – 14 AD
Tiberius 14 AD – 37 AD
Caligula 37 AD – 41 AD
Claudius 41 AD – 55 AD
Nero 55 AD – 68 AD
Family
Gens Julia
Gens Claudia
Julio-Claudian family tree
Category:Julio-Claudian Dynasty
Succession
Preceded by
Roman Republic		 Followed by
Year of the Four Emperors


Domitia Lepida (PIR2 D 180), or simply known as Lepida (c. 10 BC-54), was the younger daughter of Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (consul 16 BC) and Antonia Major. Her elder siblings were Domitia (with whom she's sometimes confused) and Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus (father of the emperor Nero). She was a great niece of Emperor Augustus and granddaughter of Octavia Minor and Mark Antony. Lepida was a beautiful and influential figure (Tacitus, Annals, 12.64). Like her sister, she was also very wealthy. She had holdings in Calabria and owned the praedia Lepidiana (Raepsaet-Charlier, p.286).

Lepida was married three times. Her first husband was her cousin, the consul Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus (PIR1 V 88; Suetonius, Vita Claudii, 26.29). Lepida married Barbatus probably around 15 (Barrett, Agrippina, p. 287 n. 154). Their daughter Valeria Messalina (c. 20-48) became Empress and third wife to the Emperor Claudius. Barbatus died maybe in 20/21. Lepida's second husband was to Faustus (II) Cornelius Sulla (PIR2 C 1459), cos. suff. in 31, a descendant of the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Their son Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix, born in 22, married Claudius' daughter Claudia Antonia. (PIR2 C 1464; Dio 60.30.6a) Faustus Cornelius Sulla died around 40.

At the beginning of the reign of her son-in-law Claudius, Lepida married Gaius Appius Junius Silanus (consul of 28). In 42, Appius Silanus was summarily executed on the orders of Claudius. The reasons and circumstances of Appius Silanus' execution are not clear.

Lepida was the maternal grandmother to Messalina's children, who were future Empress Claudia Octavia and Prince Britannicus. In 48 Messalina, was executed on the orders of Claudius due to Messalina's mocked marriage with her lover which later became a political coup. During the most part of Messalina's influence and prosperity at the Imperial court, Lepida had argued with Messalina and they had become estranged (this might have followed Appius Silanus' murder). In Messalina's last hour in the Gardens of Lucullus, Lepida was at her side and encouraged her to end her own life (Tacitus, Annals 11.37). After Messalina was stabbed with a dagger by an officer, her body was given up to Lepida.

Lepida's former sister-in-law, Agrippina the Younger, became Claudius' new wife in 49. Out of jealousy, Agrippina arranged the execution of Lepida sometime before the poisoning of Claudius, after which Nero became the new emperor. Agrippina charged Lepida with attempting her life by magic, disturbing Italian peace and failing to control her Calabrian slave-gangs. Agrippina thought that Lepida would use her kind influence on Nero, to turn him against Agrippina.

References

  • E. Klebs, H. Dessau, P. Von Rohden (ed.), Prosopographia Imperii Romani, 3 vol., Berlin, 1897-1898. (PIR1)
  • E. Groag, A. Stein, L. Petersen - e.a. (edd.), Prosopographia Imperii Romani saeculi I, II et III, Berlin, 1933 - . (PIR2)
  • Levick, Barbara, Claudius. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1990.
  • Barrett, Anthony A., Agrippina: Sex, Power and Politics in the Early Roman Empire. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1996.
  • Raepsaet-Charlier M.-Th., Prosopographie des femmes de l'ordre sénatorial (Ier-IIe siècles), 2 vol., Louvain, 1987, 285 ff.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domitia_Lepida"

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