| Livia Orestilla | |
|---|---|
 Orestilla in the Promptuarium Iconum Insigniorum | |
| Roman empress | |
| Tenure | c. 37–38 |
| Spouse | Gaius Calpurnius Piso Caligula |
Livia Orestilla, alternately Cornelia Orestilla or Orestina, was the second wife of the Roman emperor Caligula in AD 37 or 38.
Her name is given in ancient sources in several variants. Suetonius calls her "Livia Orestilla", but Cassius Dio and later historians call her "Cornelia Orestina", although the cognomen "Orestina" could be a corruption of "Orestilla". [1]
Christian Settipani has speculated that her mother may have been a Livia, and thus Orestilla chose to use the more imperial name "Livia" instead of "Cornelia" to identify herself, similar to Livia Medullina. [2] An inscription at the Capitoline Museums records a Cornelia Lemnias who was a relative (likely sister) of a Cornelia Orestina, but it is not certain if this woman is the same as the empress. [3]
Orestilla's father may have been Publius Cornelius Scipio Orestinus. He was descended from a branch of the Scipiones who were adopted from the Cornelii Lentuli; he might also be descended from the Mucia gens and the obscure Livii Ocellae. [4] A relation to the Lentuli would help to explain why Orestilla was chosen to become the mother of Julian heirs. [5]
She was originally married to Gaius Calpurnius Piso, who was later involved in a conspiracy to overthrow Nero in AD 65. [6] However, Piso was persuaded or forced to annul the marriage so that Caligula could marry her. According to both Dio and Suetonius, this occurred during Piso and Orestilla's wedding celebrations. Suetonius claims that Caligula issued a proclamation the next day that he had acquired a new wife in the tradition of Romulus and Augustus, who had both stolen wives from other men. Orestilla was apparently an unwilling Empress, and remained loyal to her first husband. [7] On the next day Caligula divorced Orestilla; however, he also prohibited her from returning to her relationship with Piso.
Later both Orestilla and Piso were banished for adultery to a distant island. Piso returned to Rome, one year later, after Caligula's assassination.
(Vipsania) Agrippina the Elder was a prominent member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. She was the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Augustus' daughter, Julia the Elder. Her brothers Lucius and Gaius Caesar were the adoptive sons of Augustus, and were his heirs until their deaths in AD 2 and 4, respectively. Following their deaths, her second cousin Germanicus was made the adoptive son of Tiberius, Augustus' stepson, as part of the succession scheme in the adoptions of AD 4. As a result of the adoption, Agrippina was wed to Germanicus in order to bring him closer to the Julian family.
Julia Agrippina, also referred to as Agrippina the Younger, was Roman empress from 49 to 54 AD, the fourth wife and niece of Emperor Claudius, and the mother of Nero.
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus 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 at Lugdunum in Roman Gaul, where his father was stationed as a military legate. He was the first Roman emperor to be born outside Italy. Nonetheless, Claudius was an Italian of Sabine origins.
Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known by his nickname Caligula, was the third Roman emperor, ruling from AD 37 until his assassination in AD 41. He was the son of the Roman general Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder, Augustus' granddaughter. Caligula was born into the first ruling family of the Roman Empire, conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty.
The Julio-Claudian dynasty comprised the first five Roman emperors: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero.
Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus 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 was the politician Tiberius Claudius Nero and his mother was Livia Drusilla, who would eventually divorce his father, and marry the future-emperor Augustus in 38 BC. Following the untimely deaths of Augustus' two grandsons and adopted heirs, Gaius and Lucius Caesar, Tiberius was designated Augustus' successor. Prior to this, Tiberius had proved himself an able diplomat, and one of the most successful Roman generals: his conquests of Pannonia, Dalmatia, Raetia, and (temporarily) parts of Germania laid the foundations for the empire's northern frontier.
Livia Drusilla was Roman empress from 27 BC to AD 14 as the wife of emperor Augustus. She was known as Julia Augusta after her formal adoption into the Julian family in AD 14.
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Gaius Calpurnius Piso was a Roman senator in the first century. He was the focal figure in the Pisonian conspiracy of AD 65, the most famous and wide-ranging plot against the throne of Emperor Nero.
Domitia Longina 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 Plautius Aelianus in order to marry Domitian in AD 71. The marriage produced only one son, whose early death is believed to have been the cause of a temporary rift between Domitia and her husband in 83. She became the empress upon Domitian's accession in 81, and remained so until his assassination in 96. She is believed to have died sometime between AD 126 and 130.
Tiberius Julius Caesar Nero, known as Tiberius Gemellus, was the son of Drusus and Livilla, the grandson of the Emperor Tiberius, and the cousin of the Emperor Caligula. Gemellus is a nickname meaning "the twin". His twin brother, Germanicus Gemellus, died as a young child in AD 23. His father and older cousins died, and are suspected by contemporary sources as having been systematically eliminated by the powerful praetorian prefect Sejanus. Their removal allowed Gemellus and Caligula to be named joint-heirs by Tiberius in 35, a decision that ultimately resulted in Caligula assuming power and having Gemellus killed in late 37 or early 38.
Julia Drusilla was a member of the Roman imperial family, the second daughter and fifth child of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder to survive infancy. She was the favorite sister of Emperor Caligula, who, after her death, had her deified under the name Diva Drusilla Panthea, and named his daughter Julia Drusilla after her.
Junia Calvina was a Roman noblewoman who lived in the 1st century AD.
Scribonia was the second wife of Octavian, later the Roman Emperor Augustus, and the mother of his only biological child, Julia the Elder. Through her youngest daughter she was the mother-in-law of the Emperor Tiberius, great-grandmother of the Emperor Caligula and Empress Agrippina the Younger, and great-great grandmother of the Emperor Nero.
Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus was a Roman senator who was elected consul for 3 BC.
Claudia Marcella was the name of several women of ancient Rome of the Marcelli branch of the Claudia gens. By the late Republican period girls from this branch were often called "Clodia".
Gaius Sallustius Passienus Crispus was a prominent figure in the Roman Empire during the first century. He held the consulship twice, and was stepfather of the future emperor Nero.
Octavia the Younger was the elder sister of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus, the half-sister of Octavia the Elder, and the fourth wife of Mark Antony. She was also the great-grandmother of the Emperor Caligula and Empress Agrippina the Younger, maternal grandmother of the Emperor Claudius, and paternal great-grandmother and maternal great-great-grandmother of the Emperor Nero.
Alfidia was the mother of Rome's first empress, Livia. She is mistakenly called Aufidia by Suetonius, and this was assumed to be her name for centuries, but inscriptions found shows that her name was the rare nomen Alfidia.
Marcus Livius Drusus Libo was an ancient Roman consul of the early Roman Empire. He was the son of Lucius Scribonius Libo and adopted brother of the empress Livia. His natural paternal aunt was Scribonia, the second wife of Augustus, as a consequence of which he was a maternal first cousin of Julia the Elder.