Statilia Messalina | |
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Roman empress | |
Tenure | AD 66 – 9 June AD 68 |
Born | c. AD 35 |
Died | after AD 68 |
Spouse | Marcus Julius Vestinus Atticus Nero |
Issue | at least one son |
House | Julio-Claudian (by marriage) |
Father | possibly Titus Statilius Taurus Corvinus |
Roman imperial dynasties | ||
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Julio-Claudian dynasty | ||
Chronology | ||
27 BC – AD 14 | ||
AD 14–37 | ||
AD 37–41 | ||
AD 41–54 | ||
AD 54–68 | ||
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Statilia Messalina (c. AD 35 – after 68) was a Roman patrician [ citation needed ] woman, a Roman Empress and third wife to Roman Emperor Nero.
The ancient sources say little of her family; however, Suetonius states that she was a great-great-granddaughter of Titus Statilius Taurus, a Roman general who was awarded a triumph for his victory and was twice consul. She was either the daughter of Titus Statilius Taurus Corvinus, consul in 45 AD, and who was involved in a plot against the Emperor Claudius, [1] or a daughter of the sister of Corvinus, Statilia Messallina. [2] Her grandmother might have been Valeria Messalina Corvina, one of the daughters of Roman senator Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus who served as consul in 31 BC.
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, Vestinus was forced to commit suicide in 66, so Nero could marry Statilia.
She was one of the few of Nero's courtiers who survived the fall of his reign. After Nero's death, Otho promised that he would marry her, before his suicide in 69 AD.
Antonia the Elder was a niece of the first Roman emperor, Augustus, being the eldest daughter of Octavia the Younger and her second husband, the Triumvir Mark Antony. She married Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus and became the paternal grandmother of the emperor Nero.
Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus was a Roman general, author, and patron of literature and art.
Poppaea Sabina, 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 to become empress.
Domitia Lepida was a Roman aristocrat, related to the imperial family. She was mother of Valeria Messalina, wife of the Emperor Claudius. Lepida was a beautiful and influential figure. Like her sister, she was also very wealthy. She had holdings in Calabria and owned the praedia Lepidiana.
Vipsania Agrippina was the first wife of the Emperor Tiberius. She was the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Attica, thus being a granddaughter of Titus Pomponius Atticus, the best friend of Cicero.
Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus was a Roman senator who was elected consul for 3 BC.
Quintus Haterius Antoninus or known as Antoninus was a Roman senator, who was active during the reign of Claudius and Nero.
Appius Junius Silanus, whom Cassius Dio calls Gaius Appius Silanus, was consul in AD 28, with Publius Silius Nerva as his colleague. He was accused of majestas, or treason, in AD 32 along with a number of senators, but he and Gaius Calvisius Sabinus were saved by one of the informers, Celsus, a tribune of a city cohort.
Marcus Vinicius was twice Roman consul and, as husband of Julia Livilla, grandson-in-law (progener) of the emperor Tiberius. He was the son and grandson of two consuls, Publius Vinicius and Marcus Vinicius.
Faustus Cornelius Sulla was a Roman senator who lived during the reign of the emperor Tiberius. He was suffect consul in AD 31 with Sextus Tedius Valerius Catullus as his colleague. Faustus was the son of Sulla Felix, a member of the Arval Brethren who died in AD 21, thus a direct descendant of the dictator Sulla. His mother was Sextia and his brother was Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix.
Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus was a Roman Senator who was a friend of the first two Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberius.
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 his descendants.
Claudia Marcella Minor (PIR2 C 1103, born some time before 39 BC) was a niece of the first Roman emperor Augustus. She was the second surviving daughter of the emperor's sister Octavia the Younger and her first husband Gaius Claudius Marcellus. Marcella had many children by several husbands, and through her son Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus she became the grandmother of the empress Messalina.
Marcus Junius Silanus Torquatus was a Roman senator. He was consul in AD 19, with Lucius Norbanus Balbus as his colleague.
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 with Marcus Vinicius as his colleague.
Lucius Valerius Catullus Messalinus was a Roman senator during the Flavian dynasty, and is best known as the most hated and ruthless delator or informer of his age. He was feared all the more due to his blindness.
Poppaea Sabina the Elder was an aristocratic woman who lived during the Principate. During her lifetime she was famed for her beauty, but as Ronald Syme writes, her "fame and follies have been all but extinguished by her homonymous daughter", Poppaea Sabina the Younger. She met her end as a victim of the empress Valeria Messalina, wife of Claudius.
Marcus Julius Vestinus Atticus was a Roman senator, who flourished under the reign of Nero. He was consul in the year 65 as the colleague of Aulus Licinius Nerva Silianus; after his suicide he was replaced by Publius Pasidienus Firmus.
The gens Statilia was a plebeian family of Lucanian origin at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are first mentioned in the third century BC, when one of them led the Lucanian assault on the city of Thurii, and another commanded an allied cavalry troop during the Second Punic War; but at Rome the Statilii first come to attention in the time of Cicero, at which point they held equestrian rank. The first of the family to attain the consulship was Titus Statilius Taurus in 37 BC, and his descendants continued to fill the highest offices of the Roman state until the time of Marcus Aurelius.
Junia Silana was a Roman patrician. She was the sister of Junia Claudilla, the first wife of Caligula, before he became emperor. Silana was a prominent figure in the power struggles that transpired in the reign of three different emperors. She was also noted for her close relationship with Julia Agrippina.