Aemilia Lepida (fiancee of Claudius)
Aemilia Lepida (5 BC – c. 43 AD) was a noble Roman woman and matron. She was the first great-grandchild of the Emperor Augustus.
Biography
Early life
She was the first great-grandchild of Emperor Augustus and the noblewoman
She may possibly have a brother named Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (6-39) who was married to Caligula's favorite sister Julia Drusilla.[1]
Marriage
In her younger years, Lepida was betrothed to Claudius,[2] but her parents fell out of favour with Augustus so the emperor broke off the engagement.[3] In AD 8, her mother Julia the Younger (otherwise called Vipsania Julia) was exiled for adultery, like her own mother Julia. Her father Lucius was executed in 14 for participating in a conspiracy against Augustus.
By AD 13, Lepida had married
- Marcus Junius Silanus (AD 14–54), consul in 46, put to death in order to ensure the succession of Nero, and to prevent him from avenging the death of his brother, Lucius.
- Junia Calvina (fl. AD 79), married Lucius Vitellius, a brother of the future emperor Vitellius. Accused of incest with her youngest brother, she was exiled by Claudius, only to be recalled ten years later by the emperor Nero.
- Decimus Junius Silanus Torquatus (d. AD 64), consul in 53, forced by Nero to commit suicide after being accused of boasting of his descent from Augustus.
- Lucius Junius Silanus Torquatus (d. AD 49), praetor in 48, he was engaged to Octavia, daughter of Claudius. Agrippina spread a rumour that he had committed incest with his sister, as a result of which he was expelled from the Senate and deprived of his office. He committed suicide on the day that Claudius and Agrippina were married.
- Junia Lepida, who married Gaius Cassius Longinus, and raised her nephew Lucius Junius Silanus Torquatus the younger (50-66) after his father, Marcus, was murdered.[4] Junia Lepida was the grandmother of Empress Domitia Longina
The time of her death is not known. She is sometimes said to have been poisoned on the orders of
See also
References
- ^ Barrett, Anthony, 'Caligula: The Corruption of Power' (Routledge, 1989), p.82-3.
- ISBN 9781134603794.
- ISBN 9781780330495.
- ^ Barrett, Anthony, 'Caligula: The Corruption of Power' (Touchstone, 1989), p.viii-ix.
Sources
- Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus, De Vita Caesarum, Claudius, 26.
- Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Annales.