Domitia Lepida

Julio-Claudian dynasty


caption=Bust of Domitia Lepida , mother of Messalina

Domitia Lepida ("PIR²" D 180), Domitia Lepida Minor ("Minor" Latin for "the younger") 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). They had a son Marcus Valerius Messala Corvinus (consul 58) and a daughter Valeria Messalina (c. 20-48) became Empress and third wife to the Emperor Claudius. Barbatus died in 20/21. Lepida's second husband was Faustus Cornelius Sulla Lucullus III ("PIR²" C 1459), cos. suff. in 31. He was a descendant of the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla. In 22, their son Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix ("PIR²" C 1464; Dio 60.30.6a) was born. Faustus Cornelius Sulla and his brother Lucius Cornelius Sulla Magnus were senators, who lived in Tiberius' reign. Faustus Cornelius Sulla Lucullus died of uncertain causes around 40. Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix married Claudius' daughter Claudia Antonia.

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 very clear. Claudius informed the Senate that Appius Silanus had determined to assassinate him and that was revealed in dreams experienced by his freedman Narcissus and his wife Messalina (Tacitus, "Annals" 11.29.1; Suetonius, "Vita Claudii" 37.2; Dio 60.14.2-4; Levick, "Claudius", 58 ff).

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.

Her 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

* (ed.), "Prosopographia Imperii Romani", 3 vol., Berlin, 1897-1898. ("PIR¹")
* (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.