Domitia (aunt of Nero)

Domitia ("PIR²" D 171) or Domitia Lepida Major ("Major" Latin for "the elder", c. 19 BC-June 59) was the oldest child to Antonia Major and Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (consul 16 BC). She was the oldest granddaughter to Triumvir Mark Antony and Octavia Minor, a great-niece of Roman Emperor Augustus, second cousin to Emperor Caligula, first cousin to Emperor Claudius, aunt to Empress Valeria Messalina, aunt to Emperor Nero and was the oldest grandchild to Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus (consul 32 BC) and Aemilia Lepida.

She married the consul and later Senator Decimus Haterius Agrippa. Agrippa died in 32, as a victim of Tiberius' reign of terror. Domitia and Agrippa had a son Quintus Haterius Antoninus, who became consul in 53. Domitia in 33 married the witty, wealthy, and influential Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passienus. Crispus was the adopted grandson and biological great-great nephew of the historian Sallust.

After January 41, the Emperor Claudius asked Domitia and Crispus to divorce, so Crispus could marry Domitia's former sister-in-law Agrippina the Younger, who recently returned from exile. Agrippina the Younger had her son Lucius Domitius (Nero) to care for. So Crispus became a husband and stepfather. In January 40, Lucius' father Gnaeus Domitius, who was Domitia's younger brother, had died of dropsy. Her younger sister cared for Lucius.

In the reigns of Caligula, Claudius and Nero, Domitia became an influential rival of Agrippina the Younger. Her nephew Nero in June 59 poisoned Domitia. She was confined to a bed with severe constipation. Nero visited his aunt while she was sick and she commented that when he shaves his beard (a Roman symbolic act, usually performed during a ceremony at the age of twenty-one), she will gladly die peacefully. Nero turned to those with him and joked, "I'll take it off at once." He then ordered the doctors to overdose his aunt with a fatal strength of laxative and seized her property while she was dying.

On the Ara Pacis (an altar from the Augustan Era), displays Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Domitia. The woman behind Domitia and Domitius is their mother Antonia Major and the man next to Antonia Major is her husband Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. This can be seen at [http://www.dl.ket.org/latin1/gallery/arch/ara_pacis.htm] .

References

* (edd.), "Prosopographia Imperii Romani saeculi I, II et III", Berlin, 1933 - . ("PIR²")