Claudia Antonia (

Classical Latin Classical Latin is the form of Literary Latin recognized as a literary standard by writers of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire. It was used from 75 BC to the 3rd century AD, when it developed into Late Latin. In some later per ...

: ANTONIA•CLAUDII•CAESARIS•FILIA (edd), ''Prosopographia Imperii Romani saeculi I, II et III'', Berlin, 1933 - A 886) (c. AD 30–AD 66) was the daughter and oldest surviving child of the Roman Emperor

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) 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 ...

and the only child of his second wife Aelia Paetina. Antonia was a great great-niece of the Emperor

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

, great-niece of the Emperor

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) 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 ...

, first cousin of the Emperor

Caligula Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germanic ...

, half-sister to

Claudia Octavia Claudia Octavia (late 39 or early 40 – June 9, AD 62) was a Roman empress. She was the daughter of the Emperor Claudius and Valeria Messalina. After her mother's death and father's remarriage to her cousin Agrippina the Younger, she becam ...

and

Britannicus Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus (12 February AD 41 – 11 February AD 55), usually called Britannicus, was the son of Roman emperor Claudius and his third wife Valeria Messalina. For a time he was considered his father's heir, but that ...

(her father's children by his third marriage to Valeria Messalina), and cousin, stepsister and sister-in-law of the Emperor

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

Childhood and first marriage

Until 37, she was raised by her paternal grandmother

Antonia Minor Antonia Minor (31 January 36 BC - 1 May 37 AD) was the younger of two surviving daughters of Mark Antony and Octavia Minor. She was a niece of the Emperor Augustus, sister-in-law of the Emperor Tiberius, paternal grandmother of the Emperor Calig ...

(who died that year). From then until 43, she was raised by her father, who became Roman Emperor in 41. In 43, she first married Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, a descendant of Pompeia (daughter of Pompey the Great). His parents were consul Marcus Licinius Crassus Frugi and Scribonia. According to

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographi ...

Pompeius was stabbed to death a few years later (AD 46/47), when he was caught in bed with a favorite boy.

Cassius Dio Lucius Cassius Dio (), also known as Dio Cassius ( ), was a Roman historian and senator of maternal Greek origin. He published 80 volumes of the history on ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...

states that Antonia's stepmother Empress Valeria Messalina ordered his execution out of fear that Pompeius might become a rival to her son

. The death of Pompeius left Antonia free to marry Messalina's half-brother Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix.

Second marriage and death

Faustus Sulla and Antonia married in 47. They had a son who was frail and died before his second birthday. In 58, Faustus Sulla was exiled, and in 62 he was murdered at the order of the Emperor

. In 65,

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

records the rumour that Gaius Calpurnius Piso intended to marry Antonia, as an element of his conspiracy against Nero. After the death of the Empress

Poppaea Sabina Poppaea Sabina (AD 30 – 65), 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 ...

, Nero's second wife,

asked Antonia to marry him. When Antonia refused, Nero had her charged with an attempt of rebellion and executed. She was the last living grandchild of

Nero Claudius Drusus Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus (38–9 BC), also called Drusus the Elder, was a Roman politician and military commander. He was a patrician Claudian on his birth father's side but his maternal grandmother was from a plebeian family. He was th ...

and

, from whom Nero also was descended but one generation more distantly (i.e. their great-

grandchild Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideal ...

Cultural depictions

Antonia briefly appears in

Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celti ...

' novel '' Claudius the God''. In the story, she reveals that her first marriage with Gnaeus Pompey was never properly consummated in the two years they lived together; instead, he forced her to take part in unnatural sexual practices. Claudius, outraged by this mistreatment of his daughter, orders Pompey's death (the only moment that he orders death for personal grievances). Antonia is surprised by this act, as she thought her father cared more for his children with Messalina. Antonia and Pompey are omitted entirely in the 1976 television adaptation.

Ancestry

References

Citations

Biography

* (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. * Griffin, Miriam, ''Nero. The End of a Dynasty'', Batsford, London, 1984 * Poulsen, Vagn, ''Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. Les portraits romains I: République et dynastie julienne'', Copenhagen, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, 1962, 111 Nr. 74 Taf. 128 ff. * Boschung, Dietrich, ''Überlegungen zum Liciniergrab'', JdI 101, 1986, pp. 257–287.

External links

Various portraits of Claudia Antonia
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006072937/http://www.kleio.org/de/geschichte/jc_dynastie/antonia4.html , date=2014-10-06 30s births 66 deaths

Antonia Antonia may refer to: People * Antonia (name), including a list of people with the name * Antonia gens, a Roman family, any woman of the gens was named ''Antonia'' * Antônia (footballer) * Antônia Melo Entertainment * ''Antonia's Line'', or ...

1st-century Roman women Executed ancient Roman women People executed by the Roman Empire Year of birth unknown Children of Claudius Daughters of Roman emperors