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Herennia Cupressenia Etruscilla was an Augusta and later
As with most third-century Roman empresses, very little is known about her. She was probably from a senatorial family. It is assumed that her ancestors settled in
Statue of Herennia Cupressenia Etruscilla
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herennia Etruscilla 3rd-century Roman empresses 3rd-century viceregal rulers Decian dynasty Augustae Etruscilla 3rd-century women rulers
regent
A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...
of the Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...
, married to Emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...
Decius
Gaius Messius Quintus Traianus Decius ( 201 ADJune 251 AD), sometimes translated as Trajan Decius or Decius, was the emperor of the Roman Empire from 249 to 251.
A distinguished politician during the reign of Philip the Arab, Decius was procl ...
, and mother of Emperors Herennius Etruscus
Quintus Herennius Etruscus Messius Decius (died June 251) was briefly Roman emperor in 251, ruling jointly under his father Decius. His father was proclaimed emperor by his troops in September 249 while in Pannonia and Moesia, in opposition to ...
and Hostilian. She served as regent of the Roman Empire during the reign of her son Hostilian in 251.
Life
As with most third-century Roman empresses, very little is known about her. She was probably from a senatorial family. It is assumed that her ancestors settled in Etruria
Etruria () was a region of Central Italy, located in an area that covered part of what are now most of Tuscany, northern Lazio, and northern and western Umbria.
Etruscan Etruria
The ancient people of Etruria
are identified as Etruscans. Thei ...
n lands. Herennia married Decius probably before 230 and gained the title Augusta when Decius became emperor 249. When Decius and Herennius were defeated and killed in the Battle of Abrittus in 251, she became regent during the minority of her thirteen-year-old son Hostilian. Hostilian died of the plague later that year, thus ending her mandate as regent. She sank into obscurity after her sons perished.
While information about her is scarce, coins with her portrait are numerous and easy to obtain. Legends on coins struck at Rome only ever give her name as 'Herennia Etruscilla' but billon tetradrachms struck at Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
supply the Cupressenia element in abbreviation: ΕΡ ΚΟΥΠ ΑΙΤΡΟΥCΚΙΛΑ ( Greek: ''Her. Koup. Aitrouskila''), showing that her full name was Herennia Cup(ressenia) Etruscilla. The Cupressenia element is expanded from the 'ΚΟΥΠ' in the Alexandria coin legends, from the Latin ''cupresseus'' " cypress tree" and symbol of Juno.Lewis and Short (1879 and numerous later impressions), A Latin Dictionary, p. 499, and Livy 27.37.12.
See also
* Women in ancient Rome * List of Roman womenReferences
External links
Statue of Herennia Cupressenia Etruscilla
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herennia Etruscilla 3rd-century Roman empresses 3rd-century viceregal rulers Decian dynasty Augustae Etruscilla 3rd-century women rulers