Nonia Celsa is the name given by the ''
Historia Augusta
The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs and usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the si ...
'' to the wife of Roman Emperor
Macrinus (and presumed mother of his son and co-emperor
Diadumenian
Diadumenian (; la, Marcus Opellius Antoninus Diadumenianus; 14September 208 – June 218) was the son of the Roman Emperor Macrinus, and served as his co-ruler for a brief time in 218. His mother was Nonia Celsa, whose name may be fictitiou ...
), who ruled briefly in 217–218. The name is regarded as highly dubious by modern historians.
Life
The only evidence of her existence is a happy letter allegedly written by Macrinus to his wife after he became
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 ( ...
. The first line is as follows: "Opellius Macrinus to his wife Nonia Celsa. The good fortune to which we have attained, my dear wife, is incalculable." The letter can be found in the biography of Diadumenian, part of a collection called ''Historia Augusta''. Such "documents" are generally considered fabrications and the biographer(s) is also infamous for inventing people and names. Without further evidence even the existence of Nonia Celsa is highly dubious.
The ''Historia Augusta'' also claims that her son
Diadumenian
Diadumenian (; la, Marcus Opellius Antoninus Diadumenianus; 14September 208 – June 218) was the son of the Roman Emperor Macrinus, and served as his co-ruler for a brief time in 218. His mother was Nonia Celsa, whose name may be fictitiou ...
got his name from his maternal grandfather, which prompted
Anthony R. Birley to identify her possible father as Haius Diadumenianus, the procurator of Macrinus' native Mauretania during the reign of
Septimius Severus
Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary suc ...
. If true it could imply that her name was actually Haia instead of Nonia.
See also
*
List of distinguished Roman women
The list below includes Roman women who were notable for their family connections, or their sons or husbands, or their own actions. In the earlier periods, women came to the attention of (later) historians either as poisoners of their husbands ( ...
*
List of Roman and Byzantine empresses
This is a list of Roman and Byzantine empresses. A Roman empress was a woman who was the wife of a Roman emperor, the ruler of the Roman Empire.
The Romans had no single term for the position: Latin and Greek titles such as '' augusta'' (Gree ...
References
Sources
* ''
Historia Augusta
The ''Historia Augusta'' (English: ''Augustan History'') is a late Roman collection of biographies, written in Latin, of the Roman emperors, their junior colleagues, designated heirs and usurpers from 117 to 284. Supposedly modeled on the si ...
''
{{s-end
3rd-century Roman empresses
Celsa
People whose existence is disputed