Salonia Matidia (4 July 68 – 23 December 119) was the daughter and only child of Ulpia Marciana and wealthy

praetor Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vari ...

Gaius Salonius Matidius Patruinus Gaius Salonius Matidius Patruinus (died 78) was a Roman Senator who lived in the Roman Empire during the 1st century during the reign of Vespasian (r. 69–79). Life Patruinus came from a wealthy family of Vicetia (modern Vicenza, northern Ita ...

. Her maternal uncle was the Roman emperor

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

. Trajan had no children and treated her like his daughter. Her father died in 78 and Matidia went with her mother to live with Trajan and his wife, Pompeia Plotina.

Life

Between 81 and 82, Matidia married a suffect

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

and former

proconsul A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority. In the Roman Republic, military command, or ' ...

Lucius Vibius Sabinus. Sabinus died in 83 or 84. Matidia bore Sabinus a daughter called Vibia Sabina, who would marry the future Roman Emperor

Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania ...

. Matidia was very fond of her second cousin Hadrian and allowed him to marry Vibia Sabina. In 84, Matidia married for a second time to an otherwise unknown Roman aristocrat called Lucius Mindius. Matidia bore Mindius a daughter called Mindia Matidia, commonly known as Matidia Minor. Mindius died in 85. Matidia - denarius - RIC 0759

Matidia later married Lucius Scribonius Libo Rupilius Frugi Bonus, who was suffect consul in 88. Frugi had a daughter called

Rupilia Faustina Marcus Annius Verus ( 50 – 138 AD) was the paternal grandfather and adoptive father of the Ancient Rome, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, and father-in-law of emperor Antoninus Pius. Biography Verus was the son of an elder Marcus Annius Verus, who ...

from an earlier marriage. Faustina would go on to marry the Roman Senator Marcus Annius Verus, to whom she bore one daughter and two sons. Matidia often traveled with her uncle and assisted him with decision-making. Like her mother, Matidia was honored with monuments and inscriptions in her name throughout the Roman Empire. On 29 August 112, she received the title of Augusta upon the death and divinization of Marciana. SALONINA MATIDIA RIC II 752 (Trajan)-94001036

SALONINA MATIDIA RIC II 752 (Trajan)-94001036

When Trajan died in 117, Matidia and Plotina brought the emperor's ashes back to Rome. In 119 Matidia died, whereupon the Roman Emperor

delivered her funeral oration, deified her, and granted her a temple and altar in Rome itself. She thus became the first divinized Roman woman to be dedicated a full-scale temple of her own, as opposed to one shared with her husband or a smaller shrine.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matidia, Salonia 68 births 119 deaths 1st-century Roman women 2nd-century Roman women Deified Roman women Nerva–Antonine dynasty Augustae