Claudia Acte
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Claudia Acte was a freedwoman of
ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...
who became a mistress of the emperor
Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...
. She came from
Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...
and might have become a slave of the Emperor
Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...
, following his expansion of the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...
into
Lycia Lycia (; Lycian: 𐊗𐊕𐊐𐊎𐊆𐊖 ''Trm̃mis''; , ; ) was a historical region in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean Sea in what is today the provinces of Antalya and Muğ ...
and
Pamphylia Pamphylia (; , ''Pamphylía'' ) was a region in the south of Anatolia, Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean to Mount Taurus (all in modern-day Antalya province, Turkey). It was bounded on the ...
; or she might have been purchased later, by Octavia, Claudius' daughter.


Relationship with Nero

The Emperor Claudius, uncle of Nero's mother,
Agrippina the Younger Julia Agrippina (6 November AD 15 – 23 March AD 59), also referred to as Agrippina the Younger, was Roman empress from AD 49 to 54, the fourth wife and niece of emperor Claudius, and the mother of Nero. Agrippina was one of the most prominent ...
, married his niece in 49 AD and therefore became Nero's stepfather. Claudius' daughter, Octavia (by his wife Messalina), became Nero's stepsister at the same time. Nero and Octavia themselves married in 53 AD, and Nero became emperor in 54 AD, after his great-uncle/stepfather died—apparently poisoned, in the belief of contemporary historians, by his niece/wife, Agrippina, Nero's mother. A year into Nero's reign, encouraged by
Seneca the Younger Lucius Annaeus Seneca the Younger ( ; AD 65), usually known mononymously as Seneca, was a Stoicism, Stoic philosopher of Ancient Rome, a statesman, a dramatist, and in one work, a satirist, from the post-Augustan age of Latin literature. Seneca ...
and Burrus, and against Agrippina the Younger's wishes, Nero took Acte as his mistress. Seneca especially was concerned that his young student would not be satisfied with his wife, Octavia, and might indulge in risky sexual exploits. This made Acte appear a safe outlet and a source of separation from Agrippina. Seneca and Burrus were on uneasy terms with Agrippina and were nervous about her political influence and methods, especially following the putative poisoning of her husband, the Emperor Claudius. However, the relationship with Acte was kept as quiet as possible so as to not damage Nero's politically significant marriage to Octavia.
Otho Otho ( ; born Marcus Salvius Otho; 28 April 32 – 16 April 69) was Roman emperor, ruling for three months from 15 January to 16 April 69. He was the second emperor of the Year of the Four Emperors. A member of a noble Etruscan civilization, ...
, Claudius Senecio and Annaeus Serenus helped Nero and Acte with their secret meetings. Serenus, a protégé of Seneca, even pretended that Acte was his own mistress in order to avert suspicion. The couple met when Nero was 17, and their reportedly emotional, passionate relationship lasted at least three years. Nero expressed the desire to marry Acte and had a genealogy fabricated linking her royalty; he even bribed ex-consuls to prepare to swear to her royal birthright, a move that enraged his mother Agrippina, who was very conscious and proud of her own, well-established patrician ancestry.


Influence on the Empire

As Nero's mistress, Acte might have had the opportunity to exert considerable influence on the Roman Empire, though it is unknown what influence she actually had. It is claimed by Tacitus that Agrippina (Nero’s mother) exercised some erotic power over her son and that Acte advised Nero to resist this power, out of fear for her own safety and with Seneca's encouragement; she warned Nero of the potential political repercussions with the military if incest with his mother were to become public. Nero and Acte's relationship reduced Agrippina's sway over her son and therefore her influence on the Empire. Agrippina's increasing efforts to separate Nero from Acte served only to increase his fondness for her; and the ensuing conflicts led Nero to take absolute control of the Empire and, eventually, to order his mother's assassination.


Wealth achieved

Records of Acte's household and estates in
Velitrae Velletri (; ; ) is an Italian ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, approximately 40 km to the southeast of the city centre, located in the Alban Hills, in the region of Lazio, central Italy. Neighbouring communes are Rocca di Papa, ...
, Puteoli and
Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...
attest to considerable wealth, accumulated while she was Nero's mistress. She had left the imperial scene in ownership of a household staff as well as property. After Nero's death, and along with two of his old nurses, Acte gave him a proper Roman burial, burning the body on a
pyre A pyre (; ), also known as a funeral pyre, is a structure, usually made of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite or execution. As a form of cremation, a body is placed upon or under the pyre, which is then set on fire. In discussi ...
. She deposited his remains in the tomb of the Domitii Ahenobarbi, the family of Nero's biological father, in the Pincian Hills. There were found many inscriptions of her slaves and freedmen. The epitaph of Acte was discovered at Velitrae.


In literature

Acte appears as a character in
Henryk Sienkiewicz Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz ( , ; 5 May 1846 – 15 November 1916), also known by the pseudonym Litwos (), was a Polish epic writer. He is remembered for his historical novels, such as The Trilogy, the Trilogy series and especially ...
's novel '' Quo Vadis'', and in ''Myself My Sepulchre'' (also titled ''Nero'') by Mary Teresa Ronalds, and is depicted as being a secret Christian in both. She also appears in the movie ''
Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...
'', played by Rike Schmid. Acte is the main character in
Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the mos ...
' novel ''Acte''. Acte appears also as a character in Louis de Wohl's novel ''The Glorious Folly: A Novel of the days of St. Paul''. Acte's life and her relationship with Nero are depicted in the novel ''The False Nero'' by
Lion Feuchtwanger Lion Feuchtwanger (; 7 July 1884 – 21 December 1958) was a German Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Republic, Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht. ...
. She is also a principal character in Simon Scarrow's 2020 novel ''The Emperor's Exile''. Acte appears in Edward Lowell's 1870 play "Nero the Parricide," where she is last seen as a slave to Poppaea.


See also

* Antonia Caenis * Galeria Lysistrate * Marcia (mistress of Commodus) *
List of enslaved people A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...


Notes


References


Primary sources

*
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. Tacitus’ two major historical works, ''Annals'' ( ...
, ''
Annals Annals (, from , "year") are a concise history, historical record in which events are arranged chronology, chronologically, year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record. Scope The nature of the distinction betw ...
''
13.1213.1313.4614.214.63
*
Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is ''De vita Caesarum'', common ...
, ''
Lives of the Twelve Caesars ''De vita Caesarum'' (Latin; "About the Life of the Caesars"), commonly known as ''The Twelve Caesars'' or ''The Lives of the Twelve Caesars'', is a set of twelve biographies of Julius Caesar and the first 11 emperors of the Roman Empire writte ...
'': ''Nero'
28
*
Dio Cassius 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 of ancient Rome, beginning with the arrival of Aeneas in Italy. The volumes documented the ...
, ''Roman History'
61.7


Secondary sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Acte, Claudia Emperor's slaves and freedmen 1st-century Roman women 1st-century Romans Nero Claudii Mistresses of ancient Roman royalty Concubines