Claudia Marcella Minor (''PIR²'' C 1103, born some time before 39 BC) was a niece of the first Roman emperor

Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in A ...

. She was the second surviving daughter of the emperor's sister

Octavia the Younger Octavia the Younger (; 69 BC – 11 BC) was the elder sister of the first Roman emperor, Augustus (known also as Octavian), the half-sister of Octavia the Elder, and the fourth wife of Mark Antony. She was also the great-grandmother of the Emp ...

and her first husband Gaius Claudius Marcellus. Marcella had many children by several husbands, and through her son Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus she became the grandmother of the empress

Messalina Valeria Messalina (; ) was the third wife of Roman emperor Claudius. She was a paternal cousin of Emperor Nero, a second cousin of Emperor Caligula, and a great-grandniece of Emperor Augustus. A powerful and influential woman with a reputation ...

Biography

Early life

Octavia was pregnant when she married

Mark Antony Marcus Antonius (14 January 1 August 30 BC), commonly known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman people, Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the Crisis of the Roman Republic, transformation of the Roman Republic ...

in 40, and it is likely that the child was Marcella Minor - but this is not a certainty. If so, Marcella was born after the death of her father and she grew up part of the first post-Actium generation. Her full siblings were older sister Claudia Marcella Major and her only surviving brother

Marcus Claudius Marcellus Marcus Claudius Marcellus (; 270 – 208 BC) was a Roman general and politician during the 3rd century BC. Five times elected as Roman consul, consul of the Roman Republic (222, 215, 214, 210, and 208 BC). Marcellus gained the most prestigious a ...

. From her mother's second marriage to

she would also gain two half sisters,

Antonia Major Antonia the Elder (born August/September 39 BC) was a niece of the first Roman emperor, Augustus, being the eldest daughter of Octavia the Younger and her second husband, the Triumvir Mark Antony. She married Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus and be ...

and

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 ...

Marriages

Marcella's first known marriage was to the former consul and censor

Paullus Aemilius Lepidus Paullus Aemilius LepidusLightman, ''A to Z of Ancient Greek and Roman Women'', p. 205 (c. 77 BC – after 11 BC) was a Roman Senate, Roman senator. Biography He was a grandson of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (consul 78 BC), Marcus Aemilius Lepidu ...

, around 15 BC, when she was about 24. Paullus was previously widowed, and had three children from his earlier marriage; Marcella may also have been previously married. Marcella bore him a son called Paullus Aemilius Regillus. Eva Bayer-Niemeier proposed that the Lucius Aemilius Paullus who died in 14 may have been another son of Lepidus and Marcella, but J. Scheid and

Ronald Syme Sir Ronald Syme, (11 March 1903 – 4 September 1989) was a New Zealand-born historian and classicist. He was regarded as the greatest historian of ancient Rome since Theodor Mommsen and the most brilliant exponent of the history of the Roma ...

thinks that this man was identical with the Lucius Aemilius Paullus who was consul in 1 AD, but this identification is not universally agreed upon. After the death of Lepidus, Marcella married

Marcus Valerius Messalla Appianus Marcus Valerius Messalla Appianus (also known as Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus Appianus;Lightman, ''A to Z of Ancient Greek and Roman Women'', p. 205 c. 45 BC – 12 BC) was a Roman Senator during the reign of Augustus. He was ordinary c ...

, by whom she had a son, Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus, and likely a daughter, Claudia Pulchra. There has been some speculation among historians such as George Patrick Goold that her daughter Claudia Pulchra might have actually been the child of Publius Claudius Pulcher (the son of Clodius) from an earlier marriage, but others such as Syme have rejected this proposal. Syme does on the other hand agree that Paullus (nor Appianus) likely wasn't Marcella's first husband, as the marriage is recorded rather late, he instead proposed a marriage to a son of Lucius Marcius Philippus who may have died or been repudiated before he was old enough to be consul or to

Marcus Appuleius Marcus Appuleius (c. 55 BC – c. 15 BC) was a nephew of the Roman emperor Augustus and Roman consul in 20 BC with Publius Silius Nerva as his colleague. Biography Marcus Appuleius is postulated to have been the son of Sextus Appuleius and Octavia ...

, Marcella's maternal half-cousin who is assumed to have died some time after his consulship in 20 BC. Klaus Zmeskal believes that it was she and not her sister who was married to

Iullus Antonius Iullus Antonius (43–2 BC) was a Roman magnate and poet. A son of Mark Antony and Fulvia, he was spared by the emperor Augustus after the civil wars of the Republic, and was married to the emperor's niece. He was later condemned as one of the lo ...

. In the next generation two Vipstani are known, with the cognomina "Messalla" and "Poplicola". This led Syme to observe that either Lucius or Marcus Vipstanus Gallus married a daughter of Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus and Claudia Marcella Minor, who is named (for convenience) Valeria Messallia. French historian

Christian Settipani Christian Settipani (born 31 January 1961) is a French genealogist, historian and IT professional, currently working as the Technical Director of a company in Paris. Biography Settipani holds a Master of Advanced Studies from the Paris-Sorb ...

endorsed this view.Settipani, ''Continuité gentilice et continuité sénatoriale dans les familles sénatoriales romaines à l'époque impériale'' However, Messallinus (son of Corvinus) was younger than Marcella. That fact does not prevent the marriage, but makes it unlikely, given Roman tradition. This alliance with the

gens Valeria The gens Valeria was a patrician family at ancient Rome, prominent from the very beginning of the Republic to the latest period of the Empire. Publius Valerius Poplicola was one of the consuls in 509 BC, the year that saw the overthrow of the ...

led to the prominence of the Vipstani during the first centuries of the Roman Empire.Ronald Syme
"Missing Persons III"
'' Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte'', 11 (1962), pp. 149f

Legacy

In a tomb near Rome, numerous inscriptions have survived of slaves and freedmen of Marcella.CIL VI 4418-4880 A

columbarium A columbarium (; pl. columbaria), also called a cinerarium, is a structure for the reverential and usually public storage of funerary urns holding cremated remains of the dead. The term comes from the Latin ''columba'' (dove) and originally solel ...

located between the

Via Appia The Appian Way (Latin and Italian: Via Appia) is one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, in southeast Italy. Its importance is indicated by its common name, recor ...

and

Via Latina The Via Latina (Latin for "Latin Road") was a Roman road of Italy, running southeast from Rome for about 200 kilometers. Route It led from the Porta Latina in the Aurelian walls of Rome to the pass of Mount Algidus; it was important in the ea ...

in Rome belonged to the family of Marcella. According to epigraphical evidence, the work on it was completed in 10, when the urns were divided among the shareholders of the company which had built the place.

Notes

References