Sulpicia Praetextata () was an ancient Roman noblewoman who lived in the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Medite ...
in the 1st century.
Family background
Praetextata was a member of the
gens Sulpicia
The gens Sulpicia was one of the most ancient patrician families at ancient Rome, and produced a succession of distinguished men, from the foundation of the Republic to the imperial period. The first member of the gens who obtained the consulshi ...
. She was the daughter of
Quintus Sulpicius Camerinus Peticus
Quintus Sulpicius Camerinus Peticus (died 67) was a Roman senator during the reign of Nero.
Life
Camerinus served as suffect consul in 46 with Marcus Junius Silanus as his colleague, and as proconsul of Africa from 56 to 57.
Camerinus was a me ...
, suffect consul in 46 and an unnamed mother. Her brother was Quintus Sulpicius Camerinus Pythicus, who was of
consular standing.
Marriage, issue and life
Praetextata married
Marcus Licinius Crassus Frugi who served as a consul in 64. He was one of the four sons born to the Roman Politician
Marcus Licinius Crassus Frugi and
Scribonia.
Praetextata bore Frugi the following children:
* Daughter, Licinia Praetextata who served as Chief
Vestal Virgin.
[Romeins Imperium – Marcus Licinius Crassus Frugi translated from Dutch to English](_blank)
/ref>
* Son, Lucius Scribonius Libo Rupilius Frugi Bonus who served as a suffect consul in 88. Frugi Bonus married the daughter of emperor Vitellius
Aulus Vitellius (; ; 24 September 1520 December 69) was Roman emperor for eight months, from 19 April to 20 December AD 69. Vitellius was proclaimed emperor following the quick succession of the previous emperors Galba and Otho, in a year of c ...
, Vitellia
The gens Vitellia was a family of ancient Rome, which rose from obscurity in imperial times, and briefly held the Empire itself in AD 69. The first of this gens to obtain the consulship was Aulus Vitellius, uncle of the emperor Vitellius, in AD ...
, by whom he had a daughter called Rupilia Faustina who became the paternal grandmother of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...
.
* Son, Marcus Licinius Scribonianus Camerinus.Taranto
Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label=Tarantino dialect, Tarantino, Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; Old Italian: ''Tarento''; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto, serving as an ...
. Piso tried to escape and was banished by the 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 presid ...
to a solitary island. He died in the course of a second escape attempt. Calpurnius Piso was placed in the tomb of ''Licinii Calpurnii''.
Frugi was executed by the Roman emperor Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 unt ...
between 66 and 68, because of information brought against him by Marcus Aquilius Regulus.[Shelton, ''The Women of Pliny's Letters'', p. 153] In 70, early in the reign of emperor Vespasian
Vespasian (; la, Vespasianus ; 17 November AD 9 – 23/24 June 79) was a Roman emperor who reigned from AD 69 to 79. The fourth and last emperor who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors, he founded the Flavian dynasty that ruled the Em ...
, Praetextata brought her children to a Roman Senate
The Roman Senate ( la, Senātus Rōmānus) was a governing and advisory assembly in ancient Rome. It was one of the most enduring institutions in Roman history, being established in the first days of the city of Rome (traditionally founded in ...
meeting, seeking vengeance for her husband's death.[ Regulus and his associated political circle were prosecuted by the Senate.][Rutledge, ''Imperial Inquisitions: Prosecutors and Informants from Tiberius to Domitian'', p. 119] After this episode no more is known of Praetextata.
References
{{Reflist
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.
The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...
, Histories
Histories or, in Latin, Historiae may refer to:
* the plural of history
* ''Histories'' (Herodotus), by Herodotus
* ''The Histories'', by Timaeus
* ''The Histories'' (Polybius), by Polybius
* ''Histories'' by Gaius Sallustius Crispus (Sallust), ...
Romeins Imperium – Marcus Licinius Crassus Frugi translated from Dutch to English
*S.H. Rutledge, ''Imperial Inquisitions: Prosecutors and Informants from Tiberius to Domitian'' (Google eBook), Routledge, 2002
*V. Rudich, ''Political Dissidence Under Nero: The Price of Dissimulation'', Routledge, 2013
*J. Shelton, ''The Women of Pliny's Letters'', Routledge, 2013
1st-century Roman women
Sulpicii