Iulla Antonia
Iulla Antonia or Antonia Iulla is thought to be a daughter of Roman consul of 10 BCE Iullus Antonius (son of Mark Antony) and Claudia Marcella Major (niece of emperor Augustus). The only direct evidence of her existence that has been found is a funerary urn.[lower-alpha 1]
Iulla Antonia | |
|---|---|
| Parents |
|
| Relatives | Octavia Minor, maternal grandmother |
| Family | Julio-Claudian dynasty |
History
Her mother likely had two daughters, Vipsania Marcella and Vipsania Marcellina from her earlier marriage to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa.[2] She is known to have had at least one full sibling, a brother named Lucius, and probably another brother named Iullus who might have died young.[3] The name Iulla is generally presumed to have been her praenomen, but it is not certain, it could have been used as a cognomen instead.[4][5]
Historian Ronald Syme notes that she has been used as an example to explain later descendants from Mark Antony among the Roman patricians of Imperial times,[6] mainly that of a Junius Blaesus,[7] this view was supported by G. V. Sumner.[8] There has been some speculation that Iulla was actually Lucius Antonius daughter,[9] but this seems unlikely as he left Rome while young and it is improbable that he had fathered a child already. It is possible that Iulla was allowed to stay in the city because she had already married an important man by the time of their fathers downfall, (as noble Roman women married before their male counterparts), or it is possible that the writing was created before Iullus was disgraced and if so then the epigraph could not be referring to a daughter of Lucius.
Cultural depictions
Iulla may be depicted on the Ara Pacis with her parents.[10] She and her brother Lucius appear in the novel Daughter of the Nile by Stephanie Dray.[11]
Notes
- She must have survived infancy if a freedman set up an inscription about her.[1]
References
Citations
- CIL 6.11959.
- Syme 1989, p. 125.
- Trivium. Vol. 1–2. St. David's College. 1966. p. 139.
- Kajava, Mika (1995). Roman Female Praenomina: Studies in the Nomenclature of Roman Women. Institutum Romanum Finlandiae. p. 155. ISBN 9789519690216.
- Klassillis-filologinen Yhdistys (1988). Arctos: acta philologica Fennica. Nova series. Vol. 22–23. Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Kirjapaino Oy [etc.] p. 80.
- Syme 1989, p. 144.
- Syme 1989, p. 163.
- Stern 2006, p. 381.
- Craven 2019.
- Stern 2006, pp. 374, 381–382.
- Dray 2013, p. 245.
Bibliography
- Craven, Maxwell (2019). The Imperial Families of Ancient Rome. Stroud, England: Fonthill Media. ISBN 9781781557389.
- Dray, Stephanie (2013). Daughters of the Nile. Penguin. ISBN 9781101627235.
- Stern, Gaius (2006). Women, Children, and Senators on the Ara Pacis Augustae: A Study of Augustus' Vision of a New World Order in 13 BC (Thesis). University of California, Berkeley. OCLC 892834012.
- Syme, Ronald (1989). The Augustan Aristocracy (illustrated and revised ed.). Oxford, England: Clarendon Press. ISBN 9780198147312.