Antonia the Elder

	Roman imperial dynasties
	Julio-Claudian dynasty
	Chronology
Augustus	27 BC – AD 14
Tiberius	AD 14–37
Caligula	AD 37–41
Claudius	AD 41–54
Nero	AD 54–68
	Succession
Preceded by; Roman Republic	Followed by; Year of the Four Emperors
	Category

Antonia Major
Antonia Major
	Bust believed to be Antonia Major
Spouse	Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus
Issue	Domitia; Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; Domitia Lepida Major; Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus; Domitia Lepida Minor
House	Julio-Claudian dynasty
Father	Mark Antony
Mother	Octavia Minor

Antonia the Elder[lower-alpha 1] (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 became the maternal grandmother of empress Messalina as well as paternal grandmother of the emperor Nero.

Antonia from Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum. The inscription means: "Antonia Major, Emperor Nero's grandmother."

Biography

Antonia was born in Athens, Greece and after 36 BC her mother, along with her siblings and herself were brought to Rome. She was raised by her mother, her uncle and her aunt Livia Drusilla. According to Cassius Dio after her father died, Augustus allowed her and her younger sister Antonia Minor to benefit from their father's estate in Rome. Although little is known of her, Antonia was held in high regard like her sister Antonia Minor, the mother of the emperor Claudius, who was celebrated for her beauty and virtue.

Issue

Around 22 BC Antonia married the consul Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. Three of their children are known for certain:

Domitia Lepida the Elder - ancient sources refer to her as Domitia. She married the consul Decimus Haterius Agrippa and bore him a son Quintus Haterius Antoninus. Domitia later married Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passienus, consul suffect in 27, proconsul of Asia and consul in AD 44.
Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus (PIR² D127) - consul in AD 32, he married his cousin Germanicus' daughter Agrippina the Younger in 28. Agrippina and Domitius were the parents of the emperor Nero. He was accused by Tiberius, but saved by that emperor's death (Suet. Nero 5) and lived a few years longer under Caligula's reign until he died in AD 40.
Domitia Lepida the Younger (PIR² D180) - she first married her cousin, the consul Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus to whom she bore a daughter, the empress Valeria Messalina, third wife of the emperor Claudius. After the death of her first husband, she married Faustus Cornelius Sulla Lucullus, suffect consul in AD 31, and gave him a son, Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix (who would become consul in AD 52). At the beginning of Claudius' reign, she married Appius Junius Silanus, consul in AD 28, who was put to death in AD 42. She outlived her daughter, Messalina.

It is also likely that they had another son named Lucius (born between 20 and 17 BC), and possibly also a third daughter (born around 23 BC).[2]

Cultural depictions

Many scholars think the Ara Pacis (an altar from the Augustan Era), displays Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and his elder sister Domitia. The woman behind Domitia and Domitius is allegedly their mother Antonia Major and the man next to Antonia Major is her husband Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus.

Notes

Also known as Antonia Major or Latin: Antonia Maior.[1]

References

PIR² A 884
Syme, Ronald (1989). The Augustan Aristocracy (illustrated and revised ed.). Clarendon Press. pp. 155–156. ISBN 9780198147312.

Sources

E. Groag, A. Stein, L. Petersen - e.a. (edd.), Prosopographia Imperii Romani saeculi I, II et III, Berlin, 1933 - . (PIR²)

External links

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[2] Also known as Antonia Major or Latin: Antonia Maior.[1]

[1] PIR² A 884

[3] Syme, Ronald (1989). The Augustan Aristocracy (illustrated and revised ed.). Clarendon Press. pp. 155–156. ISBN 9780198147312.