Lollia Paulina (
PIR2 L 308) (died 49) was a noble Roman woman who lived in the 1st century.
Her father was
Marcus LolliusMarcus Lollius Paulinus, Roman was a general, the first governor of Galatia and served as consul in 21 BC. In 16 BC, when governor of Gaul , he was defeated by the Sicambri and Tencteri and Usipetes, German tribes who had crossed the Rhine...
Paulinus, who was a formal consul and her mother was Volusia Saturnina, a sister of senator and consul
Lucius Volusius SaturninusLucius Volusius Saturninus was a Roman senator that lived during the 1st century BC and 1st century. Saturninus came from an ancient and distinguished senatorial family the never rose above the praetorship...
. Her maternal grandmother was a distant relative to Emperor
TiberiusTiberius Julius Caesar Augustus, born Tiberius Claudius Nero , was the second Roman Emperor, from the death of Augustus in AD 14 until his own death in 37. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla...
. Her father’s maternal uncle was senator and consul
Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus MessalinusMarcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus was a Roman that lived in the 1st century. He served as a senator during the Julio-Claudian dynasty and became consul in 20. He was the great-uncle to brief Empress Lollia Paulina, who was Emperor Caligula’s third wife and her sister Lollia Saturnina....
and paternal grandfather was the general
Marcus LolliusMarcus Lollius Paulinus, Roman was a general, the first governor of Galatia and served as consul in 21 BC. In 16 BC, when governor of Gaul , he was defeated by the Sicambri and Tencteri and Usipetes, German tribes who had crossed the Rhine...
Paulinus.
Lollia Paulina (
PIR2 L 308) (died 49) was a noble Roman woman who lived in the 1st century.
Life
Her father was
Marcus LolliusMarcus Lollius Paulinus, Roman was a general, the first governor of Galatia and served as consul in 21 BC. In 16 BC, when governor of Gaul , he was defeated by the Sicambri and Tencteri and Usipetes, German tribes who had crossed the Rhine...
Paulinus, who was a formal consul and her mother was Volusia Saturnina, a sister of senator and consul
Lucius Volusius SaturninusLucius Volusius Saturninus was a Roman senator that lived during the 1st century BC and 1st century. Saturninus came from an ancient and distinguished senatorial family the never rose above the praetorship...
. Her maternal grandmother was a distant relative to Emperor
TiberiusTiberius Julius Caesar Augustus, born Tiberius Claudius Nero , was the second Roman Emperor, from the death of Augustus in AD 14 until his own death in 37. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla...
. Her father’s maternal uncle was senator and consul
Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus MessalinusMarcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus was a Roman that lived in the 1st century. He served as a senator during the Julio-Claudian dynasty and became consul in 20. He was the great-uncle to brief Empress Lollia Paulina, who was Emperor Caligula’s third wife and her sister Lollia Saturnina....
and paternal grandfather was the general
Marcus LolliusMarcus Lollius Paulinus, Roman was a general, the first governor of Galatia and served as consul in 21 BC. In 16 BC, when governor of Gaul , he was defeated by the Sicambri and Tencteri and Usipetes, German tribes who had crossed the Rhine...
Paulinus. Paulina’s younger sister was Lollia Saturnina who was married to the consul
Decimus Valerius AsiaticusDecimus Valerius Asiaticus was a Roman consul twice , the first Narbonian Gaul to be admitted to the Senate. Asiaticus had powerful connections from his birth place. He was one of the instigators of Emperor Caligula's assassination....
and by whom she had a son.
Paulina became exceedingly wealthy after inheriting her relative’s estates. Her first husband was suffect consul in 31 and a Roman Governor, Publius Memmius Regulus. Tacitus describes him as a man of ‘dignity, who was a person of influence and good name‘. Regulus died in 62. Emperor
CaligulaGaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus , more commonly known by his cognomen Caligula , was the third Roman Emperor, reigning from 16 March 37 until his assassination on 24 January 41...
ordered Paulina from Regulus (she was with Regulus at the province he was governing) after Caligula heard a remark about her grandmother's beauty.
Paulina was forced to divorce Regulus and marry the emperor. She became Caligula's third wife and his Empress in 38. Caligula divorced her after six months of marriage, obstensibly because she was infertile and forbade her to sleep with or associate with another man.
In later years, Paulina became a rival to Caligula‘s sister
Agrippina the YoungerJulia Agrippina , also known as Agrippina the Younger and Agrippina Minor was a Roman empress...
and was considered a choice for wife to Emperor
ClaudiusTiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was the fourth Roman Emperor, a member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, ruling from 24 January AD 41 to his death in AD 54...
. In 49, Agrippina the Younger had her charged with
sorcerySorcery may refer to:* Magic * Maleficium * Witchcraft-See also:* Sorcerer * Sorcery , an album by Kataklysm* Sorcery , an album by Jack DeJohnette...
. Paulina did not get a hearing. Her property was confiscated and she was sent into exile.
TacitusPublius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
tells us that Paulina was forced to commit suicide under the watch of a colonel of the Guards, and implies that this was done under Agrippina the Younger's orders.
Lollia Paulina is mentioned in
Pliny the ElderGaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was an author, naturalist, and natural philosopher as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
's Natural History as an example of ostentation, by reportedly wearing a large share of her inheritance to a dinner party in the form of jewelery, worth some 40 million
sestertiusThe sestertius, or sesterce, was an ancient Roman coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions...
. A sepulchre was not erected in her honor till the reign of Emperor
NeroNero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus , born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also called Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus, was the fifth and last Roman emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great uncle Claudius to become heir to the throne...
.