Lollia Paulina

Lollia Paulina (sometimes written Paullina)<ref name=Lollia>"Lollia", A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology (London. John Murray, 1873)</ref> (Template:Circa – 49 AD)<ref>A bit of History – Lollia Paullina. Template:Archive url</ref> was a Roman empress for six months in 38 as the third wife of the Roman emperor Caligula.<ref>Aut. E. Groag, A. Stein, L. Petersen - e.a. (edd.), Prosopographia Imperii Romani saeculi I, II et III, Berlin, 1933-x, L 308. (PIR²)</ref>

Family background and early life

Paulina was a member of the plebeian gens Lollia.<ref>Template:Usurped</ref><ref>Template:Usurped</ref> Paulina was the second daughter of Marcus Lollius with Volusia Saturnina, while her elder sister was Lollia Saturnina.<ref name="livius.org">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Her cognomen "Paulina" probably derived from her maternal grandmother Nonia Polla.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Her father, Marcus Lollius, was a son of the Roman politician and military officer Marcus Lollius<ref name="livius.org"/> and his wife Aurelia. Aurelia was the adoptive sister of Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus. Her possible paternal uncle may have been Publius Lollius Maximus, however this is unclear; he was at least a close relation.<ref>Harrison, Homage to Horace: A Bimillenary Celebration, p.290</ref>

Paulina was born and raised in Rome and became very wealthy after inheriting the estates of her relatives. She inherited large fortune from her paternal grandfather,<ref name="Hazel p.171">Hazel, Who’s Who in the Roman World, p.171</ref> Marcus Lollius.<ref>Romeins Imperium – Lollia Paulina translated from Dutch to English</ref>

Marriages and rivals

Paulina's first husband was Publius Memmius Regulus, a man of consular rank,<ref name=Caligula-25>Suetonius, Caligula, 25</ref> who served as a suffect consul in 31 and later as a Roman governor. Tacitus describes him as a man of 'dignity, who was a person of influence and good name', who died in 62.

In 38, Paulina was with Regulus in the province he was governing when Caligula ordered her to leave her husband upon overhearing a remark about the beauty of her grandmother.<ref name=Caligula-25/> She was forced to divorce Regulus and marry Caligula, becoming his third wife and Roman Empress that same year. Caligula divorced her after six months of marriage, ostensibly because she was infertile, and forbade her to sleep with or associate with another man.<ref name=Caligula-25/>

In 48, Paulina became a rival to Caligula's sister Agrippina the Younger. Paulina was considered as a potential fourth wife for Caligula's paternal uncle, the Roman emperor Claudius,<ref name="Hazel p.171"/> following the execution of his third wife, the Roman empress Valeria Messalina. In 49, Agrippina the Younger married Claudius. Sometime after, Agrippina the Younger had Paulina charged with sorcery, accused of having entered into forbidden consultations with astrologers.<ref name="Hazel p.171"/> Without a hearing, Paulina's property (including her gardens) was confiscated and she was sent into exile. Tacitus reported that Paulina was forced to commit suicide<ref name="Hazel p.171"/> under the watch of a colonel of the Guards and implied that this was done on the orders of Agrippina the Younger. A sepulchre was not erected in her honor until the reign of the Roman emperor Nero.<ref name=Lollia/>

Reputation

Paulina is mentioned in Natural History by Pliny the Elder. Pliny mentions Paulina as an example of Roman ostentation for wearing a large share of her inheritance to a dinner party in the form of jewellery worth 50 million sesterces.<ref>Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 9.117</ref> She would wear her jewels in her hair, and around her neck, arms, and fingers.<ref name=Lollia/> Pliny's complaint was made in the context of Rome spending enormous amounts importing Ancient India's 'useless' pepper and pearls, as worn by Paulina even on her shoes.

In fiction

Paulina is a character in the novel series, I, Claudius, written by Robert Graves.

See also

• List of Roman and Byzantine empresses

Sources

• Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars
• Tacitus, Annales
• E. Groag, A. Stein & L. Petersen - e.a. (edd.), Prosopographia Imperii Romani saeculi I, II et III, Berlin, 1933-x, L 308. (PIR²)
• Horace - Edited by O.A.W Dilke, Horace: Epistles Book I, Taylor & Francis
• G. Highet, The Classical Tradition: Greek and Roman Influences on Western Literature, Oxford University Press, 1949
• S.J. Harrison, Homage to Horace: A Bimillenary Celebration, Oxford University Press, 1995
• G. Rickman, Roman Granaries and Store Buildings, CUP Archive, 1971
• J. Hazel, Who's Who in the Roman World, Routledge, 2001
• Template:Usurped & Template:Usurped*
• Marcus Lollius no. 5 article at ancient library
• Template:Usurped
• A bit of History – Lollia Paullina Template:Webarchive
• Marcus Lollius’ article at Livius.org Template:Webarchive
• Lollius by D.C. O’Driscoll
• Genealogy of Volusius Saturninus by D.C. O’Driscoll
• Memmius Regulus by D.C. O’Driscoll
• Pliny the Elder’ article at Livius.org Template:Webarchive
• Romeins Imperium – Lucius Quintus Volusius Saturninus translated from Dutch to English
• Romeins Imperium – Lollia Paulina translated from Dutch to English
• After Actium: Two Caesars Are Not Enough: Chapter LXXXVII: The Trials of Livia Valeria