Aemilia Lepida (daughter of Quintus Lepidus)

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Aemilia Lepida († after 20 AD) was a Roman noblewoman from the family of the gens Aemilia who was charged with various crimes and banished.

Origin and life

Aemilia was the daughter of Quintus Aemilius Lepidus , consul of the year 21 BC. BC, and his wife Cornelia, the daughter of Faustus Cornelius Sulla and Pompeia . Aemilia Lepida was a great-granddaughter of Pompey the Great and Sulla through her mother . Her brother was Manius Aemilius Lepidus , the consul from 11 AD.

In her youth she was promised to Lucius Caesar , the grandson of Augustus ; However, this died as early as 2 AD. Thereupon Aemilia Lepida married the rich and much older Senator Publius Sulpicius Quirinius , from whom she was divorced soon after. She then married the senator, speaker and poet Mamercus Aemilius Scaurus , with whom she had a daughter. An exact dating of these events is not possible. However, Suetonius states that the annulment of the first marriage took place twenty years before the trial, i.e. around the turn of the times. Since Aemilia will hardly have married another man during Lucius Caesar's lifetime, the marriage to Quirinius (and necessarily also the divorce) must be scheduled a few years later.

process

In 20 - about 15 years after the divorce - Aemilia Lepida was charged with various crimes by her first husband Quirinius. On the one hand, she committed adultery during the time she was married to him and pretended that the child came from her husband. On the other hand, she was charged with poisoning. She is also said to have consulted astrologers ( "Chaldeans" ) in order to harm the imperial family. Her situation and the fact that her first husband was still cracking down on her for so long after the divorce initially earned her pity in public (supposedly especially among women). There was also the difference in prestige, since she herself came from a noble family, while Quirinius was a Homo novus . Even after his death, he is said to have remained in poor reputation among the population because of his persistent litigation and his avarice.

At the beginning of the trial her chances were therefore comparatively good, especially since her brother defended her and the ruling emperor Tiberius , according to the historian Tacitus , initially showed signs of leniency. But then their slaves were interrogated under torture, as was customary at the time, and their crimes were revealed. The Senate agreed on the proposal of Gaius Rubellius Blandus to banish them. Consul-designate Drusus the Younger agreed. Her second husband, Scaurus, was allowed to keep her possessions, which were not confiscated by the state. Two years later, Tiberius announced that he had learned from one of Quirinius' slaves that Aemilia Lepida wanted to poison her first husband. Scaurus then divorced her and remarried.

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literature

personal data
SURNAME Aemilia Lepida
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman nobleman convicted of several crimes
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 1st century