Clodia Laeta

Statue of a Roman vestal virgin inside the atrium Vestae

Clodia Laeta (* probably between 186 and 200, † 212/213) was the daughter of a Roman senator , whose name has not been passed down. Attempts in research to reconstruct their family connections are hypothetical. Possibly she belonged to the same family as Publius Clodius Laetus Macrinus, who was a legate of the Lusitania province in 257/260 .

In her childhood, between the ages of 6 and 10, Clodia Laeta was appointed by the emperor as pontifex maximus to the virgo vestalis . As the highest priest ( pontifex maximus ) of Rome , the emperor was in charge of religious supervision over the female priesthood.

Under Emperor Caracalla , who in December 211 had achieved sole rule with the murder of his brother Geta , four vestals, including Clodia Laeta, were accused of unchastity ( Crimen incesti ). Unlike previous trials for this crime, the sources do not mention male defendants accused of violating the chastity of the Vestals. The contemporary historian Cassius Dio , a sharp critic of Caracalla, claims that the emperor himself wronged the Vestal Clodia Laeta. At that time he was still able to do so; only later did Caracalla become impotent.

Together with Clodia Laeta, the Vestals Aurelia Severa , Pomponia Rufina and Cannutia Crescentina were sentenced to death. The priestess Cannutia Crescentina evaded the classic punishment for unchaste vestals by suicide.

Cassius Dio sees a statement of Clodia Laeta passed down by him on the way to her execution as an indication of Caracalla's perpetration. According to him, she protested her innocence by shouting that the emperor knew of her purity. According to current research, the execution of the four Vestal Virgins took place either in the year 212 or in the first months of the year 213. It is believed that Clodia Laeta was 15 to 20 years old at the time of her death.

literature

François Chausson: Note sur trois Clodii sénatoriaux de la seconde moitié du III ^e siècle. In: Cahiers du Center Gustave-Glotz 9, 1998, pp. 177-213, here: 187-191
Nina Mekacher: The vestal virgins in the Roman Empire . Reichert, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 978-3-89500-499-5 , pp. 36 f., 111 f.

Remarks

^ François Chausson: Note sur trois Clodii sénatoriaux de la seconde moitié du III ^e siècle. In: Cahiers du Center Gustave-Glotz 9, 1998, pp. 177–213, here: 191.
^ Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 78,16,1–2 (English translation) .
↑ Nina Mekacher: The vestal virgins in the Roman Empire , Wiesbaden 2006, p. 36 f .; François Chausson: Note sur trois Clodii sénatoriaux de la seconde moitié du III ^e siècle. In: Cahiers du Center Gustave-Glotz 9, 1998, pp. 177-213, here: 188, 191.

personal data
SURNAME	Laeta, Clodia
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	roman vestal virgin
DATE OF BIRTH	2nd century or 3rd century
DATE OF DEATH	3rd century

[1] François Chausson: Note sur trois Clodii sénatoriaux de la seconde moitié du III ^e siècle. In: Cahiers du Center Gustave-Glotz 9, 1998, pp. 177–213, here: 191.

[2] Cassius Dio, Römische Geschichte 78,16,1–2 (English translation) .

[3] Nina Mekacher: The vestal virgins in the Roman Empire , Wiesbaden 2006, p. 36 f .; François Chausson: Note sur trois Clodii sénatoriaux de la seconde moitié du III ^e siècle. In: Cahiers du Center Gustave-Glotz 9, 1998, pp. 177-213, here: 188, 191.