Iunia Silana

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Iunia Silana (* around 15; † 59 in Taranto ), called Silana for short , was a Roman senator's daughter, known as an opponent of Agrippina .

Life

Iunia Silana was probably a daughter of Marcus Iunius Silanus Torquatus and Aemilia Lepida , a great-granddaughter of Augustus. She came from "the noble sex, distinguished by origin, beauty, and licentiousness". She was ousted from her marriage to Gaius Silius in 47 by the emperor's wife Messalina .

For a long time she was “very valuable” to Agrippina. But since she dissuaded the young noble Titus Sextius Africanus from marrying the childless Junia Silana, and insulted her as lewd and elderly, the two were "secretly" enemies. In the year 55, Iunia visits the lonely Agrippina, initially “uncertain whether out of love or hate”. Now, out of revenge, Iunia puts two of her clients as plaintiffs, who accused Agrippina of wanting to take over the state again through a marriage to Rubellius Plautus and an overthrow. The news upset Nero so much that he even seriously considered killing his mother. Agrippina's defense, however, led to the exile of Junias.

Not long before Agrippina's death in March 59, Iunia Silana returned to Taranto from a more distant exile, “when Agrippina, through whose enmity she fell, was no longer firm or was finally appeased”, and died soon afterwards.

According to a thesis by R. Verdière, the fictional figure of the viciously beautiful Tryphaena in Petron's Satyricon is drawn after the model of Iunia Silana.

literature

  • Raoul Verdière: La Tryphaena du 'Satyricon' est-elle Iunia Silana? Latomus 15.4 (1956) 551-558.
  • Prosopographia Imperii Romani (PIR²) (1966) I 864.
  • Rudolf Hanslik : Iunius 27. I. Silana , in: Der Kleine Pauly , Vol. 2 (1967), Col. 1561.

Remarks

  1. ↑ R. Hanslik (1967), col. 1561. However, it is possible that she can be regarded as the daughter of Marcus Iunius Silanus (suffect consul 15) and sister of Iunia Claudilla and thus the sister-in-law of Caligula (see Prosopographia Imperii Romani (PIR²) ( 1966) I 864 and Stemma p. 351 with reference to CIL 10, 8296 (inscription on a lead tube found near Antium)).
  2. ^ Tacitus, Annals 13:19.
  3. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 11:12.
  4. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 13: 19-22.
  5. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 14.12.
personal data
SURNAME Iunia Silana
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Silana, Junia; Silana
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman senator's daughter
DATE OF BIRTH at 15
DATE OF DEATH 59
Place of death Tarent