Urgulania

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Urgulania († after 24 AD) was an influential Roman woman during the reign of the emperors Augustus and Tiberius . She was the wife of the Praetor Marcus Plautius Silvanus , the mother of the consul of the same name of the year 2 BC. And the grandmother of the eponymous praetor of the year 24 AD, Publius Plautius Pulcher and Plautia Urgulanilla , the first wife of the future emperor Claudius .

Due to her close friendship with Livia , the wife of Augustus and mother of Tiberius, Urgulania enjoyed a high reputation and probably had great political influence. She is best known to posterity for two remarkable acts reported by the historian Tacitus , namely her refusal to obey a summons to a senate court (AD 16), and for her grandson, Plautius Silvanus, to come forward after the murder killing his wife (24 AD).

In 16 AD Urgulania was charged by Lucius Calpurnius Piso with an offense not specified in the sources. However, she refused to appear in court and instead went to the Imperial Palace, where she placed herself under the protection of Livia, who was personally offended by the charges against her friend and in a politically motivated attack on herself saw. The prosecutor Piso then threatened to have Urgulania forcibly removed from the palace, which brought Emperor Tiberius into dire straits, as he could neither openly support his mother's violation of the law nor allow her to be humiliated by the undoubtedly legal arrest of her friend.

A compromise was finally reached that Urgulania would be interrogated by the praetor responsible at home or in Livia's chambers and that Tiberius would pay the fine Piso demanded for her offense. Urgulania's refusal to appear in court aroused great indignation among contemporaries, as she had thereby assumed a privilege that would not have been accorded even to the Vestals, who were privileged in this regard .

Urgulania used her influence a second time when her grandson Plautius Silvanus murdered his wife Apronia in AD 24 . After the guilt of Silvanus had been proven in an investigation led by Tiberius personally, Urgulania sent him a dagger, which he understood as an invitation to commit suicide, since such a hint from his grandmother, due to her friendship with the empress mother, was to be understood as "an order from the emperor" be.

swell

  • FRD Goodyear: The Annals of Tacitus. Books 1-6. Volume 2: Annals 1.55-81 and Annals 2. Cambridge 1981, pp. 293-295.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Tacitus , Annals 2,34,2.
  2. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 4,21,1.
  3. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 2,34,4: "The praetor was sent to Urgulania to interrogate them at home, although according to ancient custom even vestal virgins have to testify publicly in court if a testimony is required of them".
  4. ^ Tacitus, Annals 4,22.
  5. ↑ Tacitus, Annalen 4,22,2.
personal data
SURNAME Urgulania
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman during the reign of the emperors Augustus and Tiberius
DATE OF BIRTH 1st century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 1st century