Everything about Lucilla totally explained
Annia Aurelia Galeria Lucilla (
March 7,
148 or
150-
182) was the second
daughter and third
child of
Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and Roman Empress
Faustina the Younger and an elder
sister to future Roman Emperor
Commodus.
Lucilla was the younger twin. Her elder brother Gemellus Lucillae died around 150. She was born and raised in
Rome. Lucilla’s maternal grandparents were Roman Emperor
Antoninus Pius and Roman Empress
Faustina the Elder and her paternal grandparents were
Domitia Lucilla and praetor Marcus Annius Verus.
Lucilla in
161, was betrothed to her father’s co-ruler
Lucius Verus and they married in
164, in
Ephesus. At that time, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus were a fighting a
Parthian war in
Syria. She received the title of
Augusta and became a Roman Empress.
Lucilla bore Lucius three children: two daughters and a son. The first daughter was born in
165 in
Antioch. The elder daughter and son died young. Lucilla was an influential and respectable woman and she enjoyed her status. She spent much time in Rome, while Lucius was away from Rome much of the time, fulfilling his duties as a co-ruler. Lucius died around
168/169.
Sometime in
169, Marcus Aurelius forced her to marry Tiberius
Claudius Pompeianus Quintianus, a Syrian Roman who was twice consul and a political ally to her father. Lucilla and her mother were against this marriage, because Quintianus was an older man and Lucilla preferred to marry a younger man. Lucilla around
170, bore Quintianus a son called
Pompeianus.
Lucilla and Quintianus accompanied Marcus Aurelius in
172, to
Vienna in support of the Danube military campaign. They were with him until March 17
180, when her father died and Commodus became the new emperor. They returned to Rome and any hope of Lucilla becoming empress again was now lost.
Lucilla wasn't happy living as a quiet, private citizen in Rome and became jealous of her brother and her sister-in-law because of all the attention that they received. Also she became very concerned due to the unstable behaviour of her brother.
In
182 Lucilla, her daughter from her first marriage, her nephew-in-marriage and with help from her paternal cousins the former consul Marcus Ummidius Quadratus and his sister Ummidia Cornificia Faustina, had planned to assassinate
Commodus and replace him with her husband and herself as the new rulers of Rome.
Quintianus’ nephew of the same name burst from his place of hiding with a dagger, trying to stab Commodus. He said to him "Here is the dagger the senate sends to you", giving away his intentions before he'd the chance to act. The guards were faster than he was. He was overpowered and disarmed without doing the emperor any harm.
Commodus had ordered the deaths of her nephew-in-marriage and Marcus Ummidius Quadratus. Lucilla, her daughter and Ummidia Cornificia Faustina were banished to the Italian island of
Capri. The Emperor then sent a centurion to Capri to execute the three women later that year.
In the movie
The Fall of the Roman Empire, Lucilla is played by
Sophia Loren and in the film
Gladiator she was played by
Connie Nielsen.
Sources
Further Information
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