Plautia (mother of Aelius Caesar)

Plautia was a Roman woman of senatorial rank whom Classical scholars believe lived in the late first century and early second century AD. No direct evidence of her existence has yet been found. Ronald Syme comments about her situation, "Plautia exemplifies a common phenomenon in the history of Imperial Rome; a fragment of knowledge rescued from the waters of oblivion, but a figure of consequence in the social and political history of the time."

History

Edmund Groag first suggested her existence to explain otherwise baffling and contradictory statements about the familial relationships of senators related to the Antonine dynasty, taking her name from Avidia Plautia, daughter of Gaius Avidius Nigrinus, suffect consul in 110. Syme later identified more of her husbands and children, wryly commenting that while "it would be refreshing to discover aspects of social life not revealed in the correspondence of Pliny (divorce has no place in his decorous pages)", he admits the alternative to accepting Plautia's existence was to assume "Hadrian, freshly married to Vibia Sabina, chose to seduce the wife of Ceionius Commodus." More recently, Anthony Birley accepted her existence by placing her in his family tree of the relatives of Lucius Aelius Caesar, where she appears as the daughter of Lucius Aelius Lamia Plautius Aelianus, suffect consul in 80.

Issue

Plautia is believed to have married three different men, by whom she had at least four children:

• Lucius Ceionius Commodus, consul in 106
  • Lucius Aelius Caesar, father of the emperor Lucius Verus;
  • A Ceionius, identified as the surmised father of Marcus Caeionius Silvanus, consul in 156;
• Second wife of Gaius Avidius Nigrinus, suffect consul in 110, who died in the year 118
  • Avidia Plautia who married Lucius Titius Epidius Aquilinus
• Second wife of Sextus Vettulenus Civica Cerialis, consul in 106
  • Marcus Vettulenus Civica Barbarus, consul in 157

Nerva–Antonine family tree

Nerva–Antonine family tree
Q. Marcius Barea Soranus Q. Marcius Barea Sura Antonia Furnilla M. Cocceius Nerva Sergia Plautilla P. Aelius Hadrianus Titus (r. 79–81) Marcia Furnilla Marcia Trajanus Pater Nerva (r. 96–98) Ulpia Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus Flavia Marciana C. Salonius Matidius Trajan (r. 98–117) Plotina P. Acilius Attianus P. Aelius Afer Paulina Major Lucius Mindius (2) Libo Rupilius Frugi (3) Salonia Matidia L. Vibius Sabinus (1) Paulina Minor L. Julius Ursus Servianus Matidia Minor Sabina Hadrian (r. 117–138) Antinous C. Fuscus Salinator I Julia Serviana Paulina M. Annius Verus Rupilia Faustina Boionia Procilla Cn. Arrius Antoninus L. Ceionius Commodus Appia Severa C. Fuscus Salinator II L. Caesennius Paetus Arria Antonina Arria Fadilla T. Aurelius Fulvus L. Caesennius Antoninus L. Commodus Plautia unknown C. Avidius Nigrinus M. Annius Verus Calvisia Domitia Lucilla Fundania M. Annius Libo Faustina Antoninus Pius (r. 138–161) L. Aelius Caesar Avidia Cornificia Marcus Aurelius (r. 161–180) Faustina Minor C. Avidius Cassius Aurelia Fadilla Lucius Verus (r. 161–169) (1) Ceionia Fabia Plautius Quintillus Q. Servilius Pudens Ceionia Plautia Cornificia Minor M. Petronius Sura Commodus (r. 177–192) Fadilla M. Annius Verus Caesar Ti. Claudius Pompeianus (2) Lucilla M. Plautius Quintillus Junius Licinius Balbus Servilia Ceionia Petronius Antoninus L. Aurelius Agaclytus (2) Aurelia Sabina L. Antistius Burrus (1) Plautius Quintillus Plautia Servilla C. Furius Sabinus Timesitheus Antonia Gordiana Junius Licinius Balbus? Furia Sabina Tranquillina Gordian III (r. 238–244)
(1) = 1st spouse (2) = 2nd spouse (3) = 3rd spouse   Reddish-purple indicates emperor of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty   lighter purple indicates designated imperial heir of said dynasty who never reigned   grey indicates unsuccessful imperial aspirants   bluish-purple indicates emperors of other dynasties dashed lines indicate adoption; dotted lines indicate love affairs/unmarried relationships Small Caps = posthumously deified (Augusti, Augustae, or other)
Notes: Except where otherwise noted, the notes below indicate that an individual's parentage is as shown in the above family tree.
References: DIR contributors (2000). "De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and Their Families". Retrieved 2015-04-14. Giacosa, Giorgio (1977). Women of the Caesars: Their Lives and Portraits on Coins. Translated by R. Ross Holloway. Milan: Edizioni Arte e Moneta. ISBN 0-8390-0193-2. Lambert, Royston (1984). Beloved and God: The Story of Hadrian and Antinous. New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-15708-2. Levick, Barbara (2014). Faustina I and II: Imperial Women of the Golden Age. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-537941-9. Smith, William, ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

See also

• Vistilia
• Postumia (mother of Decimus Brutus Albinus)

Further reading

• Cassio Dione e l'impero romano da Nerva ad Antonino Pio: alla luce dei nuovi by Guido Migliorati, 2003 – Italian Historical Secondary Source
• The Cambridge ancient history, Volume 11 by Alan K. Bowman, Peter Garnsey, Dominic Rathbone Limited preview - Edition: 2 - Item notes: v. 11 – 2000
• Plutarch's Sertorius: A Historical Commentary by C. Konrad; Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1994
• Marcus Aurelius, by Anthony Richard Birley, Routledge, 2000
• A Dictionary of the Roman Empire by Matthew Bunson – 1995