Pompeia Plotina
| Pompeia Plotina | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Augusta | |||||
 Bust of Plotina, exhibited in theVatican Museums. | |||||
| Roman empress | |||||
| Tenure | 98 – 117 | ||||
| Born | Tejada la Vieja,HispaniaorNemausus,Gaul | ||||
| Died | 121/122 | ||||
| Spouse | Trajan | ||||
| |||||
| Dynasty | Nerva–Antonine | ||||
| Father | Lucius Pompeius | ||||
Pompeia Plotina(died 121/122) wasRoman empressfrom 98 to 117 as the wife ofTrajan.She was renowned for her interest in philosophy, and her virtue, dignity and simplicity. She was particularly devoted to theEpicureanphilosophical school inAthens,Greece.[1]She is often viewed as having provided Romans with fairer taxation, improved education, assisted the poor, and created tolerance in Roman society.
Early life
[edit]Plotina was raised in Tejada la Vieja (Escacena del Campo) in the province ofHispania.She was possibly born in Nemausus (Nîmes) during the reign of the Roman EmperorNero(r. 54–68), however she could have been born in the 70s. She was the daughter of Lucius Pompeius. Another woman from Nemausus named Pompeia L. f. Marullina may have been her relative;[2]historianChristian Settipaniproposed that they may have been sisters.[3]Based on her cognomen Plotina her mother may have been named Plotia or similar.[4]In Pompeii an inscription names an Ulpia Plotina,[a]leading to the idea that Pompeia Plotina and Trajan were related. Little is known about Plotina's early life.
Marriage and life as Empress
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Trajan married Plotina before he became emperor, and their marriage was happy; they had no known children, probably due to the fact that Trajan himself was primarily interested in males.
Upon entering the imperial palace following Trajan's ascension, Plotina is said to have turned to those watching her and carefully announced, "I enter here the kind of woman I would like to be when I depart."[6]She sought to dispel the memories of the domestic strife that had plagued the reign ofDomitianand theJulio-Claudian dynasty.Plotina behaved in the manner of a traditional Roman matron, and she was associated with chaste goddesses such asVesta(the guardian of Rome's sacred fire) andMinerva(goddess of war and wisdom).[7]She was famous for her intimacy with her husband and for having political influence in the circles of the Roman elite; she played an important role in establishing relations between the emperor and the senate, the provincials, and other groups. She achieved the adoption of laws that limited the extortions of governors in the Roman provinces. She also insisted on the creation of funds to pay alimony to orphans in Italy and to protect children abandoned at birth. She also favored the reduction of taxes and the establishment of schools for the education of common people. In 100, Trajan awarded her with the title ofAugusta,but she did not accept the title until 105. Plotina did not appear on coinage until 112.[1]
When the future emperorHadrianand his sister were 10 or 11 years old, they lost their parents. Trajan and the Roman officerPublius Acilius Attianusbecame the children's guardians. Hadrian was a first cousin-once-removed to Trajan (Trajan's father and Hadrian's paternal grandmother were siblings). Plotina matched Hadrian with his future wifeVibia Sabina.[8]
Death of Trajan and accession of Hadrian
[edit]In 117, Trajan was on his deathbed atSelinusin Cilicia, where he was said to have written a letter in which he personally adopted Hadrian as successor to the Empire. The letter had been signed by the Empress Plotina, and when it arrived in Rome, it was suspect. Rumour named Attianus and Plotina as lovers—the two were very close to their ward Hadrian and the two had been present at Trajan's death—and they were rumoured to have forged Trajan's will to secure Hadrian's succession.[1][9]
Annelise Freisenbruch dismisses this accusation: "Plotina, the silent spouse of the second century, thus joinedLivia,Agrippina the Younger,andDomitiain the gallery of Roman imperial women accused of covering up or conspiring in their husband's deaths. "Freisenbruch notes that there are many plausible explanations why Plotina's signature might legitimately be on this declaration: Trajan may have simply been too weak to sign the letter himself. Freisenbruch also notes these kinds of accusations have dogged the spouses of rulers through the centuries.[10]
Along with Attianus andMatidia,the grieving widow Plotina accompanied Trajan's body toSeleuciaand his ashes to Rome.[9]
Later years
[edit]While Plotina was a widow, her best-documented act took place. During the year 121, while the emperor Hadrian was inspecting the provinces, Plotina engaged him in a series of letters to discuss who should be the new head of theEpicureanschool of philosophy inAthens.She petitioned for a change in the law, so that Popillius Theotimus, the acting head of the school, could become the official head; in response, Hadrian agreed with her argument, and the relevant letters were preserved in a series of inscriptions. Freisenbruch notes, "In stark contrast to her passive anonymity in the literary record, this inscription from Athens recasts Plotina as a highly educated woman, active on behalf of causes close to her heart and with the kind of access to the emperor once enjoyed by Livia."[11]
Plotina died of illness, and wasdeified.Her ashes joined Trajan's in the base ofTrajan's Column.In 123, Hadrian built abasilicain her honor atNîmes,inProvence.[12]
Nerva–Antonine family tree
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Except where otherwise noted, the notes below indicate that an individual's parentage is as shown in the above family tree.
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References:
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Notes
[edit]- ^Possibly the same person asUlpia, the grandmother of Hadrian.[5]
References
[edit]- ^abcSimon Hornblower and Anthony Spawforth-E.A. (edd.),Oxford Classical Dictionary,Oxford University Press,2003, p. 1214.
- ^Syme, Ronald (2002).The Roman Revolution.Oxford paperbacks. Vol. 1. American Council of Learned Societies (illustrated, new ed.). OUP Oxford. p. 502.ISBN9780192803207.
- ^Settipani, Christian (2000).Continuité gentilice et continuité familiale dans les familles sénatoriales romaines à l'époque impériale: mythe et réalité.Prosopographica et genealogica (in Italian). Vol. 2 (illustrated ed.). Unit for Prosopographical Research, Linacre College, University of Oxford. p. 407.ISBN9781900934022.
- ^Gildersleeve, Basil; Miller, Charles William Emil; Meritt, Benjamin Dean; Frank, Tenney; Cherniss, Harold Fredrik; Thompson Rowell, Henry (1991).American Journal of Philology.Vol. 12. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 515.
- ^Cooley, Alison E. (2012).The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy.Cambridge University Press. p. 101.ISBN9781139576604.
- ^Dio Cassius,LXVIII, 5
- ^Annalise, Freisenbruch(2010).Caesars' Wives: Sex, Power, and Politics in the Roman Empire.London and New York: Free Press. pp. 159–161.
- ^Historia Augusta,"Hadrian", 3; translated by Anthony Birley,Lives of the Later Caesars(Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976), p. 59
- ^abJackson, Nicholas (2022).Trajan: Rome's Last Conqueror(1st ed.). Chapter: Conspiracy, Death and Deification: GreenHill Books.ISBN978-1784387075.
- ^Freisenbruch,Caesars’ Wives,pp. 162f
- ^Freisenbruch,Caesars’ Wives,pp. 163f
- ^Bennett, Julian(1997).Trajan: Optimum Princeps.London:Routledge.p. 26.ISBN0-203-36056-7.
Further reading
[edit]- (in French)Minaud, Gérard,Les vies de 12 femmes d’empereur romain - Devoirs, Intrigues & Voluptés,Paris, L’Harmattan, 2012, ch. 6,La vie de Plotine, femme de Trajan,pp. 147–168.
- (in German)Temporini, Hildegard,Die Frauen am Hofe Trajans. Ein Beitrag zur Stellung der Augustae im Principat,Berlin, De Gruyter, 1979, pp. 10–183.
External links
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