Statilia Messalina Information & Statilia Messalina Links at HealthHaven.com

	Roman imperial dynasties
	Julio-Claudian dynasty
	; Statilia Messalina (?), third wife of Nero
	Chronology
Augustus	27 BC – 14 AD
Tiberius	14 AD – 37 AD
Caligula	37 AD – 41 AD
Claudius	41 AD – 54 AD
Nero	54 AD – 68 AD
	Family
	Gens Julia; Gens Claudia; Julio-Claudian family tree; Category:Julio-Claudian Dynasty
	Succession
Preceded by; Roman Republic	Followed by; Year of the Four Emperors

Statilia Messalina (ca. 35 - after 68) was a Roman patrician woman, a Roman Empress and third wife to Roman Emperor Nero (from 66 to 68).

The ancient sources say little of her family; however, Suetonius states that she was a great-great-granddaughter of Titus Statilius Taurus, a Roman General who won a triumph and was twice consul. She may have been the daughter of Titus Statilius Taurus who was consul in 44 and who was forced to commit suicide in 53. Her grandmother was possibly Valeria Messalina (not to be confused with the third wife of the emperor Claudius), a daughter of Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus, consul in 31 BC. Her first husband was the consul Marcus Julius Vestinus Atticus to whom she may have borne a son (who died in 88). Around 65, she became Nero's mistress. After the death of Nero's second wife Poppaea Sabina, Vestinus was forced to commit suicide in 66, so Nero could marry Statilia.

Although witty and scheming, she was far less flamboyant than her predecessor and kept a rather low profile in the public eye. She was one of the few of Nero's courtiers who survived the fall of his reign. After Nero's death, Otho promised her to marry him, before his suicide in 69.

[edit] See also

Julio-Claudian Family Tree

[edit] References

[edit] Biography

Griffin, Miriam, Nero. The End of a Dynasty. Batsford, London, 1984
Raepsaet-Charlier M.-Th., Prosopographie des femmes de l'ordre sénatorial (Ier-IIe siècles), 2 vol., Louvain, 1987, 360 ff.

[edit] Portraiture

Zanker, P, Fittschen, K., Katalog der römischen Porträts in den Capitolinischen Museen und den anderen kommunalen Sammlungen der Stadt Rom, Mainz am Rhein, 1983, 75, Taf.93.94.

[edit] Ancient

[edit] External links

Coinage of Statilia

Royal titles
Preceded by Poppaea Sabina	Empress of Rome 66-68	Succeeded by Galeria Fundana