Fulvia - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Fulvia Flacca Bambula commonly referred to as simply Fulvia, was an aristocratic Roman woman who lived during the Late Roman Republic

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

. Through her marriage to three of the most promising Roman men of her generation, Publius Clodius Pulcher

Publius Clodius Pulcher

Publius Clodius Pulcher was a Roman politician known for his popularist tactics...

, Gaius Scribonius Curio

Gaius Scribonius Curio

Gaius Scribonius Curio was the name of a father and son who lived in the late Roman Republic.-Father:Gaius Scribonius Curio was a Roman statesman and orator. He was nicknamed Burbulieus for the way he moved his body while speaking...

and Mark Antony

Mark Antony

Marcus Antonius , known in English as Mark Antony, was a Roman politician and general. As a military commander and administrator, he was an important supporter and loyal friend of his mother's cousin Julius Caesar...

, she gained access to power. All three husbands were politically active populares
Populares
Populares were aristocratic leaders in the late Roman Republic who relied on the people's assemblies and tribunate to acquire political power. They are regarded in modern scholarship as in opposition to the optimates, who are identified with the conservative interests of a senatorial elite...

, tribunes and supporters of Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar

Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....

. Though she is more famous for her involvement in Antony's career, many scholars believe that she was politically active with all of her husbands.

Fulvia is remembered in the history of the late Roman Republic for her political ambition and activity. She is most famous for her activities during her third marriage and her involvement in the Perusine War of 41-40 BC. She was the first Roman non-mythological woman to appear on Roman coins.

Birth and early life

Fulvia was born and raised either in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

or Tusculum

Tusculum

Tusculum is a ruined Roman city in the Alban Hills, in the Latium region of Italy.-Location:Tusculum is one of the largest Roman cities in Alban Hills. The ruins of Tusculum are located on Tuscolo hill—more specifically on the northern edge of the outer crater ring of the Alban volcano...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. Her date of birth was not recorded in the ancient records. Fulvia was a member of the Fulvian gens

Gens

In ancient Rome, a gens , plural gentes, referred to a family, consisting of all those individuals who shared the same nomen and claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens was called a stirps . The gens was an important social structure at Rome and throughout Italy during the...

which hailed from Tusculum. Maternally, her grandparents were Caius Gracchus and Licinia Crassus, through him she was a great-great granddaughter of Scipio Africanus

Scipio Africanus

Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus , also known as Scipio Africanus and Scipio the Elder, was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic...

, Aemilia Tertia

Aemilia Tertia

Aemilia Tertia, better known as Aemilia Paulla , was the wife of Scipio Africanus , Roman general and statesman...

and Lucius Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus

Lucius Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus

Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus was a two-time consul of the Roman Republic and a noted general who conquered Macedon putting an end to the Antigonid dynasty.-Family:...

, and through her she was related to the Gens Claudia. The Fulvii were one of the most distinguished Republican plebeian

Plebs

The plebs was the general body of free land-owning Roman citizens in Ancient Rome. They were distinct from the higher order of the patricians. A member of the plebs was known as a plebeian...

noble families in Rome; various members of the family achieved consulship and became senators, though no member of the Fulvii are on record as a consul

Consul

Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...

after 125 BC. Fulvia was the only child of Marcus Fulvius Bambalio and Sempronia Tuditani, and may have been the last of their respective noble lines. Her father Marcus received the nickname Bambalio, from the Latin to stutter, because of his hesitancy in speech. Her maternal grandfather was Sempronius Tuditanus, who was described by Cicero

Cicero

Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...

as a madman, who liked to throw his money to the people from the Rostra

Rostra

The Rōstra was a large platform built in the city of Rome that stood during the republican and imperial periods. Speakers would stand on the rostra and face the north side of the comitium towards the senate house and deliver orations to those assembled in between...

First marriage to Clodius Pulcher

Her first marriage was to Publius Clodius Pulcher

Publius Clodius Pulcher

Publius Clodius Pulcher was a Roman politician known for his popularist tactics...

, circa 62 BC. Fulvia and Clodius had two children together, a son also named Publius Clodius Pulcher and a daughter, Clodia Pulchra

Clodia Pulchra

Clodia Pulchra, also known as Claudia was the daughter of Fulvia by her first husband Publius Clodius Pulcher. She was the stepdaughter of Mark Antony and half-sister of Marcus Antonius Antyllus and Iullus Antonius....

. Clodia later married the future Emperor Augustus

Augustus

Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...

. As a couple they went everywhere together. Clodius was a popularis
Populares
Populares were aristocratic leaders in the late Roman Republic who relied on the people's assemblies and tribunate to acquire political power. They are regarded in modern scholarship as in opposition to the optimates, who are identified with the conservative interests of a senatorial elite...

aristocratic politician who was extremely popular with the urban masses. Plutarch

Plutarch

Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...

considered him a demagogue. He is most famous as an enemy of Cicero's owing to his involvement in the Bona Dea

Bona Dea

Bona Dea was a divinity in ancient Roman religion. She was associated with chastity and fertility in women, healing, and the protection of the Roman state and people...

affair. In 62 BC, Clodius dressed as a woman and entered the house of Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar

while the sacred (and female-only) rites of the Bona Dea were being performed. Charged with "incestum", Clodius defended himself by stating that he was not in Rome the day of the sacred rites, an alibi that was refuted by Cicero in court, which started a life-long enmity between the two men.

In 52 BC, Clodius ran for the office of praetor
Praetor
Praetor was a title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to men acting in one of two official capacities: the commander of an army, usually in the field, or the named commander before mustering the army; and an elected magistratus assigned varied duties...

and political competition with a consular rival, Titus Annius Milo

Titus Annius Milo

Titus Annius Milo Papianus was a Roman political agitator, the son of Gaius Papius Celsus, but adopted by his maternal grandfather, Titus Annius Luscus...

, escalated to violence. Clodius was killed on January 18 at the hands of Milo and his gang on the Appian Way

Appian Way

The Appian Way was one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, Apulia, in southeast Italy...

, the road built by his own ancestors. Fulvia first appears in the ancient record after his death. She grieved over his body publicly and dragged it through the streets of Rome which, due to his popularity, incited an angry mob that took his corpse and cremated it in the senate. Fulvia and her mother Sempronia both were present during the trial of Milo, and Fulvia's was the last testimony given by the prosecution. Milo was exiled for his crime.

While alive, Clodius had numerous gangs under his control and Fulvia retained the power and status that came with their loyalty. There is also some evidence that she may have been involved with the organization of the collegia. As Clodius' widow and mother of his children she was also a symbol and reminder of him, and was able to transfer this power to her future husbands.

Second marriage to Scribonius Curio

Her widowhood did not last long as the customary period of mourning for Romans was ten months. Fulvia most likely married her second husband, Gaius Scribonius Curio

Gaius Scribonius Curio

, soon after this period had passed. They were married in 52-51 BC. Like Clodius, Curio was very popular with the plebeians. He was from a less distinguished family than Clodius', being from a new consular family, but he may have had more wealth. Though initially an optimate, Curio became a popularis soon after marrying Fulvia, and continued many of Clodius' popularist policies. He soon became important to Gaius Julius Caesar and Clodian supporters. In 50 BC Curio won election as a tribune

Tribune

Tribune was a title shared by elected officials in the Roman Republic. Tribunes had the power to convene the Plebeian Council and to act as its president, which also gave them the right to propose legislation before it. They were sacrosanct, in the sense that any assault on their person was...

, the year after he married Fulvia.

Curio was killed while fighting for Julius Caesar in North Africa in 49 BC, by the army of King Juba I of Numidia

Juba I of Numidia

Juba I of Numidia was a King of Numidia. He was the son and successor to King of Numidia Hiempsal II.- Family :...

. During the civil war Fulvia was most likely in Rome or nearby, due to Caesar's troops taking over Italy. At the time she would have had her two children by Clodius and was either pregnant with Curio's son or had delivered him.

Third marriage to Mark Antony

After Curio's death in Africa, Fulvia was still an important widow in elite circles. She provided an important tie to Clodius and his clientela
Patronage in ancient Rome
Patronage was the distinctive relationship in ancient Roman society between the patronus and his client . The relationship was hierarchical, but obligations were mutual. The patronus was the protector, sponsor, and benefactor of the client...

, had proven her fertility, and could offer a husband money and political organization. Also, her husband would become the stepfather of Clodius' children, further linking him to Clodian politics.

Fulvia's third and final marriage was to Mark Antony

Mark Antony

in 47 or 46 BC, a few years after Curio's death, although Cicero suggested that Fulvia and Antony had had a relationship since 58 BC. Cicero wrote about their relationship in his Philippics as a way of attacking Antony. According to him, while Fulvia and Antony were married, Antony once left a military post to sneak back into Rome during the night and personally deliver a love letter to Fulvia describing his love for her and how he had stopped seeing the famous actress Cytheris. Cicero also suggested that Antony married Fulvia for her money. At the time of their marriage, Antony was an established politician. He had already been tribune in 49 BC, commanded armies under Caesar and was Master of the Horse

Master of the Horse

The Master of the Horse was a position of varying importance in several European nations.-Magister Equitum :...

in 47 BC. As a couple, they were a formidable political force in Rome, and had two sons together, Marcus Antonius Antyllus

Marcus Antonius Antyllus

Marcus Antonius Antyllus was known as Marcus Antonius Minor to distinguish him from his famous father, the Roman Triumvir Marc Antony . He was also called Antyllus — a nickname given to him by his father...

and Iullus Antonius

Iullus Antonius

Iullus Antonius , also known as Iulus, Julus or Jullus, was the second son of Mark Antony and his third wife Fulvia. He is best known for being the famous lover of Julia the Elder...

.

Plutarch believed that Fulvia heavily influenced Antony, and that former Clodian policies were continued through him. Throughout their marriage, Fulvia defended Antony from Cicero's attacks, sustained his popularity with his soldiers and hindered Octavian's ascension to power. In fact, Fulvia still retained the support of gangs formerly ruled by her first husband, Clodius. Antony was able to gather that support by publicly associating himself with Clodius' children. Through Fulvia, Antony was able to use Clodius' gangs in his own gang wars against Dolabella

Dolabella

Dolabella was a plebian family within the patrician Cornelia gens in ancient Rome. Notable individuals include:*Publius Cornelius Dolabella , consul in 283 BC*Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella, consul in 159 BC...

.

After Gaius Julius Caesar was assassinated, Antony became the most powerful man in Rome. Fulvia was heavily involved in the political aftermath. After Caesar's death, the senate realized his popularity and declared that they would pass all of Caesar's planned laws. Antony had attained possession of Caesar's papers, and with the ability to produce papers in support of any law, Fulvia and Antony made a fortune and gained immense power. She allegedly accompanied Antony to his military camp at Brundisium in 44 BC. Appian

Appian

Appian of Alexandria was a Roman historian of Greek ethnicity who flourished during the reigns of Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius.He was born ca. 95 in Alexandria. He tells us that, after having filled the chief offices in the province of Egypt, he went to Rome ca. 120, where he practised as...

wrote that in December 44 and again in 41 BC, while Antony was abroad and Cicero campaigned for Antony to be declared an enemy of the state, Fulvia attempted to block such declarations by soliciting support on Antony's behalf.

Antony formed the second triumvirate

Second Triumvirate

The Second Triumvirate is the name historians give to the official political alliance of Octavius , Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, and Mark Antony, formed on 26 November 43 BC with the enactment of the Lex Titia, the adoption of which marked the end of the Roman Republic...

with Octavian (the future emperor Augustus) and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir)

Marcus Aemilius Lepidus , was a Roman patrician who rose to become a member of the Second Triumvirate and Pontifex Maximus. His father, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, had been involved in a rebellion against the Roman Republic.Lepidus was among Julius Caesar's greatest supporters...

on 43 BC and began to conduct proscriptions. To solidify the political alliance, Fulvia's daughter Clodia was married to the young Octavian. Appian and Cassius Dio describe Fulvia as being involved in the violent proscriptions, which were used to destroy enemies and gain badly needed funds to secure control of Rome. Antony pursued his political enemies, chief among them being Cicero, who had openly criticized him for abusing his powers as consul after Caesar's assassination. Though many ancient sources wrote that Fulvia was happy to take revenge against Cicero for Antony's and Clodius' sake, Cassius Dio is the only ancient source that describes the joy with which she pierced the tongue of the dead Cicero with her golden hairpins, as a final revenge against Cicero's power of speech.

Perusine War (41 BC to 40 BC) and Fulvia's Death

In 42 BC, Antony and Octavian left Rome to pursue Julius Caesar's assassins, Marcus Junius Brutus

Marcus Junius Brutus

Marcus Junius Brutus , often referred to as Brutus, was a politician of the late Roman Republic. After being adopted by his uncle he used the name Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, but eventually returned to using his original name...

and Gaius Cassius Longinus

Gaius Cassius Longinus

Gaius Cassius Longinus was a Roman senator, a leading instigator of the plot to kill Julius Caesar, and the brother in-law of Marcus Junius Brutus.-Early life:...

. Fulvia was left behind as the most powerful woman in Rome. According to Cassius Dio, Fulvia controlled the politics of Rome. Dio wrote that "the following year Publius Servilius and Lucius Antonius

Lucius Antonius (brother of Mark Antony)

Lucius Antonius was the younger brother and supporter of Mark Antony, a Roman politician.Lucius was son of Marcus Antonius Creticus, son of the rhetorician Marcus Antonius Orator executed by Gaius Marius' supporters in 86 BC, and Julia Antonia, a cousin of Julius Caesar...

nominally became consuls, but in reality it was Antonius and Fulvia. She, the mother-in‑law of Octavian and wife of Antony, had no respect for Lepidus because of his slothfulness, and managed affairs herself, so that neither the senate nor the people transacted any business contrary to her pleasure."

Shortly afterwards, the triumvirs then distributed the provinces among them. Lepidus took the west and Antony went to Egypt, where he met Cleopatra VII. When Octavian returned to Rome in 41 BC to disperse land to Caesar's veterans, he divorced Fulvia's daughter and accused Fulvia of aiming at supreme power. Fearing that Octavian was gaining the veterans' loyalty at the expense of Antony, Fulvia traveled constantly with her children to the new settlements in order to remind the veterans of their debt to Antony. Fulvia also attempted to delay the land settlements until Antony returned to Rome, so that the two triumvirs could share the credit. With Octavian in Italy and Antony abroad, Fulvia allied with her brother-in-law Lucius Antonius and publicly endorsed Mark Antony in opposition to Octavian.

These actions caused political and social unrest. In 41 BC, tensions between Octavian and Fulvia escalated to war in Italy. According to Appian, Fulvia was a central cause of the war, due to her jealousy of Antony and Cleopatra's affair in Egypt; she may have escalated the tensions between Octavian and Lucius in order to draw back Antony's attention to Italy. However, Appian also wrote that the other main causes were the selfish ambition of the commanders and their inability to control their own soldiers.

Together with Lucius Antonius, she raised eight legions in Italy to fight for Antony's rights against Octavian, an event known as the Perusine War. The army occupied Rome for a short time, and Lucius organized his troops at Praeneste, but eventually retreated to Perusia

Perusia

The ancient Perusia, now Perugia, first appears in history as one of the 12 confederate cities of Etruria. It is first mentioned in the account of the war of 310 or 309 BC between the Etruscans and the Romans...

(modern Perugia

Perugia

Perugia is the capital city of the region of Umbria in central Italy, near the River Tiber, and the capital of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area....

), where Octavian besieged him. Lucius waited for Antony's legions in Gaul

Gaul

Gaul was a region of Western Europe during the Iron Age and Roman era, encompassing present day France, Luxembourg and Belgium, most of Switzerland, the western part of Northern Italy, as well as the parts of the Netherlands and Germany on the left bank of the Rhine. The Gauls were the speakers of...

to come to his aid. However, unaware of the war, Antony was still in the eastern provinces, and his legions were unsure of his commands and did not assist Lucius. Though during this conflict, Fulvia was at Praeneste, there is evidence she helped Lucius. According to Appian, she "urged Ventidius, Asinius, and Calenus from Gaul to help Lucius, and having gathered another army, she sent it to Lucius under the command of Plancus." During the war, Octavian's soldiers at Perusia used sling bullets inscribed with insults directed at Fulvia personally and Octavian wrote a vulgar epigram

Epigram

An epigram is a brief, interesting, usually memorable and sometimes surprising statement. Derived from the epigramma "inscription" from ἐπιγράφειν epigraphein "to write on inscribe", this literary device has been employed for over two millennia....

directed at her in 40 BC, as recorded by Martial

Martial

Marcus Valerius Martialis , was a Latin poet from Hispania best known for his twelve books of Epigrams, published in Rome between AD 86 and 103, during the reigns of the emperors Domitian, Nerva and Trajan...

Spiteful censor of the Latin Language, read

six insolent verses of Caesar Augustus:

"Because Antony fucks Glaphyra, Fulvia has arranged

this punishment for me: that I fuck her too.

That I fuck Fulvia? What if Manius begged me

to bugger him? Would I? I don't think so, if I were sane

'Either fuck or let's fight,' she says. Doesn't she know

my prick is dearer to me than life itself? Let the trumpets blare!"

Augustus, you certainly grant my clever little books pardon,

since you are the expert at speaking with Roman frankness

The siege at Perusia lasted two months before Octavian starved Lucius into surrender in February 40 BC. After Lucius' surrender, Fulvia fled to Greece with her children. Appian writes that she met Antony in Athens, and he was upset with her involvement in the war. Antony then sailed back to Rome to deal with Octavian, and Fulvia died of an unknown illness in exile in Sicyon

Sicyon

Sikyon was an ancient Greek city situated in the northern Peloponnesus between Corinth and Achaea on the territory of the present-day prefecture of Corinthia...

, near Corinth

Corinth

Corinth is a city and former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Corinth, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit...

, Achaea

Achaea (Roman province)

Achaea, or Achaia, was a province of the Roman Empire, consisting of the Peloponnese, eastern Central Greece and parts of Thessaly. It bordered on the north by the provinces of Epirus vetus and Macedonia...

. After her death, Antony and Octavian used it as an opportunity to blame their quarrelling on her. According to Plutarch

Plutarch

, "there was even more opportunity for a reconciliation with Caesar. For when Antony reached Italy, and Caesar manifestly intended to make no charges against him, and Antony himself was ready to put upon Fulvia the blame for whatever was charged against himself."
After Fulvia's death, Antony married Octavian's sister, Octavia Minor

Octavia Minor

Octavia the Younger , also known as Octavia Minor or simply Octavia, was the sister of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus , half-sister of Octavia the Elder, and fourth wife of Mark Antony...

, to publicly demonstrate his reconciliation with Octavian. Antony never regained his position and influence in Italy.

Once Antony and Octavia were married, she took in and reared all of Fulvia's children. The fate of Fulvia’s daughter, Clodia Pulchra, after her divorce from Octavian is unknown. Her son Marcus Antonius Antyllus

Marcus Antonius Antyllus

was executed by Octavian in Alexandria

Alexandria

Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

, Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

in 30 BC. Her youngest child, Iullus Antonius

Iullus Antonius

Iullus Antonius , also known as Iulus, Julus or Jullus, was the second son of Mark Antony and his third wife Fulvia. He is best known for being the famous lover of Julia the Elder...

, was spared by Octavian and raised from 40 BC by Octavia Minor. Iullus married Octavia's daughter and Octavian's niece Claudia Marcella Major

Claudia Marcella

Claudia Marcella was the name of the two daughters of Octavia Minor, the sister of Emperor Augustus, by her first husband, the consul Gaius Claudius Marcellus Minor. According to Suetonius, they were known as The Marcellae sisters. The sisters were born in Rome...

and they had three children: two sons Lucius Antonius

Lucius Antonius (grandson of Mark Antony)

Lucius Antonius was the eldest son of Iullus Antonius and Claudia Marcella Major. He was the grandson of triumvir Mark Antony and Octavia . Lucius' younger siblings were Gaius Antonius and Iulla Antonia...

, Gaius Antonius

Gaius Antonius

Gaius Antonius was the second son of Marcus Antonius Creticus and Julia Antonia, and thus, younger brother of Mark Antony, triumvir and enemy of Caesar Augustus.-Early life:...

and a daughter Iulla Antonia

Iulla Antonia

Iulla Antonia or Julia Antonia, was a daughter of Roman consul Iullus Antonius and Claudia Marcella Major. Her elder brothers were Lucius Antonius and Gaius Antonius...

Birth and early life

First marriage to Clodius Pulcher

Second marriage to Scribonius Curio

Third marriage to Mark Antony

Perusine War (41 BC to 40 BC) and Fulvia's Death

See also