Pomponia Graecina
Encyclopedia
Pomponia Graecina was a noble Roman
woman of the 1st century who was related to the Julio-Claudian dynasty
. She was the wife of Aulus Plautius
, the general who led the Roman conquest of Britain
in 43, and was renowned as one of the few people who dared to publicly mourn the death of a kinswoman killed by the Imperial family. It has been speculated that she was an early Christian
, and is identified by some as Lucina or Lucy, a saint honoured by the Roman Catholic Church
.
, who was suffect consul
in 16 and a correspondent of Ovid
. Graecinus' wife was Asinia, sister of Gaius Asinius Pollio
, and through her Pomponia was related to the Imperial family.
Asinia's father, Gaius Asinius Gallus
, was consul in 8 BC, and her mother Vipsania
, was the daughter of the general and politician Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa
. By her former husband, the future emperor Tiberius
, Vipsania was also the mother of Drusus the Younger
. Vipsania's half-siblings, from her father's marriage to Augustus
' daughter Julia
, included Agrippina the Elder
, mother of the emperor Caligula
and Agrippina the Younger
, who was the mother of Nero
and wife of Claudius
.
Other notable ancestors on her mother's side include the historian and senator Gaius Asinius Pollio
, who was consul in 40 BC.
(d. by 65), a senator
and general who led the Roman conquest of Britain in 43, for which he later received a military ovation
, and governed Roman Britain
until 47. A younger Aulus Plautius, probably their son, was murdered by the emperor Nero, supposedly because Nero's mother Agrippina had fallen in love with him and encouraged him to bid for the throne.
In 43, Pomponia's relative Julia
, daughter of her uncle Julius Caesar Drusus
, was executed on the orders of her maternal uncle, the emperor Claudius
at the instigation of the empress Valeria Messalina. Pomponia spent the next forty years in open mourning in defiance of successive emperors. She escaped punishment for this, possibly as a result of her own illustrious ancestry and her husband's sterling military reputation, which gave her prestige. According to Tacitus
, Pomponia lived a long, unhappy life, possibly as a result of her son's murder and the deaths of several relatives associated with the Imperial family. In 57 Pomponia was charged with practicing a "foreign superstition", which has been taken by some to mean conversion to Christianity
, although there were other regulated cults in ancient Rome. According to ancient Roman tradition, she was tried by her husband before her kinsmen, and acquitted.
Inscriptions in the catacombs of Saint Callistus in Rome
suggest that later members of Pomponia’s family were indeed Christians. The archaeologist Battista de Rossi controversially identifies her with Saint Lucina, the purported donor of the part of the catacombs where the inscriptions were found, and suggests that Lucina was Pomponia's baptismal name. Saint Lucina is honored by the Roman Catholic Church
on the 30 June. She is said to have visited the martyrs Martinian and Processus
, the two former guards at the Mamertine Prison
who had been converted by their prisoner Saint Peter
, in prison, and buried their bodies after their execution.
's 1895 historical novel Quo Vadis
. The novel presents both Pomponia and her adoptive daughter as secret Christians, something that Plautius either does not know or chooses to ignore. In the 1951 film adaptation
she was played by Nora Swinburne
.
Pomponia is portrayed in When the Eagle Hunts
, a novel of historical fiction from the Eagle Series
by Simon Scarrow
. In the story, Pomponia and her two children are captured and held hostage by Druids resisting the Roman invasion of Britain, while a rescue is attempted by the series' two main characters.
Giovanni Pascoli
's poem Pomponia Graecina won him the gold medal at the Certamen Hoeufftianum in 1910.
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
woman of the 1st century who was related to the Julio-Claudian dynasty
Julio-Claudian Dynasty
The Julio-Claudian dynasty normally refers to the first five Roman Emperors: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula , Claudius, and Nero, or the family to which they belonged; they ruled the Roman Empire from its formation, in the second half of the 1st century BC, until AD 68, when the last of the line,...
. She was the wife of Aulus Plautius
Aulus Plautius
Aulus Plautius was a Roman politician and general of the mid-1st century. He began the Roman conquest of Britain in 43, and became the first governor of the new province, serving from 43 to 47.-Career:...
, the general who led the Roman conquest of Britain
Roman conquest of Britain
The Roman conquest of Britain was a gradual process, beginning effectively in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, whose general Aulus Plautius served as first governor of Britannia. Great Britain had already frequently been the target of invasions, planned and actual, by forces of the Roman Republic and...
in 43, and was renowned as one of the few people who dared to publicly mourn the death of a kinswoman killed by the Imperial family. It has been speculated that she was an early Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, and is identified by some as Lucina or Lucy, a saint honoured by the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
.
Family background
Pomponia's background is not entirely certain, but can be reconstructed as follows. Her father was probably Gaius Pomponius GraecinusGaius Pomponius Graecinus
Gaius Pomponius Graecinus was a Roman politician who was suffect consul in 16. He was probably a novus homo raised to the Senate by Augustus. He was a friend and patron of the poet Ovid, who addressed three letters of his Epistulae ex Ponto to him c...
, who was suffect consul
Roman consul
A consul served in the highest elected political office of the Roman Republic.Each year, two consuls were elected together, to serve for a one-year term. Each consul was given veto power over his colleague and the officials would alternate each month...
in 16 and a correspondent of Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
. Graecinus' wife was Asinia, sister of Gaius Asinius Pollio
Gaius Asinius Pollio (consul AD 23)
Gaius Asinius Pollio, son of Gaius Asinius Gallus and Vipsania Agrippina, was a Roman politician.He was consul in AD 23 alongside Gaius Antistius Vetus. We know from his coins he was proconsul of Asia. Through his mother he was the half-brother of the younger Drusus...
, and through her Pomponia was related to the Imperial family.
Asinia's father, Gaius Asinius Gallus
Gaius Asinius Gallus
Gaius Asinius Gallus Saloninus was an ambitious Roman Senator with family connections to the Julio-Claudian house. Asinius Gallus was consul in 8 BC, and proconsul of Asia in 6 BC/5 BC. He was a friend of Emperor Augustus and opposed Emperor Tiberius. He introduced measures to the senate to...
, was consul in 8 BC, and her mother Vipsania
Vipsania Agrippina
Not to be confused with Agrippina the Elder, Agrippa's daughter by Julia the Elder.Vipsania Agrippina was the daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa from his first wife Pomponia Caecilia Attica, granddaughter of Cicero's friend and knight Titus Pomponius Atticus. Her maternal grandmother was a...
, was the daughter of the general and politician Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa was a Roman statesman and general. He was a close friend, son-in-law, lieutenant and defense minister to Octavian, the future Emperor Caesar Augustus...
. By her former husband, the future emperor Tiberius
Tiberius
Tiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
, Vipsania was also the mother of Drusus the Younger
Julius Caesar Drusus
Nero Claudius Drusus, later Drusus Julius Caesar was the only child of Roman Emperor Tiberius and his first wife, Vipsania Agrippina...
. Vipsania's half-siblings, from her father's marriage to 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...
' daughter Julia
Julia the Elder
Julia the Elder , known to her contemporaries as Julia Caesaris filia or Julia Augusti filia was the daughter and only biological child of Augustus, the first emperor of the Roman Empire. Augustus subsequently adopted several male members of his close family as sons...
, included Agrippina the Elder
Agrippina the elder
Vipsania Agrippina or most commonly known as Agrippina Major or Agrippina the Elder was a distinguished and prominent granddaughter of the Emperor Augustus. Agrippina was the wife of the general, statesman Germanicus and a relative to the first Roman Emperors...
, mother of the emperor Caligula
Caligula
Caligula , also known as Gaius, was Roman Emperor from 37 AD to 41 AD. Caligula was a member of the house of rulers conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Caligula's father Germanicus, the nephew and adopted son of Emperor Tiberius, was a very successful general and one of Rome's most...
and Agrippina the Younger
Agrippina the Younger
Julia Agrippina, most commonly referred to as Agrippina Minor or Agrippina the Younger, and after 50 known as Julia Augusta Agrippina was a Roman Empress and one of the more prominent women in the Julio-Claudian dynasty...
, who was the mother of Nero
Nero
Nero , was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death....
and wife of Claudius
Claudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
.
Other notable ancestors on her mother's side include the historian and senator Gaius Asinius Pollio
Gaius Asinius Pollio (consul 40 BC)
Gaius Asinius Pollio was a Roman soldier, politician, orator, poet, playwright, literary critic and historian, whose lost contemporary history, provided much of the material for the historians Appian and Plutarch...
, who was consul in 40 BC.
Biography
Pomponia married Aulus PlautiusAulus Plautius
Aulus Plautius was a Roman politician and general of the mid-1st century. He began the Roman conquest of Britain in 43, and became the first governor of the new province, serving from 43 to 47.-Career:...
(d. by 65), a senator
Roman Senate
The Senate of the Roman Republic was a political institution in the ancient Roman Republic, however, it was not an elected body, but one whose members were appointed by the consuls, and later by the censors. After a magistrate served his term in office, it usually was followed with automatic...
and general who led the Roman conquest of Britain in 43, for which he later received a military ovation
Ovation
The ovation was a lower form of the Roman triumph. Ovations were granted, when war was not declared between enemies on the level of states, when an enemy was considered basely inferior or when the general conflict was resolved with little to no bloodshed or danger to the army itself.The general...
, and governed Roman Britain
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
until 47. A younger Aulus Plautius, probably their son, was murdered by the emperor Nero, supposedly because Nero's mother Agrippina had fallen in love with him and encouraged him to bid for the throne.
In 43, Pomponia's relative Julia
Julia (daughter of Drusus the Younger)
Julia Drusi Caesaris Filia was the daughter of Drusus Julius Caesar and Livilla and granddaughter to the Roman Emperor Tiberius.-Chronology:At the time of Emperor Augustus' death in 14 Julia was ill...
, daughter of her uncle Julius Caesar Drusus
Julius Caesar Drusus
Nero Claudius Drusus, later Drusus Julius Caesar was the only child of Roman Emperor Tiberius and his first wife, Vipsania Agrippina...
, was executed on the orders of her maternal uncle, the emperor Claudius
Claudius
Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...
at the instigation of the empress Valeria Messalina. Pomponia spent the next forty years in open mourning in defiance of successive emperors. She escaped punishment for this, possibly as a result of her own illustrious ancestry and her husband's sterling military reputation, which gave her prestige. According to Tacitus
Tacitus
Publius Cornelius Tacitus was a senator and a historian of the Roman Empire. The surviving portions of his two major works—the Annals and the Histories—examine the reigns of the Roman Emperors Tiberius, Claudius, Nero and those who reigned in the Year of the Four Emperors...
, Pomponia lived a long, unhappy life, possibly as a result of her son's murder and the deaths of several relatives associated with the Imperial family. In 57 Pomponia was charged with practicing a "foreign superstition", which has been taken by some to mean conversion to Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, although there were other regulated cults in ancient Rome. According to ancient Roman tradition, she was tried by her husband before her kinsmen, and acquitted.
Inscriptions in the catacombs of Saint Callistus 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...
suggest that later members of Pomponia’s family were indeed Christians. The archaeologist Battista de Rossi controversially identifies her with Saint Lucina, the purported donor of the part of the catacombs where the inscriptions were found, and suggests that Lucina was Pomponia's baptismal name. Saint Lucina is honored by the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
on the 30 June. She is said to have visited the martyrs Martinian and Processus
Martinian and Processus
Saints Martinian and Processus or Saints Processus and Martinian were Christian martyrs of ancient Rome.The dates of these martyrs are unknown, as well as the circumstances of their deaths.-Burial:...
, the two former guards at the Mamertine Prison
Mamertine Prison
The Mamertine Prison — or Tullianum — was a prison located in the Forum Romanum in Ancient Rome. It was located on the northeastern slope of the Capitoline Hill, facing the Curia and the imperial fora of Nerva, Vespasian, and Augustus...
who had been converted by their prisoner Saint Peter
Saint Peter
Saint Peter or Simon Peter was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. The son of John or of Jonah and from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, his brother Andrew was also an apostle...
, in prison, and buried their bodies after their execution.
Fictional depictions
Pomponia Graecina and her husband Aulus Plautius are informal adoptive parents of Ligia, the heroine of Henryk SienkiewiczHenryk Sienkiewicz
Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz was a Polish journalist and Nobel Prize-winning novelist. A Polish szlachcic of the Oszyk coat of arms, he was one of the most popular Polish writers at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905 for his...
's 1895 historical novel Quo Vadis
Quo Vadis (novel)
Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero, commonly known as Quo Vadis, is a historical novel written by Henryk Sienkiewicz in Polish. Quo vadis is Latin for "Where are you going?" and alludes to the apocryphal Acts of Peter, in which Peter flees Rome but on his way meets Jesus and asks him why he...
. The novel presents both Pomponia and her adoptive daughter as secret Christians, something that Plautius either does not know or chooses to ignore. In the 1951 film adaptation
Quo Vadis (1951 film)
Quo Vadis is a 1951 epic film made by MGM. It was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and produced by Sam Zimbalist, from a screenplay by John Lee Mahin, S. N. Behrman and Sonya Levien, adapted from Henryk Sienkiewicz's classic 1896 novel Quo Vadis. The music score was by Miklós Rózsa and the cinematography...
she was played by Nora Swinburne
Nora Swinburne
Nora Swinburne was a British actress, born Leonora Mary Johnson in Bath, Somerset, daughter of Henry Swinburne Johnson and his wife Leonora Tamar ....
.
Pomponia is portrayed in When the Eagle Hunts
When the Eagle Hunts
When the Eagle Hunts is a 2002 novel by Simon Scarrow, set in 44 AD during the Roman invasion of Britain. It is the third book in the Eagle Series.-Plot summary:...
, a novel of historical fiction from the Eagle Series
Eagle Series
The Eagle Series is a military fiction series written by Simon Scarrow. The books describe the lives of two soldiers in the Roman army- Quintus Licinius Cato and Lucius Cornelius Macro. The first 5 books in the series are set in Roman Britain, between the years AD 42 and 44. The Eagle's Prophecy...
by Simon Scarrow
Simon Scarrow
Simon Scarrow is a UK-based author, born in Nigeria and now based in Norfolk. He completed a master's degree at the University of East Anglia after working at the Inland Revenue, and then went into teaching as a lecturer, firstly at East Norfolk Sixth Form College, then at City College Norwich.He...
. In the story, Pomponia and her two children are captured and held hostage by Druids resisting the Roman invasion of Britain, while a rescue is attempted by the series' two main characters.
Giovanni Pascoli
Giovanni Pascoli
Giovanni Placido Agostino Pascoli was an Italian poet and classical scholar.- Biography :Giovanni Pascoli was born at San Mauro di Romagna , into a well-to-do family. He was the fourth of ten children of Ruggero Pascoli and Caterina Vincenzi Alloccatelli...
's poem Pomponia Graecina won him the gold medal at the Certamen Hoeufftianum in 1910.