Term Paper on
Lollia Paulina: Caligula’s 3rd
Wife
Lollia Paulina was the third wife of
the early Roman Emperor Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (Caligula)
(b. A.D. 12, d. A.D. 41, emperor A.D. 37-41). Caligula represents a
turning point in the early history of the Augustus Principate.
Lollia was married briefly to this emperor who lived for 28 years
till death by a conspiracy. The life of this emperor along with his
related persons has been the most poorly documented of the Julio-Claudian
dynasty. Posterity remembers Gaius by the nickname ‘caliga’ due to a
hob-nailed sandal called caliga, which he used to wear as a baby
when he accompanied his parents on military campaigns in the north.
Lollia Paulina’s life in history is badly littered with the scandals
of Caligua and her own relations of vulgarity. Outlandish stories
also cluster about the insane emperor, illustrating his excessive
cruelty, immoral sexual relations, or disrespect toward tradition
and the Senate 1. Modern scholars have come up with a variety of
explanations for such behavior of Caligaly. Some of them say that he
suffered from an illness; some say he was misunderstood or corrupted
by power.
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Role Of Lollia Paulina
Caligula married for the third time during 38 (Cal. 25.2; Dio
59.12.1; Pliny NH 9.117) to Lollia Paulina who was from a wealthy
family and was noted for her beauty. Caligula having the tendency
for sexual appeals was attracted by her looks. It was Lollia’s looks
that led to her brief relation with Caligula. She was a corrupt
woman with relations to many others. Pliny the Elder saw Lollia at a
dinner party wearing emeralds interlaced with pearls that covered
her head, neck and fingers. Her wealth was oozing from every corner
of her body. At the time she was already married to Publius Memmius
Regulus, former governor of Moesia, Macedonia and Achea since 35
(Ann. 12.22; Dio 58.27.5), a place for which Lollia apparently had
no liking.
Lollia’s marriage with Regulus was not of affection but that of a
compromise. Suetonius says Regulus was also called from his province
to participate in Caligula’s marriage ceremony with Lollia. It is a
fact that Lollia failed to develop and maintain her relations with
the emperor. But this is not entirely her fault but that of the
Caligula as well due to his scandals. Lollia’s life turned another
corner when Caligula married his niece Julia Agrippina in 49 AD.
Lollia failed to bring her connections in the empire for use against
her competitor Agrippina. This failure later led her to exile and
then her murder.
Suetonius and Dio claim that the divorce to Lollia took place just
after the marriage was solemnized (Cal. 25.2; 59.12.1). Lollia was
sterilized and thus Caligula saw no advantage of her other than the
sex desires, which he could fulfill from others as well. But when he
came to know of the pregnancy of Caesaonia by him then he divorced
Lollia.
Lollia was sterilized and therefore it was an advantage to her later
because she would not upset the succession (Ann. 12.2.2; Dio
59.23.7). Suetonius states that Caligula forbade Lollia from
intercourse with a man in perpetuity, lest she should happen to
conceive (Cal. 25.2). Caligula was afraid of the succession and at
the same time he knew of the sexual intercourse Lollia was involved
with other men. Her life like that of Caligula was filled with
vulgarity. It was the poor name she had due to her relations as well
as her sterilization that Lollia lost not only her marriage with
Caligula but also lost her life. Her real competitor was Agrippina,
niece of Caligula. Agrippina saw to it that Lollia's family lost the
estate, which quickly passed to the imperial domain.
"...For a strife arose among the freedmen, who should choose a wife
for Claudius, impatient as he was of a single life and submissive to
the rule of wives… But the keenest competition was Between Lollia
Paulina, the daughter of Marcus Lollius, an ex-consul, and Julia
Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus. Callistus favored the first,
Pallas the second. Aelia Paetina however, of the family of the
Tuberones, had the support of Narcissus."
Agrippina used her femininity to trap the emperor and enjoyed all
the privileges of a wife.
"This advice prevailed, backed up as it was by Agrippina's charms.
On the pretext of her relationship, she paid frequent visits to her
uncle, and so won his heart, that she was preferred to the others,
and, though not yet his wife, already possessed a wife's power."
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But Caligula and Agrippina did not yet dare to celebrate the
nuptials in its due form, for there was no such example as a
marriage between a niece with an uncle's house. It was positively
incest and they feared of its being disregarded. The competition for
Caligula 's marriage between Lollia Paulina, the daughter of Marcus
Lollius, an ex-consul, and Julia Agrippina, the daughter of
Germanicus was the most famous one. Lollia had good relations with
Callistus who favored her marriage with Caligula. Narcissus dwelt on
the marriage of years gone by, on the tie of offspring, for Paetina
was the mother of Antonia, and on the advantage of excluding a new
element from his household, by the return of a wife to whom he was
accustomed, and who would assuredly not look with a stepmother's
animosity on Britannicus and Octavia, who were next in her
affections to her own children. Callistus argued that it would be
wise to marry Lollia because she had no children of her own.
However, an advantage that Agrippina had was that she would bring
with her Germanicus's grandson, who was considered a thoroughly
worthy of imperial rank. Pallus with whom Lollia did not have good
relations recommended the marriage with Agrippina.
Agrippina hated and detested Lollia, for having competed with her
for the emperor's hand. It was she who planned an accusation,
through an informer who was to tax her with having consulted
astrologers and magicians and the image of the Clarian Apollo, about
the imperial marriage. Claudius knew that the sister of Lucius
Volusius was Lollia's mother, Cotta Messalinus her granduncle,
Memmius Regulus formerly her husband. Agrippina filled Caligula with
hatred towards her with a false accusation that agreed and banished
Lollia from Italy. Lollia was eventually left with only five million
sesterces in her exile. Agrippina's resentment did not stop here and
despatched a tribune to Lollia to force her to suicide.
References
The Annals Book 12 - (A.D. 48-54) Annales, Book XII, Publius
Cornelius Tacitus Internet ASCII text source:
<gopher://gopher.vt.edu: 10010/10/33>Translated by Alfred John
Church and William Jackson Brodribb
The Modern Library edition of Church and Brodribb's text, published
under the title of The Complete Works of Tacitus, 1942, included
paragraph indexing. These were added to the Internet ASCII source,
along with HTML links, to aid in cross-referencing the text.
Balsdon, J.P.V.D. The Emperor Gaius. Oxford, 1934, "The Principles
of Tiberius and Gaius", ANRW 2.2 (1975)
Bilde, P. "The Roman Emperor Gaius (Caligula)'s Attempt to Erect his
Statue in the Temple of Jerusalem." STh 32 (1978): 67-93.
Charlesworth, M.P. "The Tradition About Caligula" Cambridge
Historical Journal 4 (1933)
D'Ecré, F. "La mort de Germanicus et les poisons de Caligula." Janus
56 (1969): 123-48.
Grant, M. The Roman Emperors. A Biographical Guide to the Rulers of
Imperial Rome 31 BC - AD 476 (New York, 1985)
Bryn Mawr Classical Review 03.04.16 T. P. Wiseman, Talking to
Virgil. A Miscellany. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1992. Pp.
242; 8 plates. £12.95. ISBN 0-85989-375-8. http://www.jmiller.demon.co.uk/chronology.htm
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