Aurelia || SERIES ROMANA I

Postface

Intrigue, scandal, sexual debauchery, public humiliation, betrayal - all these things are associated with the principate of Caligula, the third emperor of Rome, scion of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Caligula, the monster. That's how Suetonius described him and that's how he has been seen ever since. Aloysius Winterling, in his biography, which I consulted mainly for the historical frame events, has debunked the senatorial view of Caligula in an interesting and entertaining way.
My main aim in writing was to give a different life to what I see as a tragic character in Roman history. That is why my story deviates from history from the 6th month of his reign.
Drusilla did indeed die in 38 AD and her death led to a deep depression of Caligula from which he was never able to fully fight his way out. His behaviour, if ancient sources are to be believed, became even more insane, culminating in his demand that she be declared a goddess. Together with her husband Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, Julia Livilla was banished in 39 AD following a conspiracy against her brother. It is still uncertain when she died. Unlike her sister Agrippina, she played only a very minor role in Roman history after her banishment. After the execution of his wife Messalina, Emperor Claudius married his niece Agrippina Minor, who persuaded him to adopt her son Lucius, who thus took the name Nero. The adoption was not only Claudius' death sentence, but also that of his son Britannicus, who was a little younger than Agrippina's son. I hope the historical Britannicus will forgive me for giving his epithet to Aurelia's son Julius. Otherwise, unfortunately, the historical Britannicus is not yet able to feature in this story as he might have deserved.
The last character I would like to mention briefly at this point is Titus Flavius Vespasianus, Rome's ninth emperor. It is due to him that we call Roman princeps emperors. Before he came to power, Caesar was merely an epithet of the Gens Julia. But through him (lex Vespasiana) an epithet became the title of a ruler. Along with Caligula, who is most notable for the drama of his short life, Vespasian is the most interesting emperor of the first century AD. One of my sources of inspiration for this story was Fabbri's novels about him.
Aurelia, her children and some of the slaves come from my imagination alone.

In revising the story, I noticed that I use a very modern concept of family in some places. In ancient times, a family did not consist only of mother - father - children. The head of each family was the pater familias. As a rule, this was the eldest man in the family. Among the Julian and Claudian, the pater familias formed a personal union with the princeps. The family included not only all closer and more distant relatives, but also the entire household (slaves, freedmen, etc.). When Gaius speaks of his family, in some places he means only Aurelia and his children. According to ancient ideas, however, this definition would be too narrow. However, since one can see from these statements how much Aurelia's modern views already influence him, I decided against changing the passages.

Besides the already mentioned Caligula biographies by Winterling and Suetonius, Brill's New Pauly was an important source of information. In addition, I used some articles on patronage and friendship in ancient Rome. In addition, various ancient authors such as Cicero and Horace made me change my perspective on the early imperial period.

Last but not least, I would like to thank all those who supported Aurelia and me on our journey together. Thank you to everyone who read this story to the end. Thank you for every vote, every comment - thank you!
A big thank you to my friends who stuck with me to the end, even when I got a bit lost in the ancient world at times. Thank you @DREAMCATCHERcanFIGHT for designing the aesthetics to this story. Thank you for these wonderful people I've had the pleasure of meeting here - especially you, Jessi (@DaughterofAvalon). Now only two people remain to whom I owe everything - thank you Mum and Dad. Thank you for your patience, your interest and your love, even if it is not always easy with me and my ideas.