Women who Ruled

Octavia

Claudia Octavia was born in late 39 AD or early 40 AD, in Rome, Italy. She was the only daughter of Empreror Claudius, by his 3rd wife, Valeria Messalina. She was named after her great- great grandmother, Octavia the Younger, the second eldest & full-blooded sister of Emperor Augustus. Octavia was born shortly after the assassination of Caligula and her father's subsequent ascension the throne. She had an older half-sister, Claudia Antonia, Claudius' daughter from his 2nd marriage to, Aelia Paetina & a younger brother named Britannicus, the son of Claudius & Valeria, born about a year after Octavia, in 41 AD.

From a young age, her father had betrothed Octavia to future praetor, Lucius Junius Silanus Torquatus, who was also a descendent of Augustus. Her mother was killed in 48 AD, for conspiring to kill her husband, the emperor. Claudius next married his niece, Octavia's cousin, Agrippina the Younger. Agrippina's son from her first marriage was, Nero, who's birth name was Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. Agrippina through scheming & plotting, ended Octavia's engagement to Lucius Silanus & convinced Claudius to adopt Nero as his son & heir: further arranging to have Nero & Octavia marry on June 9, 53 AD.

Claudius died on October 13, 54 AD & Nero succeeded him as emperor. Octavia's younger brother, Britannicus died suddenly the year after, in 55 AD; likely poisoned on the orders of Nero, as he posed a potentially significant threat to Nero's position on the throne. According to Tacitus, a Roman senator & historian, Agrippina & Octavia were present at the feast where Britannicus was poisoned and were equally shocked. He goes on to say that after her brother's death, Octavia became despondent but learned to mask her feelings around her husband/step-brother. She was caught up in the power struggles between Nero & his mother, which concluded with Nero killing his mother in March 59 AD.

Although she was a popular empress amongst the populace, her marriage to Nero was deeply unhappy. Octavia was "a aristocratic & virtuous wife", in the words of Tacitus: whereas Nero hated her & quickly grew bored with her. According to Tacitus & another Roman historian, Suetonius, Nero tried strangling her on several occasions & had affairs with two other women, a freedwoman, Claudia Acte & Poppaea Sabena. Nero brushed off his friends when they voiced their concerns to him. When Poppaea became pregnant with Nero's child, he divorced Octavia, claiming she was barren; than married Poppaea only 12 days after the divorce.

Nero & Poppaea than banished Octavia to the Campania region & eventually to the island of, Pandateria (modern Ventotene), on a false charge of adultery with Nero's former tutor, Anicetus. When Octavia spoke up in her own defense, her maids were captured and tortured to death. Octavia's banishment grew so unpopular in Rome, that people loudly protested in the streets: carrying statues of Octavia bedecked with flowers & demanding her return. Nero in a state of crippling fear, nearly agreed to remarry Octavia, but instead signed her death warrant.

A few days later, on June 8, 62 AD, Octavia was bound & her veins were cut, in a very traditional form of Roman ritualistic suicide. Than she was suffocated in a blisteringly hot steam bath & beheaded, her head was sent to Poppaea. Octavia was only 22. Rome greatly mourned her death & it has been said that years later, Nero was haunted by nightmares about his mother & Octavia.

Side notes:

Praetor- government-appointed, ranked below consul, held one of two positions as either a army commander or elected magistrate.

Campania- a region in southern Italy.

Ventotene- an island off the coast of Gaeta, in between the regions of Lazio & Campania in Italy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudia_Octavia