Lucius Salvius Otho

Biography

Early life

Lucius was the son of a Marcus Salvius Otho, whose father was an Etruscan. Marcus had been raised in empress Livia's home. Potentially a daughter of Marcus Titius and his wife Fabia Paullina, but possibly his sister or niece instead. A Titia L. f. is known from inscription to have been the wife of a Salvius. This woman died young in 23 BC. It is not certain if this woman was Otho's mother or possibly grandmother. Regardless, Lucius was widely assumed to be emperor Tiberius's illegitimate son, due to the excessive affection Tiberius bestowed on him, as well as a strong physical resemblance. This was a double edged sword for his children as it made them related to the Julio-Claudians, but also connected them to Tiberius, who was unpopular with the people of Rome. Ronald Syme thought Lucius might have been born as late as 6 BC, but possibly earlier, if Titia L. f was his mother then he would have to have been born in 23 BC at the latest. Tiberius would have been around 19 at this time.

Career

Lucius was renowned for the severity of his command in the regular offices at Rome, the proconsulate of Africa, and several special military commands. He was made consul suffectus in July 33 AD. In Illyricum, in 42, some soldiers supported a rebellion against Claudius by Illyricum's governor, Lucius Arruntius Camillus Scribonianus. Afterwards, they tried to cover the revolt up by killing their officers, who were the revolt's ringleaders. Claudius promoted them for doing so, but Lucius had them executed in his presence in the principia for killing their officers.

He rebuilt his reputation at court by forcing the slaves of an unnamed knight to betray their master's plot to kill the emperor. As a result, the Senate set up his statue in the palace, and Claudius enrolled him among the patricians, praising him in the highest terms and calling him "a man of greater loyalty than I can even pray for in my own children".

Marriage and issue

Lucius is known to have had two sons and at least one daughter.

• A daughter Salvia (possibly born around 12 AD), whom he betrothed to Tiberius' adoptive grandson and great-nephew Drusus Caesar at a very young age. it is possible the engagement was simply broken off due to politics within the Julio-Claudian family (such as rising tensions between Tiberius and Agrippina the Elder). In De vita Caesarum Suetonius states that on the day of his suicide emperor Otho wrote a letter of condolences to a sister.
• Lucius Salvius Otho Titianus, consul in 52
• Emperor Otho Suetonius claims that Lucius wife Albia Terentia was the mother of both of his sons, but the age difference between his older son Titianus and the emperor Otho has prompted some historians such as Ronald Syme and Charles Murison to doubt the plausibility of this and speculate that Titianus and Drusus's fiancée may have been the children of an earlier wife.

Notes

References

References

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