Paulina

Paulina Major, mother of Hadrian

Main article: Domitia Paulina Major

(Domitia) Paulina (or Paullina) Major (Major being Latin for 'the elder'), also known in English as Paulina the Elder (?–85/86) was a 1st-century Roman woman born in Gades (present-day Cádiz, Spain). She was a daughter of a distinguished senatorial family. Little is known about her life. She may have been related to Domitia Lucilla, grandmother of Marcus Aurelius; G. Di Vita-Evard speculated that they might have been half-sisters.

Paulina married Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer, a Roman praetor, also born in Hispania, paternal cousin of Emperor Trajan. Paulina and Afer had two children: a daughter, Aelia Domitia Paulina (75–130), and a son, the future emperor Publius Aelius Hadrianus (76–138). Around 85 or 86 Paulina died of unknown causes, predeceasing her husband. After Afer's own death,their children were raised by Trajan and the Roman officer Publius Acilius Attianus.

Paulina Minor, sister of Hadrian

Aelia Domitia Paulina or Paullina or Domitia Paulina Minor (Minor being Latin for 'the younger'), also known in English as Paulina the Younger (early 75–130), elder child and only daughter of Domitia Paulina Major and praetor Publius Aelius Hadrianus Afer, the only sibling of Hadrian. She was born and raised in present-day Spain, probably in Italica in Hispania Baetica province. After her parents died around 86, she and her brother were raised by their father's paternal cousin, the future emperor Trajan and officer Publius Acilius Attianus. Before his accession to the throne, Trajan arranged for Paulina Minor to marry the Iberian Roman politician Lucius Julius Ursus Servianus.

Julia Paulina, niece of Hadrian

Julia (Serviana) Paulina (or Paullina) was the daughter and only child of Iberian Roman politician and consul Lucius Julius Ursus Servianus and Paulina Minor. She was born at an unknown time and place between 98 and 117, during the reign of her third cousin Emperor Trajan. Some time before Trajan's death in 117, her parents arranged for her to marry the Roman senator Gnaeus Pedanius Fuscus Salinator, ordinary consul in 118. Roman senator Pliny the Younger sent a letter of congratulations to her parents regarding her wedding (Epistulae, VI.26).

Her husband was originally from present-day Barcelona, Spain (then in the Roman province of Hispania Tarraconensis), himself son of a former consul of the same name. In 118, during her husband's consulship, Julia Paulina had a son, the younger Lucius Pedanius Fuscus Salinator. Julia Paulina and her husband seem to have both died before 136. Her father Servianus and Emperor Hadrian organised a private funeral for her. The Emperor was ridiculed by the public for only granting his niece a state funeral and apotheosis under pressure from the Senate, but bestowing a sumptuous funeral and full divine honours on his lover Antinous.

Julia's father Servianus cherished the idea that her son would succeed Hadrian, whom the aging Emperor himself considered his heir. He promoted the young Salinator, gave him special status in his court, and prepared him for the succession. However, in 136, Hadrian changed his mind and adopted Lucius Aelius Caesar as his heir. Julia's father and son planned to challenge his decision; to avoid any conflict, Hadrian ordered their deaths.

References

Sources

• Augustan History: Hadrian
• Hadrian (A.D. 117-138)

References

1. (2012). "A Companion to Marcus Aurelius". John Wiley & Sons.