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Statilia Messalina
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Statilia Messalina (c. 35 - after 68) was a Roman patrician woman, a Roman Empress and third wife to Roman Emperor Nero (from 66 to 68).
The ancient sources say little of her family; however, Suetonius states that she was a great, great granddaughter of Titus Statilius Taurus, a Roman General who won a triumph and was twice consul. She may have been the daughter of Titus Statilius Taurus who was consul in 44 and who was forced to commit suicide in 53. Her grandmother was possibly Valeria Messalina (not to be confused with the third wife of the emperor Claudius), a daughter of Marcus Valerius Messala Corvinus, consul in 31 BC. Her first husband was the consul Marcus Julius Vestinus Atticus to whom she may have bore a son (who died in 88). Around 65, she became Nero's mistress. After the death of Nero's second wife Poppaea Sabina, Vestinus was forced to commit suicide in 66, so Nero could marry Statilia.
Although witty and scheming, she was far less flamboyant than her predecessor and kept a rather low profile in the public eye. She was one of the few of Nero's courtiers who survived the fall of his reign. After Nero's death, Otho promised her to marry her, before his suicide in 69.
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- Griffin, Miriam, Nero. The End of a Dynasty. Batsford, London, 1984
- Raepsaet-Charlier M.-Th., Prosopographie des femmes de l'ordre sénatorial (Ier-IIe siècles), 2 vol., Louvain, 1987, 360 ff.
- Zanker, P, Fittschen, K., Katalog der römischen Porträts in den Capitolinischen Museen und den anderen kommunalen Sammlungen der Stadt Rom, Mainz am Rhein, 1983, 75, Taf.93.94.