Antonia Minor
(36 BC-37 AD)
BIRTH
January 31, 36 BCE
PLACE
Athens, Greece
NAME
Antonia
DEATH
37 AD
PLACE
Rome, Italy
FAMILY
FATHER
Mark Antony
(83 BC-30 BC)
MOTHER
Octavia the Younger
(69 BC-11 BC)
CHILDREN
Claudius
(10 BC-54 AD)
HOMES
NICKNAMES
the Younger
RELIGIOUS VIEWS
ROMAN POLYTHEIST
DENOMINATION NOT DOCUMENTED
MEMBERSHIPS
AWARDS
Antonia Minor was the daughter of Mark Antony and Octavia, the wife of Drusus the Elder and the mother of Germanicus and the emperor Claudius. Around 16 BC she married Drusus the Elder, the younger son of Livia. She was admired for her chastity and loyalty to her husband's memory. In AD 31 she sent a letter to Tiberius warning him that Sejanus was plotting, leading to his fall. Respected for her virtue, she exposed Sejanus's ambitions to Tiberius.
EARLY LIFE
Antonia was born on January 31, 36 BC, in Athens, the younger daughter of Mark Antony and Octavia, the sister of Augustus. Her father left her mother for Cleopatra when she was a small child, and after his death in 30 BC she was raised in Rome by Octavia, along with her father's children by Cleopatra. Around 16 BC she married Drusus the Elder, the younger son of Livia. They had several children, of whom three survived: Germanicus, Livilla and Claudius. After Drusus died in 9 BC, she never remarried.
Antonia lived in the household of her mother-in-law, Livia, and managed large estates in Italy and Egypt. She was admired for her chastity and loyalty to her husband's memory.
She raised her grandchildren, including the future emperor Caligula, and was a patron of the Judaean prince Herod Agrippa. In AD 31 she sent a letter to Tiberius warning him that Sejanus was plotting, leading to his fall.
When Caligula became emperor in AD 37, he granted her the title Augusta and the honors Livia had held, though some ancient sources say she declined the title. She died on May 1, AD 37, only weeks later.
CAREER
DEATH
Antonia Minor was the daughter of Mark Antony and Octavia, the wife of Drusus the Elder and the mother of Germanicus and the emperor Claudius. Respected for her virtue, she exposed Sejanus's ambitions to Tiberius. She raised her grandchildren, including the future emperor Caligula, and was a patron of the Judaean prince Herod Agrippa. In AD 31 she sent a letter to Tiberius warning him that Sejanus was plotting, leading to his fall. When Caligula became emperor in AD 37, he granted her the title Augusta and the honors Livia had held, though some ancient sources say she declined the title. Antonia Minor died in 37 AD, in Rome, Italy. The available biographical account does not describe a continuous final medical course. It gives no dependable sequence of treatment and last symptoms from which to reconstruct a more detailed bedside narrative.
PARK
Baths of Agrippa, Rome
PARK
Forum of Augustus, Rome
Piazza del Grillo 1, Rome, Lazio, Italy
PARK
House of Livia, Palatine Hill
Via di San Gregorio 30 (Palatine Hill entrance), Rome, Lazio, Italy
PARK
House of Augustus, Palatine Hill
Via di San Gregorio 30 (Palatine Hill entrance), Rome, Lazio, Italy
POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
Antonia Minor, Drusus’s wife and Claudius’s mother, distinct from her sister Antonia the Elder. Kokkinos studies her literary, documentary and archaeological evidence. Five dedicated biographies were not identified. These editorial selections include biographies where available, with personal writings, collective biography, reference works and related studies clearly labelled.
1. Antonia Augusta: Portrait of a Great Roman Lady — Nikos Kokkinos. [Biographical and archaeological study] Find on Amazon
2. Imperial Women of Rome: Power, Gender, Context — Mary T. Boatwright. [Collective biography] Find on Amazon
3. Imperial Women: A Study in Public Images, 40 B.C.–A.D. 68 — Susan E. Wood. [Collective imperial and visual-biographical study] Find on Amazon
4. Claudius — Barbara Levick. [Related biography of her son] Find on Amazon
5. The Annals — Tacitus. [Primary imperial narrative] Find on Amazon
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