Statilia Messalina

(c. 35 AD-after 68 AD)

BIRTH

c. 35 AD

PLACE

Rome, Italy

DEATH

after 68 AD

PLACE

Unknown

FAMILY

HOMES

RELIGIOUS VIEWS

RELIGION NOT DOCUMENTED

DENOMINATION NOT DOCUMENTED

MEMBERSHIPS

AWARDS

Statilia Messalina was a Roman noblewoman who became the third wife of the emperor Nero in AD 66. After the death of Poppaea Sabina in AD 65, Nero married Statilia Messalina in AD 66. She received the title Augusta. Statilia accompanied Nero on his tour of Greece and survived his downfall and suicide in AD 68. In AD 69 the emperor Otho promised to marry her, and before his death he wrote her a farewell letter. When she died is not recorded.

EARLY LIFE

Statilia Messalina was born around AD 35 into a wealthy noble family. She was a great-great-granddaughter of Titus Statilius Taurus, one of Augustus's leading generals. Known for her beauty, wealth and education, she married several times. Her fourth husband was Marcus Julius Vestinus Atticus, consul in AD 65. In AD 65, after the Pisonian conspiracy against Nero, Vestinus was forced to take his own life, although he had not been implicated in the plot; ancient writers suggested that Nero wanted to marry his wife.

After the death of Poppaea Sabina in AD 65, Nero married Statilia Messalina in AD 66. She received the title Augusta.

Statilia accompanied Nero on his tour of Greece and survived his downfall and suicide in AD 68.

In AD 69 the emperor Otho promised to marry her, and before his death he wrote her a farewell letter. According to later sources, she devoted herself to the study of rhetoric in her later years. When she died is not recorded.

CAREER

DEATH

Statilia Messalina was a Roman noblewoman who became the third wife of the emperor Nero in AD 66. According to later sources, she devoted herself to the study of rhetoric in her later years. After the death of Poppaea Sabina in AD 65, Nero married Statilia Messalina in AD 66. Statilia accompanied Nero on his tour of Greece and survived his downfall and suicide in AD 68. In AD 69 the emperor Otho promised to marry her, and before his death he wrote her a farewell letter. The surviving record does not establish when or how Statilia Messalina died. The date entry, after 68 AD, marks the limit of documented activity rather than a verified death date. The main event and its setting are better documented than the precise final moments. Exact last words and private exchanges are not consistently preserved, so those details remain uncertain.