Domitilla the Elder

Flavia Domitilla Major was the wife of the Roman Emperor Vespasian and mother of the emperors Titus and Domitian. She died before her husband became emperor in 69 AD. After her death she is thought to have been deified by the name Diva Domitilla. Life Flavia Domitilla was born in Sabratha to Italic colonists who had moved there during the reign of Augustus. She was the daughter of Flavius Liberalis, a humble quaestor’s clerk from Ferentium (modern Ferento), a country town in Italy. Before her marriage, she was in residence with Statilius Capella, an equestrian also from Sabratha. Her role in this relationship is characterized by Suetonius with the term delicata (Dom. 3), which in this context is taken to mean "the favorite of" Statilius and is commonly used to imply a sexual relationship between the two. Regardless of the exact circumstances surrounding this relationship, the context suggests that Domitilla filled some servile role within the estate of Statilius. In Suetonius she is described as being of Latin rank (Dom. 3), though in the Epitome de Caesaribus she is designated as a liberta (freedwoman) (Ерit. de Caes. X.1). In a case established by her father, Domitilla's status was raised to that of a freeborn Roman citizen through the approval of the arbiters.