Scribonia

Scribonia (c. 70 BC – c. AD 16) was the second wife of Octavian, later the Roman Emperor Augustus, and the mother of his only biological child, Julia the Elder. Through her youngest daughter she was the mother-in-law of the Emperor Tiberius, great-grandmother of the Emperor Caligula and Empress Agrippina the Younger, and great-great grandmother of the Emperor Nero. Biography Parentage Scribonia's parentage is unclear. It is known for certain that the name of her mother was Sentia, whose ancestors had been directors of the mint. Her father is another matter; it is known that her father was a "Lucius Scribonius Libo". The most commonly cited possibility was the praetor of that name in 80 BC. If this is so then she was the younger sister of a brother of the same name who was consul in 34 BC, whose daughter, another Scribonia, married Sextus Pompey. Another less common hypothesis was that she was a second daughter of the consul of 34 BC, rather than his sister. First two marriages According to Suetonius, Scribonia was married three times; her first two husbands were consuls. The name of the first is unknown, but a number of authorities—including Bartolomeo Borghesi, Hermann Dessau, Edmund Groag and Ronald Syme—have suggested that he was Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Marcellinus, consul 56 BC, because of the existence of an inscription that refers to freedmen of Scribonia and her son Cornelius Marcellinus after 39 BC. This indicates she had a son from her first marriage who was living with her after she was divorced from Octavian. Suetonius makes no mention of him, only acknowledging her children from her second and third marriages, leading these authorities to conclude the young Marcellinus had died young.