Marcia (mother of Trajan)

Marcia (about 33-before 100) was an ancient Roman noblewoman and the mother of the emperor Trajan.

Family

Marcia came from a noble and politically influential family, the plebeian gens Marcia,^[1] which claimed to be descended from the Roman King Ancus Marcius. Marcia was a daughter of the Roman Senator Quintus Marcius Barea Sura and Antonia Furnilla.^[2] Quintus Marcius Barea Sura was a friend to future Roman Emperor Vespasian. Her younger sister Marcia Furnilla was the second wife of future Roman Emperor Titus.^[3] Marcia was a maternal aunt to Furnilla’s and Titus’ daughter Julia Flavia or Flavia Julia Titi.

Marcia’s paternal uncle was the Roman Senator Quintus Marcius Barea Soranus, while her paternal cousin was the noble woman Marcia Servilia Sorana. Marcia’s paternal grandfather was Quintus Marcius Barea, who was Suffect Consul in 26 and was twice Proconsul of the Africa Province, while her maternal grandfather could have been Aulus Antonius Rufus, a Suffect Consul either in 44 or 45.^[4] The family of Marcia was connected to the opponents of Roman Emperor Nero. In 65 after the failure of the Pisonian conspiracy, her family was disfavored by Nero.

Life

Marcia was born and raised in Rome. During the reign of Roman Emperor Claudius (41-54), Marcia married a Spanish Roman general and senator called Marcus Ulpius Traianus. Traianus originally came from Italica (near modern Seville, Spain) in the Roman Province of Hispania Baetica. After Marcia married Traianus, for a time they lived in Italica.

Marcia bore Traianus two children:

A daughter - Ulpia Marciana (48-112/114), who inherited her second name from her mother’s paternal ancestry. Marciana married Gaius Salonius Matidius Patruinus, who was a wealthy senator and became Praetor. Marciana bore Patruinus a daughter called Salonina Matidia, who was born in 68.
A son - Marcus Ulpius Traianus, or known as Trajan (53-117). Trajan became and served as a Roman Emperor from 98 until his death in 117. He married a woman called Pompeia Plotina.

Marcia owned clay-bearing estates called the Figlinae Marcianae, which was located in North Italy. When Marcia died, Trajan inherited these estates from his mother. It is unknown if Marcia lived long enough to see Trajan become Emperor.

Legacy

Around 100, her son Trajan founded a colony in North Africa which was called Colonia Marciana Ulpia Traiana Thamugadi (modern Timgad, Algeria). Her son named this town in honor of her, her late husband and her daughter. The colony’s name is also a tribute in honoring her family.

Nerva–Antonine family tree

Q. Marcius Barea Soranus

Q. Marcius Barea Sura

Antonia Furnilla

M. Cocceius Nerva

Sergia Plautilla

P. Aelius Hadrianus

Titus
(r. 79–81)

Marcia Furnilla

Marcia

Trajanus Pater

Nerva
(r. 96–98)

Ulpia^{[lower-roman 1]}

Aelius Hadrianus Marullinus

Julia Flavia^{[lower-roman 2]}

Marciana^{[lower-roman 3]}

C. Salonius Matidius^{[lower-roman 4]}

Trajan
(r. 98–117)

Plotina

P. Acilius Attianus

P. Aelius Afer^{[lower-roman 5]}

Paulina Major^{[lower-roman 6]}

Lucius Mindius
(2)

Libo Rupilius Frugi
(3)

Matidia^{[lower-roman 7]}

L. Vibius Sabinus
(1)^{[lower-roman 8]}

Paulina Minor^{[lower-roman 6]}

L. Julius Ursus Servianus^{[lower-roman 9]}

Matidia Minor^{[lower-roman 7]}

Suetonius?^{[lower-roman 10]}

Sabina^{[lower-roman 3]}

Hadrian^{[lower-roman 5]}^{[lower-roman 11]}^{[lower-roman 6]} (r. 117–138)

Antinous^{[lower-roman 12]}

Julia Balbilla?^{[lower-roman 13]}

C. Fuscus Salinator I

Julia Serviana Paulina

M. Annius Verus^{[lower-roman 14]}

Rupilia Faustina^{[lower-roman 15]}

Boionia Procilla

Cn. Arrius Antoninus

L. Ceionius Commodus

Appia Severa

C. Fuscus Salinator II

L. Caesennius Paetus

Arria Antonina

Arria Fadilla^{[lower-roman 16]}

T. Aurelius Fulvus

L. Caesennius Antoninus

L. Commodus

Fundania Plautia

ignota^{[lower-roman 17]}

C. Avidius Nigrinus

M. Annius Verus^{[lower-roman 15]}

Domitia Lucilla^{[lower-roman 18]}

Fundania^{[lower-roman 19]}

M. Annius Libo^{[lower-roman 15]}

FAUSTINA^{[lower-roman 16]}

Antoninus Pius
(r. 138–161)^{[lower-roman 16]}

L. Aelius Caesar^{[lower-roman 17]}

Avidia Plautia^{[lower-roman 17]}

Cornificia^{[lower-roman 15]}

MARCUS AURELIUS
(r. 161–180)^{[lower-roman 20]}

FAUSTINA Minor^{[lower-roman 20]}

C. Avidius Cassius

Aurelia Fadilla^{[lower-roman 16]}

LUCIUS VERUS
(r. 161–169)^{[lower-roman 17]}
(1)

Ceionia Fabia^{[lower-roman 17]}

Plautius Quintillus^{[lower-roman 21]}

Q. Servilius Pudens

Ceionia Plautia^{[lower-roman 17]}

Cornificia Minor^{[lower-roman 22]}

M. Petronius Sura

COMMODUS
(r. 177–192)^{[lower-roman 20]}

Fadilla^{[lower-roman 22]}

M. Annius Verus Caesar^{[lower-roman 20]}

Ti. Claudius Pompeianus
(2)

Lucilla^{[lower-roman 20]}

M. Plautius Quintillus^{[lower-roman 17]}

Junius Licinius Balbus

Servilia Ceionia

Petronius Antoninus

L. Aurelius Agaclytus
(2)

Aurelia Sabina^{[lower-roman 22]}

L. Antistius Burrus
(1)

Plautius Quintillus

Plautia Servilla

C. Furius Sabinus Timesitheus

Antonia Gordiana

Junius Licinius Balbus

Furia Sabina Tranquillina

GORDIAN III
(r. 238–244)

(1) = 1st spouse
(2) = 2nd spouse
(3) = 3rd spouse
Reddish purple indicates emperor of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty;
lighter purple indicates designated imperial heir of said dynasty who never reigned;
grey indicates unsuccessful imperial aspirants;
bluish purple indicates emperors of other dynasties
dashed lines indicate adoption; dotted lines indicate love affairs/unmarried relationships
small caps = posthumously deified (Augusti, Augustae, or other)

Notes:

Except where otherwise noted, the notes below indicate that an individual's parentage is as shown in the above family tree.

↑ Sister of Trajan's father: Giacosa (1977), p. 7.
↑ Giacosa (1977), p. 8.
1 2 Levick (2014), p. 161.
↑ Husband of Ulpia Marciana: Levick (2014), p. 161.
1 2 Giacosa (1977), p. 7.
1 2 3 DIR contributor (Herbert W. Benario, 2000), "Hadrian".
1 2 Giacosa (1977), p. 9.
↑ Husband of Salonia Matidia: Levick (2014), p. 161.
↑ Smith (1870), "Julius Servianus".
↑ Suetonius a possible lover of Sabina: One interpretation of HA Hadrianus 11:3
↑ Smith (1870), "Hadrian", pp. 319–322.
↑ Lover of Hadrian: Lambert (1984), p. 99 and passim; deification: Lamber (1984), pp. 2-5, etc.
↑ Julia Balbilla a possible lover of Sabina: A. R. Birley (1997), Hadrian, the Restless Emperor, p. 251, cited in Levick (2014), p. 30, who is sceptical of this suggestion.
↑ Husband of Rupilia Faustina: Levick (2014), p. 163.
1 2 3 4 Levick (2014), p. 163.
1 2 3 4 Levick (2014), p. 162.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Levick (2014), p. 164.
↑ Wife of M. Annius Verus: Giacosa (1977), p. 10.
↑ Wife of M. Annius Libo: Levick (2014), p. 163.
1 2 3 4 5 Giacosa (1977), p. 10.
↑ Husband of Ceionia Fabia: Levick (2014), p. 164.
1 2 3 Levick (2014), p. 117.

References:

DIR contributors (2000). "De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and Their Families". Retrieved 2015-04-14.
Giacosa, Giorgio (1977). Women of the Caesars: Their Lives and Portraits on Coins. Translated by R. Ross Holloway. Milan: Edizioni Arte e Moneta. ISBN 0-8390-0193-2.
Lambert, Royston (1984). Beloved and God: The Story of Hadrian and Antinous. New York: Viking. ISBN 0-670-15708-2.
Levick, Barbara (2014). Faustina I and II: Imperial Women of the Golden Age. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-537941-9.
William Smith, ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

Sources

References

↑ Pauly-Wissowa, RE 14.2, 1535-1600.
↑ J. K. Evans (1979). "The Trial of P. Egnatius Celer". The Classical Quarterly. 29 (1): 198–202. JSTOR 638620.
↑ Strobel, Karl (2010). Kaiser Traian (in German). Regensburg: Friedrich Pustet. p. 41. ISBN 9783791721729.
↑ http://dcodriscoll.pbworks.com/Marcius_Barea

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