Aemilia Lepida (fiancee of Claudius)
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Aemilia Lepida (4/3 BC-53) was the eldest daughter of Julia the Younger (a granddaughter of the Emperor Augustus); her father being Lucius Aemilius Paullus consul 1, of a distinguished and ancient patrician family. She was the first great-grandchild of Emperor Augustus, and a great-grandchild of Lucius Aemilius Lepidus Paullus (consul in 50 BC better known as the brother of the triumvir Marcus Aemilius Lepidus).
Aemilia Lepida had a younger brother named Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (6-39) who was married to Caligula's favorite sister Drusilla and who died in Caligula's reign.
In her younger years, Aemilia Lepida was betrothed to Claudius, but Aemilia's parents fell out of favour with Augustus around, so the emperor broke off the engagement. (Claudius's second betrothal (to Livia Medullina fared no better, and nor did his first two marriages).
In 8, her mother Julia the Younger (otherwise called Vipsania Julia) was exiled for adultery, like her mother Julia. Her father Lucius was executed in 14 for participating in a conspiracy against Augustus.
Aemilia Lepida married by 13/14 Marcus Junius Silanus Torquatus, a member of the patrician branch of the ancient gens Junia. Their children, most of whom had tragic personal lives, were
- Marcus Junius Silanus Torquatus (14-by November, 54), who was consul in 46.
- Junia Calvina (possibly died 79) who married Lucius Vitellius the younger (killed 69), a brother of the future Roman emperor Vitellius, and was divorced by 49. She was accused of incest with her youngest brother, sent into exile by Claudius and recalled ten years later by Nero after he killed his own mother.
- Decimus Junius Silanus Torquatus (d. 64, forced to commit suicide) who was consul in 53.
- Lucius Junius Silanus Torquatus the Elder (committed suicide on New Year's Day, 49), praetor in 48 who was engaged to Claudius's daughter Claudia Octavia until Agrippina the Younger spread false rumors about his alleged incest with his sister Junia Calvina.
- Junia Lepida who married Gaius Cassius Longinus, and raised her nephew Lucius Junius Silanus Torquatus the younger (50-66) after his father Marcus was murdered.
[edit] Death
Aemilia saw two of her sons die in her lifetime, and her elder daughter Junia Calvina sent into exile. She herself was killed by her cousin Agrippina the Younger in 53 for reasons unknown, possibly because of her imperial descent.
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