Servilia (wife of Lucullus)

For other uses, see Servilia.

Servilia, also known as Servilia Minor or Servilia the Younger was the second wife of Lucullus.

Biography

Early life

There is some debate as to who her father was. Older authors who follow Plutarch deem her to be the daughter of Quintus Servilius Caepio and Livia, thus the younger full sister of Servilia Major and Gnaeus Servilius Caepio^[1] and half-sister to Cato the Younger and Porcia. Some modern historians such as Susan Treggiari tend to believe that she was actually the daughter of Gnaeus Servilius Caepio, thus a niece of Cato; but this is not universally accepted, Judith P. Hallett has argued that is implausible that the younger Caepio (who was born in 98 BC) would have married so young and sired a daughter fast enough that she would be old enough to marry Lucullus in 66 BC.^[2]

The historian Edward Courtney identified her as the Servilia who was married to Quintus Lutatius Catulus, but that woman was more likely her aunt Servilia.^[3]

Marriage

Lucullus married her on his return from the Third Mithridatic War around 66 BC, after divorcing his first wife Claudia.^[4] Servilia bore him a son whose name is uncertain. She was unfaithful to her husband with his enemy Gaius Memmius.^[5] Lucullus, after putting up with her conduct for some time out of regard to Cato the Younger at length divorced her. On the outbreak of the civil war in 49 BC, she accompanied Cato, with her child, to Sicily, and thence to the Roman province Asia. Cato left her behind in Rhodes, while he went to join Pompey.

Family

v t e Brutus family tree
Salonia (2) Cato the Elder Licinia (1) Marcus Porcius Cato Salonianus Marcus Porcius Cato Licinianus Marcus Livius Drusus Marcus Porcius Cato (2) Livia Quintus Servilius Caepio (1) Marcus Livius Drusus Atilia (1) Cato the Younger Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus, adopted son Marcus Junius Brutus (1) Servilia Decimus Junius Silanus (2) Servilia Gnaeus Servilius Caepio Marcus Porcius Cato Porcia Marcus Junius Brutus† Junia Prima Junia Tertia Gaius Cassius Longinus x Junia Secunda Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (triumvir) Descendant of Pompey and Sulla son Manius Aemilius Lepidus Aemilia Lepida II
(1): 1st spouse (2): 2nd spouse †: assassin of Caesar
Notes:

Cultural depictions

In Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series Servilia is called "Servililla" or just "Lilla" and is depicted as having been married to her cousin Drusus before marrying Lucullus, it is stated that Drusus divorced her for infidelity.^[6]

See also

• Servilia gens
• Women in ancient Rome

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

Citations

1. Ancient society. Vol. 15–18. Université catholique de Louvain: Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven. 1984. p. 98.
2. Hallett, Judith P. (14 July 2014). Fathers and Daughters in Roman Society: Women and the Elite Family. p. 51. ISBN 9781400855322.
3. Dyck, Andrew R. (2012). Marcus Tullius Cicero: Speeches on Behalf of Marcus Fonteius and Marcus Aemilius Scaurus: Translated with Introduction and Commentary. Clarendon Ancient History Series (illustrated ed.). OUP Oxford. p. 98. ISBN 9780199590056.
4. Drogula, Fred K. (24 April 2019). Cato the Younger: Life and Death at the End of the Roman Republic. ISBN 9780190869038.
5. Treggiari, Susan (2019). Servilia and her Family. Oxford University Press. p. 96. ISBN 9780192564641.
6. McCullough, Colleen (March 2014). Masters of Rome Collection Books I - V: First Man in Rome, the Grass Crown, Fortune's Favourites, Caesar's Women, Caesar. ISBN 9781781859391.

Bibliography

• Plutarch, "The Life of Lucullus", 38; "The Life of Cato the Younger", 24, 54.
• Wilhelm Drumann, Geschichte Roms, vol. iv, p. 174.