Lollia Paulina

Lollia Paulina (sometimes written Paullina)^[1] (c. 15 – 49 AD)^[2] was a Roman empress for six months in 38 as the third wife of the Roman emperor Caligula.^[3]

Lollia Paulina
Imaginary depiction of Lollia Paulina in the Promptuarium Iconum Insigniorum
Roman empress
Tenure	38 AD (six months)
Born	AD 15[citation needed] Rome, Italy
Died	AD 49 (aged 34)
Spouse	Publius Memmius Regulus Caligula
Father	Marcus Lollius
Mother	Volusia Saturnina

Family background and early life

Paulina was a member of the plebeian gens Lollia.^[4][5] Paulina was the second daughter of Marcus Lollius with Volusia Saturnina, while her elder sister was Lollia Saturnina.^[6] Her cognomen "Paulina" probably derived from her maternal grandmother Nonia Polla.^[7]

Her father, Marcus Lollius, was a son of the Roman politician and military officer Marcus Lollius^[6] and his wife Aurelia. Aurelia was the adoptive sister of Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus. Her possible paternal uncle may have been Publius Lollius Maximus, however this is unclear; he was at least a close relation.^[8]

Paulina was born and raised in Rome and became very wealthy after inheriting the estates of her relatives. She inherited large fortune from her paternal grandfather,^[9] Marcus Lollius.^[10]

Marriages and rivals

Paulina's first husband was Publius Memmius Regulus, a man of consular rank,^[11] who served as a suffect consul in 31 and later as a Roman governor. Tacitus describes him as a man of 'dignity, who was a person of influence and good name', who died in 62.

In 38, Paulina was with Regulus in the province he was governing when Caligula ordered her to leave her husband upon overhearing a remark about the beauty of her grandmother.^[11] She was forced to divorce Regulus and marry Caligula, becoming his third wife and Roman Empress that same year. Caligula divorced her after six months of marriage, ostensibly because she was infertile, and forbade her to sleep with or associate with another man.^[11]

In 48, Paulina became a rival to Caligula's sister Agrippina the Younger. Paulina was considered as a potential fourth wife for Caligula's paternal uncle, the Roman emperor Claudius,^[9] following the execution of his third wife, the Roman empress Valeria Messalina. In 49, Agrippina the Younger married Claudius. Sometime after, Agrippina the Younger had Paulina charged with sorcery, accused of having entered into forbidden consultations with astrologers.^[9] Without a hearing, Paulina's property (including her gardens) was confiscated and she was sent into exile. Tacitus reported that Paulina was forced to commit suicide^[9] under the watch of a colonel of the Guards and implied that this was done on the orders of Agrippina the Younger. A sepulchre was not erected in her honor until the reign of the Roman emperor Nero.^[1]

Reputation

Paulina is mentioned in Natural History by Pliny the Elder. Pliny mentions Paulina as an example of Roman ostentation for wearing a large share of her inheritance to a dinner party in the form of jewellery worth 50 million sesterces.^[12] She would wear her jewels in her hair, and around her neck, arms, and fingers.^[1] Pliny's complaint was made in the context of Rome spending enormous amounts importing Ancient India's 'useless' pepper and pearls, as worn by Paulina even on her shoes.

In fiction

Paulina is a character in the novel series, I, Claudius, written by Robert Graves.

See also

• List of Roman and Byzantine empresses