Licinia

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Licinia is the name of women in the gens Licinia. It can also be a personal or first name for women. The name Licinia can also refer to the Lex Licinia Sextia[2], an important law passed in 367 BC and taking effect the following year. Other laws promulgated by Licinian consuls were also called Lex Licinia, eg. Lex Licinia Sumptuaria

Notable members include:

• Licinia (flourished 188 BC-180 BC) was the daughter of Gaius Licinius Varus and the sister of Publius Licinius Crassus (consul 171 BC) and Gaius Licinius Crassus (consul 168 BC). She married Publius Mucius Scaevola (consul 175 BC) and bore him at least two sons Publius Mucius Scaevola and Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus. The younger son was adopted by her elder brother as his heir. Both sons were well-educated and both became Pontifex Maximus successively.

• Licinia (died 153 BC), a woman killed by her relatives in 153 BC for allegedly murdering her husband Claudius Asiello; another woman similarly accused was Publilia, wife of the consul Lucius Postumius Albinus (consul 154 BC). Both women assigned real estate as bail to the urban praetor, but were killed (strangled) by their relatives before coming to trial. Sources: Livy: [Periochae 48'c-d]; Valerius Maximus [6.3'8]

• Two daughters of Publius Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus (consul and Pontifex Maximus) by his wife Claudia, sister of Appius Claudius Pulcher:
  • Licinia Major (Major Latin for the elder, flourished 2nd century BC), was married to Gaius Sulpicius Galba.[3]
  • Licinia Minor (Minor Latin for the younger, flourished 2nd century BC), also known as Licinia Crassi. She was the younger daughter and the wife of Gaius Gracchus. Her dowry was seized temporarily by the Senate when her husband's property was confiscated, but eventually restored after an appeal to her uncle Publius Mucius Scaevola the Pontifex Maximus. ^[1]

• Two daughters of Lucius Licinius Crassus and his wife Laelia Minor, herself a daughter of Gaius Laelius Sapiens, consul in 140 BC). Both sisters and their mother were known for their pure Latin.
  • Licinia Major (Major Latin for the elder) the elder daughter of Lucius Licinius Crassus and his wife Laelia, she was married to Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica, son of the consul of 111 BC and grandson of Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio, consul in 138 BC and Pontifex Maximus. She had at least two surviving sons, of whom the elder was adopted by her father as his heir Lucius Licinius Crassus Scipio and the younger was adopted by her husband's cousin Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus Pius, a close friend of dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla. This son is known to history as Metellus Scipio (see Caecilius Metellus) - Caesar's ineffectual military and political rival and Pompey's last father-in-law. His daughter was Cornelia Metella.[4]
  • Licinia Minor (Minor Latin for the younger) the younger daughter of Lucius Licinius Crassus and his wife Laelia. She was married to Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus Pius, a close friend of dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla; they were childless and adopted her nephew Metellus Scipio (see above).^[2].

• Licinia, a Vestal Virgin, condemned in 113 BC or 114 BC by the famous jurist Lucius Cassius Longinus Ravilla (consul 127 BC) along with Marcia and Aemilia, for unchastity.

[edit] Sources:

• Cicero-RhetHer_4'47; Cicero: Brut_159;L Ascon_45'c-46'a;L
• Plutarch-Moralia, or Roman Questions, 284'B-C
• [5]

• Licinia Crassa (flourished 2nd century BC & 1st century BC), noted for her beauty; the wife firstly of Quintus Mucius Scaevola, a future consul and Pontifex Maximus, who became notorious for her adultery with another consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos. Metellus Nepos divorced his wife to marry Licinia a week later, after she had been divorced by her husband and thus disgraced in Roman society. The couple later had two sons, both of them consuls. By her first husband, she was also mother of Mucia Tertia, triumvir Pompey's third wife.

• Licinia (flourished 1st century BC), a Vestal Virgin who was courted by her kinsman triumvir Marcus Licinius Crassus who wanted her property. This relationship gave rise to rumors. Plutarch says: "And yet when he was further on in years, he was accused of criminal intimacy with Licinia, one of the vestal virgins and Licinia was formally prosecuted by a certain Plotius. Now Licinia was the owner of a pleasant villa in the suburbs which Crassus wished to get at a low price, and it was for this reason that he was forever hovering about the woman and paying his court to her, until he fell under the abominable suspicion. And in a way it was his avarice that absolved him from the charge of corrupting the vestal, and he was acquitted by the judges. But he did not let Licinia go until he had acquired her property." [6] Licinia became a Vestal Virgin in 85 BC and remained a Vestal until 61 BC.[7]

• Licinia Eudoxia (422-462), a Roman Empress, who was only daughter of Eastern Emperor Theodosius II and wife of the Western Emperors Valentinian III and Petronius Maximus.

[edit] Notes and References

1. ^ Plutarch is wrong in believing that Licinia lost her dowry permanent; what was confiscated was her husband's property, and she had to sue to reclaim her dowry. The suit also definitely establishes Gracchus's wife's name as Licinia. Radin, Max. "The Wife of Gaius Gracchus and Her Dowry", Classical Philology, Vol. 8, No. 3 (Jul., 1913), pp. 354-356;
2. ^ This web genealogy is wrong in having the younger Licinia Crassa married to Marius's son; he was in fact married to Mucia Tertia, daughter of another Licinia.[[1]]