Vipsania (wife of Varus)
{{Short description|1st-century BC Roman noblewoman and daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa}}
{{Other uses|Vipsania (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Vipsania
| image =
| caption =
| spouse = Publius Quinctilius Varus
| children = Sextus Nonius Quinctilianus
| mother = Claudia Marcella Major
| father = Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa
| relatives = gens Vipsania
| family = Julio-Claudian dynasty
}}
{{Julio-Claudian dynasty}}
Vipsania (likely born between 28–22 BC and sometimes called Vipsania Marcella to differentiate her from her sisters) was an ancient Roman noblewoman of the first century BC. She was married to the politician Publius Quinctilius Varus{{Cite book|title=Augustus and the Family at the Birth of the Roman Empire|last=Severy|first=Beth|publisher=Routledge|year=2004|isbn=9781134391837|pages=65}} and was a daughter of Roman general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and his second wife Claudia Marcella Major (the niece of emperor Caesar Augustus).{{Cite book|title=The Battle That Stopped Rome: Emperor Augustus, Arminius, and the Slaughter of the Legions in the Teutoburg Forest|last=Wells|first=Peter S.|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|year=2004|isbn=9780393352030|pages=81}}
History
=Early life=
Vipsania was likely born between 28 BC and 22 BC to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and his second wife Claudia Marcella Major, the eldest daughter of emperor Augustus sister Octavia Minor. This hypothesis is rebutted by Meyer Reinhold who considered that she was the daughter by Agrippa's first wife Pomponia Caecilia Attica.Reinhold, [http://www.jstor.com/stable/269220 "Marcus Agrippa's Son-in-Law P Quinctilius Varus"], Classical Philology 67 (1972), pp. 119–121.{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/269221|jstor = 269221|last1 = Waite|first1 = Stephen V. F.|title = The Contest in Vergil's Seventh Eclogue|journal = Classical Philology|year = 1972|volume = 67|issue = 2|pages = 121–123|doi = 10.1086/365843|s2cid = 161661620}}
She is thought to have had a younger full sister and two older half sisters (one who married Quintus Haterius and another named Vipsania Agrippina who married the future emperor Tiberius){{Cite book|title=The Augustan Aristocracy|last=Syme|first=Ronald|publisher=Clarendon Press|year=1989|isbn=9780198147312|pages=504|edition=illustrated and revised}} as well as five younger half-siblings named Gaius Caesar, Lucius Caesar, Agrippina the Elder, Vipsania Julia and Agrippa Postumus from her father's third and last marriage to Julia the Elder. From her mother she also likely had several younger half siblings, among them Lucius Antonius and Iulla Antonia.{{Cite book|title=Domina: The Women Who Made Imperial Rome|last=de la Bédoyère|first=Guy|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2018|isbn=9780300240672|pages=312}}
=Marriage=
She likely married Varus around 14 BC.{{Cite book |title=Four Days in September: The Battle of Teutoburg |last=Abdale |first=Jason R. |publisher=Pen and Sword |year=2016 |isbn=9781473860872}} She was his second wife.{{Cite book|title=The Imperial Families of Ancient Rome|last=Craven|first=Maxwell|publisher=Fonthill Media|year=2019}} Their marriage was considered the reason why Varus was selected to be consul in 13 BC with Tiberius.{{Cite book |title=Augustus: Image and Substance |last=Levick |first=Barbara |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |isbn=9781317867449 |pages=140}}{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334696384 |title=Varus' Legacy After Teutoburger Wald |first=Gaius |last=Stern |date=2009 |via=www.researchgate.net}} She might have been the mother of Sextus Nonius Quinctilianus if he was indeed Varus' sonLevick, Barbara, Tiberius the Politician (1999). 36 or another son who served with his father in 4 AD.{{Citation |title=The Case for Another Son of P. Quinctilius Varus: a Re-examination of the Textual and Scholarly Traditions Around Joseph. BJ 2.68 and AJ 17.288 |last=Crosby |first=Daniel J. |pages=123, 125 |publisher=Bryn Mawr College |year=2016 |url=https://repository.brynmawr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=gsas_pubs}}{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |publisher=University of Bologna |date=2015 |url=http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/7133/1/TesiRoncaglia.pdf |title=Giochi di famiglia: dinamiche di potere tra Augusto e Tiberio |language=it |trans-title=Family games: dynamics of power between Augustus and Tiberius |first=Alessandro |last=Roncaglia |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217011814/http://amsdottorato.unibo.it/7133/1/TesiRoncaglia.pdf |archive-date=17 February 2020}} Their marriage did not last much longer than a decade from his consulship, since by then Varus was married to another woman.{{Cite book |title=The Augustan Aristocracy |last=Syme |first=Ronald |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1989 |isbn=9780198147312 |pages=315 |edition=illustrated and revised}}
Research
Her existence was first discovered to modern historians upon the rediscovery of a papyrus recounting Augustus' funeral oration for Agrippa which states that Varus and Tiberius were both sons-in-law to Agrippa.{{Cite book|title=The Augustan Aristocracy|last=Syme|first=Ronald|publisher=Clarendon Press|year=1989|isbn=9780198147312|pages=146|edition=illustrated and revised}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
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Category:Julio-Claudian dynasty
Category:1st-century BC Roman women
Category:Children of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa