Clemson University TigerPrints All Theses Theses 8-2017 Octavia Minor and the Transition from Republic to Empire Katrina Moore Clemson University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses Recommended Citation Moore, Katrina, "Octavia Minor and the Transition from Republic to Empire" (2017). All Theses. 2738. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/2738 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Theses by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact [email protected]. OCTAVIA MINOR AND THE TRANSITION FROM REPUBLIC TO EMPIRE A Thesis Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts History by Katrina Moore August 2017 Accepted by: Dr. Elizabeth Carney, Committee Chair Dr. Stephanie Barczewski Dr. Caroline Dunn Dr. Thomas Kuehn ABSTRACT As a “good girl,” Octavia Minor, older sister to Octavian née Augustus, has been understudied as a historical figure of the Late Roman Republic. Her portrayal as a “good” exempla in the written classical sources obscures Octavia’s agency. This thesis seeks to divest Octavia of her “good girl” reputation, as has been done by other scholars for many “bad girls” of antiquity, such as Cleopatra and Livia. Removing this “good” stereotype will allow for an examination of Octavia’s role in transforming the moral example of a Roman woman from the Republic to the Empire. Through attentive handling of androcentric classical sources, this study will carefully seek to rehabilitate Octavia as an astute, rather than “good” woman. Though large portions of Octavia’s life are not examined by the classical sources, this thesis will turn to the people with whom Octavia was connected, her mother, step-father, husbands, and brother, as well as her female contemporaries with whom she was compared, Fulvia and Cleopatra, in an effort to more fully examine the entirety of Octavia’s life. The material culture associated with Octavia will also be studied. An examination of the innovative coins which displayed Octavia’s portrait, the busts and cameos, and the portico which she built in Rome all contribute to understanding Octavia as a woman who was not merely “good,” but was instead well-versed in her understanding of Roman traditional values and influential in transforming what it meant to be a Roman matrona under the new, innovative Roman state her brother was constructing. Octavia’s exempla would serve as the prototype to emulate for Livia and others, including Octavia’s own female descendants, as Roman empress. ii DEDICATION In Memoriam To my mother Daphne Diane Stemple (1957-2016) iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to extend my thanks to Clemson University, and especially the History Department. I am exceptionally grateful to have had the honor to call Hardin Hall my home for three years and receive the support of the staff, faculty, and graduate students within its brick walls. A special thank you belongs to Dr. Paul Anderson for his unwavering belief in me and my abilities, and his always sage advice. I am indebted to Dr. Elizabeth Carney for taking me on as her student. As an advisor she was tough, honest, and above all, fiercely supportive. In my time spent in her office, from one-room-Latin-schoolhouse to weekly independent studies, I was given an incredible opportunity to learn and grow under her tutelage. Dr. Carney, your wit and your brilliance has, and will continue to, inspire me. Thank you. Thank you to Drs. Stephanie Barczewski, Caroline Dunn, and Thomas Kuehn for serving on my committee. I appreciate all the comments and discussions which each of you brought up at my defense. Thank to Dr. Michael Meng for allowing me to be a part of your philosophy study group, I think Socrates would appreciate what we achieved in our hours of discussion. Thank you to all the Cooper Library staff who helped me track down elusive articles and books, you saved my academic life on a near daily basis. Thanks also need to be bestowed upon Rachael, Libby, Sara, and all the other women with whom I ‘porch.’ You helped me keep my sanity and I love you all. To Kacie, thank you for being golden with me. And finally, for support of every kind, thank you always to my husband, Patrick. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TITLE PAGE .................................................................................................................... i ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... ii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................ iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................. iv INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 A Reassessment of Octavia’s age ........................................................................ 8 CHAPTER ONE: Early Life .......................................................................................... 12 Octavia’s mother, Atia ....................................................................................... 12 Octavia’s step-father, Lucius Marcius Philippus cos. 56 ................................... 16 CHAPTER TWO: Marriages ......................................................................................... 25 Octavia’s first husband, Gaius Marcellus cos. 50 .............................................. 25 Fulvia, wife of Publius Clodius Pulcher, Gaius Scribonius Curio, and Antony ........................................................................................ 43 Octavia’s last husband, Marcus Antonius, cos. 44, 38, 34 and 31 ........................................................................................................... 86 Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt ............................................................................... 120 CHAPTER THREE: Motherhood and Memory .......................................................... 129 Octavian, cos. 43, 33, 31-23, princeps ............................................................. 129 The children of Octavia, biological and adopted ............................................. 146 Material Culture ............................................................................................... 154 Coins ................................................................................................................ 155 Portraiture ........................................................................................................ 161 The Porticus Octaviae, or the Portico of Octavia ............................................ 166 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 173 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................ 177 v INTRODUCTION It is a strange quirk of women’s historians that we have a drive to rescue “bad girls” from the darkness of their reputations. The negative bias of male classical writers is well attested to, and the lives of women, such as Cleopatra and Livia, have been re- assessed and re-evaluated with this ancient androcentric mentality in mind. Perhaps that is why Octavia Minor has been understudied – she would never be put into the category of women who were mistreated by these classical historians. In this thesis, I will attempt to rescue Octavia from her “good girl” reputation and give her the same careful consideration as her “bad girl” counterparts. The worst, the very worst, slander leveled against Octavia in antiquity was that she grieved too deeply at the death of her only son Marcellus (Sen. Ad Marc. 2.1-4). To ancient authors, and often modern authors as well, she was the “good” wife, mother, and sister. She skillfully navigated the public realm without drawing the ire of her male counterparts. She was never accused of adultery, the usual accusation cast upon women who made unfeminine, aggressive political moves. She was not said to have poisoned any of her rivals, nor did she aspire to public glory or notoriety. The classical sources give the impression that Octavia’s inherent “goodness” was the quality that undergirded her entire life. This assumption, that Octavia was defined by her “goodness,” is as deceptive as the assumption that any woman was defined by her inglorious reputation. The bias toward Octavia is more subtle and difficult to see, because she is not vilified or mistreated, but this positive bias limits her just as much as a negative bias limits her “bad 1 girl” counterparts. Both the “bad” and “good” woman are stereotypes in ancient literature and both require careful examination. While Octavia has certainly been understudied, she has not been completely ignored by historians.1 The only full study of Octavia’s life is an unpublished doctoral dissertation written in 1944 by Mary Singer.2 While Singer’s work is to be admired for its studious gathering of primary sources and timeline organization, due to the era in which it was written, the dissertation frequently discounts Octavia’s agency. Singer was writing thirty years before the history of ancient women began to be re-examined. Sarah Pomeroy’s breakthrough study Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves