Poppaea Sabina

Poppaea Sabina (c. 30 - 65) was the second wife of the Roman Emperor Nero. The historians of Antiquity see in her few good qualities apart from her beauty and focus on her intrigues to become empress. Fifteen centuries later, Claudio Monteverdi depicted her in a more favorable light in his last opera, highlighting her love for the emperor.

Life

Ancestry

Sabina was the daughter of Titus Ollius, a praetor in the reign of the Emperor Tiberius. His friendship with Sejanus ruined him, before gaining public office. Her mother, also called Poppaea Sabina, was a distinguished woman, whom the ancient sources describe as a wealthy beauty and a woman of distinction. Tacitus describes her as one of the loveliest women of her day. In A.D. 47, she committed suicide as an innocent victim of the intrigues of Empress Messalina.

The father of the elder Sabina was Gaius Poppaeus Sabinus, who was consul of A.D. 9. In Tiberius’ reign, he received a military triumph, for ending a revolt in Thrace in A.D. 26. From A.D. 15 until his death, he served as Imperial Governor of Greece and in other provinces. This competent administrator enjoyed the friendship of the imperial family. He died in A.D. 35.

Poppaea Sabina had a stepfather called Publius Cornelius Lentulus Scipio. He served as a divisional commander in A.D. 22, consul in A.D. 24 and later senator. Her half-brother of the same name was consul in A.D. 56 and later served as a senator.

Marriage to Rufrius Crispinus

Poppaea Sabina's first marriage was to Rufrius Crispinus, a man of equestrian rank. He was the leader of the Praetorian Guard during the reign of the Emperor Claudius. In A.D. 51, Agrippina, then married to Claudius and Empress, removed him from this position, as she regarded him loyal to Messalina's memory and replaced him with Burrus. Later under Nero he was executed. Poppaea had borne him a son of the same name, who later, after her death, would be drowned on a fishing trip by the Emperor Nero.

Marriage to Otho

Poppaea Sabina then married Otho, if only as a stepping stone to reach her ultimate goal; Emperor Nero. After attaining a 'position' as his mistress, she divorced her husband Otho (who later became emperor after Nero's death in succession to Galba) and focused her attentions solely on becoming empress of Rome. Before marrying Otho, Nero ordered her to leave her first husband and they divorced.

Empress

Ambitious and ruthless, Poppaea was initially Nero's favourite mistress. Even as a mistress, she was hated and feared by many in Rome. It is said that Nero's mother Agrippina the Younger, saw the danger and tried to persuade Nero to get rid of her. This dispute over Poppaea was one of the reasons that saw Nero finally murder his mother. With Agrippina gone, Poppaea's influence over Nero became so great that due to the pressure she put on him, he divorced (and later executed) his first wife Octavia in order to marry Poppaea in A.D. 62. Octavia was initially dismissed to Campania, and then imprisoned on the island of Pandateria (a common place of banishment for members of the Imperial family who fell from favour, on a charge of adultery. The new empress had many other unfortunates who challenged her power murdered or sent into exile. Nero's former tutor Seneca is thought to be among her victims. In some Church sources it is claimed that it was Poppaea and not Nero who instigated the persecutions against Christians, in order to cover up her murderous deeds.

She bore Nero one daughter, Claudia Augusta, born on January 21st A.D. 63, who died at only four months of age.

According to Suetonius, while she was awaiting the birth of her second child in the summer of A.D. 65, she quarreled fiercely with Nero over his spending too much time at the games. In a fit of rage, Nero kicked her in the abdomen, so causing her death.

Poppaea enjoyed having milk baths. She would have them daily, because she was once told 'therein lurked a magic which would dispel all diseases and blights from her beauty'.(1)

Monteverdi's opera

The opera L'Incoronazione di Poppea by Claudio Monteverdi concerns her life.

(1)- Cosmetics, Children's Britannica Volume 5. Church to Czech