Two domitian sisters?

Abstract

Traditional historiography assumes that Prince Nero had two paternal aunts: «Domitia Lepida» and «Domitia». Many details point to the idea that both were the same person but, the alleged death penalty of Domitia Lepida issued by Claudio that Tacitus describes in Annals closed the matter. It should be remembered that Suetonius also narrates this event without mentioning that it had finished with the last penalty and, moreover, he never called «Domicia» to any aunt of Nero: when he did not name her as «Domitia Lepida», or simply «Lepida», he mentioned her as «the paternal aunt» (of Nero) or «the sister» (of Cnaeus Domitius). Dio Cassius, on the other hand, mentions only once a paternal aunt of Nero, and names her «aunt Domitia». It should be noted that mentioning a woman only by the nomen in feminine was not a way to differentiate her from her sisters (as it is intended in this case); on the contrary, it is a way to show that such a person lacks sisters with whom she shares her nomen. This study will try to shed light on the equivocal, and even we understand that false, narration of sources.