Antonia

A marble bust of Antonia Minor

Antonia sometimes known in history as Antonia Minor lived from 36 B.C. to 37 A.D. She was the daughter of Octavia Thurina, sister of Octavian (who would later become Augustus), and Mark Antony. Also having an older sister named Antonia, little is known of the older sister except she was the grandmother of Nero and Messalina.

Separated from her father at a young age due to his falling out with her mother and Octavian, Antonia was known for her strong Roman virtues and married Drusus I, the stepson of Octavian after he married Livia. After his untimely death in 9 B.C., she never remarried. Three of her children reached adulthood: Germanicus, Livilla, and Claudius. She lived long enough to find her son Germanicus poisoned, probably by the Emperor Tiberius, and turned in her own daughter Livilla for murdering her husband and plotting with Sejanus to take over the Empire in 31 A.D. When Livilla was turned over to her, Antonia locked her in a room until she starved to death.

Antonia took her own life in 37 A.D. Having only Claudius left of her children, and never having thought fondly of him because of his physical problems and stutter, she saw nothing left to live for when she saw the monster that her grandson Caligula had become as Emperor. She never did see her son Claudius become Emperor in his own right a few years later.