Antonia the Elder


Antonia the Elder was a daughter of Triumvir Mark Antony and Octavia the Younger and a relative of the first Roman emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. She was a niece of the first emperor Augustus, step cousin of the emperor Tiberius, paternal great-aunt of the emperor Caligula, maternal aunt of emperor Claudius, and paternal grandmother and maternal great-great aunt of the emperor Nero.

Biography

Antonia was born in Athens, Greece and after 36 BC her mother, along with her siblings and herself were brought to Rome. She was raised by her mother, her uncle and her aunt Livia Drusilla. According to Cassius Dio after her father died, Augustus allowed her and her younger sister Antonia Minor to benefit from their father's estate in Rome. Although little is known of her, Antonia was held in high regard like her sister Antonia Minor, the mother of the emperor Claudius, who was celebrated for her beauty and virtue.

Issue

Around 22 BC Antonia married the consul Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. Antonia bore Lucius three children:
Many scholars think the Ara Pacis, displays Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and his elder sister Domitia. The woman behind Domitia and Domitius is allegedly their mother Antonia Major and the man next to Antonia Major is her husband Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus.

Ancestry