Cornelia Salonina

Cornelia Salonina
Empress of the Roman Empire
Marble bust of Cornelia Salonina
Roman Empress
Tenure 253 – 268 (15 years)
Predecessor Cornelia Supera
Successor Ulpia Severina
Born Possibly Bithynia
Died 268
Mediolanum, Italia
Spouse Gallienus
Issue Valerianus
Saloninus
Marinianus
Full name
Iulia Publia Licinia Cornelia Salonina Augusta
Dynasty Valerian
Religion Roman Paganism

Julia Cornelia Salonina (died 268, Mediolanum) was an Augusta of the Roman Empire, married to Roman Emperor Gallienus and mother of Valerian II, Saloninus, and Marinianus.

Life

This arch, a gate in the Servian Walls of Rome, was dedicated to Gallienus and SALONINAE SANCTISSIMAE AUG, "to Salonina, most holy Augusta".

Julia Cornelia Salonina's origin is unknown. According to a modern theory, she was born of Greek origin[1][2][3] in Bithynia, then part of the province of Bithynia et Pontus, Asia Minor. However, there exists some scepticism on that.[4] She was married to Gallienus about ten years before his accession to the throne. When her husband became joint-emperor with his father Valerian in 253, Cornelia Salonina was named Augusta.

Cornelia was the mother of three princes, Valerian II, Saloninus and Marinianus.[5] Her fate, after the murder of Gallienus, during the siege of Mediolanum in 268, is unknown. It is likely that either her life was spared[6] or that she was executed together with other members of her family, at the orders of the Senate of Rome.[7]

Her name is reported on coins with Latin legend as Cornelia Salonina; however, from the Greek coinage come the names Iulia Cornelia Salonina, Publia Licinia Cornelia Salonina, and Salonina Chrysogona (attribute that means "begotten of gold").

References

  1. ↑ According to Bray (1997), pp.30, 347, supporters of Greek Bithynian origin include Andreas Alföldi in Die Vorherrschaft der Pannonier im Römerreiche und die Reaktion des Hellenentums unter Gallienus, Studien zur Geschichte der Weltkrise des 3, ahrhunderts nach Christus. M.78 Taf. Darmstadt, 1967 and R. Munsterburg in Numismatische Zeitschrift, vol. LVIII, 1925, p.41
  2. ↑ Lissner, Ivar (1958). The Caesars: might and madness. Putnam. p. 291. OCLC 403811. Gallienus' wife was a remarkably sensitive and cultured Greek woman named Cornelia Salonina who came from Bithynia
  3. ↑ Bengtson, Hermann – Bloedow, Edmund Frederick (1988). History of Greece: from the beginnings to the Byzantine era. University of Ottawa Press. p. 344. ISBN 0-7766-0210-1. The Empress Salonina, a Greek from Bithynia, took an avid part in the philhellenic efforts of the emperor.
  4. ↑ Bray (1997), p.30, who cites Jean Gagé, Programme d' italicité et nostalgies d'hellénisme autour de Gallien et Salonine, Aufstieg und niedergang der Römischen Welt, vol. 5, New York, 1975, ISBN 3-11-004971-6, p.839
  5. ↑ Bray (1997), pp.50-51
  6. ↑ Bray (1997), p.308
  7. ↑ Watson, Alaric. Aurelian and the Third Century, Routledge, Oxon, 1999. ISBN 0-415-30187-4, p.41
  • Bray, John. Gallienus : A Study in Reformist and Sexual Politics, Wakefield Press, Kent Town, 1997, ISBN 1-86254-337-2
  • "Salonina", Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, edited William Smith (1870).
  • Partial Salonina coinage
  • "Dictionary of Roman Coins", by Seth William Stevenson (1889).

Further reading

  • (in French) Minaud, Gérard, Les vies de 12 femmes d’empereur romain - Devoirs, Intrigues & Voluptés , Paris, L’Harmattan, 2012, ch. 11, La vie de Cornélia Salonina, femme de Gallien, p. 263-284.

Media related to Salonina at Wikimedia Commons

Royal titles
Preceded by
Cornelia Supera		 Empress of Rome
253–268		 Succeeded by
Ulpia Severa
Preceded by
Herennia Etruscilla		 Empress-Mother of Rome
260		 Succeeded by
Eutropia
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