Claudia Marcella Major

Who is Claudia Marcella Major?

Claudia Marcella was the name of the two daughters of Octavia Minor, the sister of Roman emperor Augustus, by her first husband, the consul Gaius Claudius Marcellus. According to the Roman Historian Suetonius, they were known as the The Marcellae sisters and they are also known as the two Marcellae. The sisters were born in Rome. Between 40 BC-36 BC, they lived with their mother and their stepfather Triumvir Mark Antony in Athens, Greece. After 36 BC they accompanied their mother when she returned to Rome with their siblings. They were raised and educated by their mother, their maternal uncle, Roman emperor Augustus, and their maternal aunt-in-marriage Roman Empress Livia Drusilla. These two daughters of Octavia Minor and Gaius Claudius Marcellus with their siblings, provide a critical link between the past of the Roman Republic and the new Roman Empire. The marriages of the sisters and the children born to their unions assured republican family lines into the next generation.