Domitia Lepida the Younger

Who was Domitia Lepida the Younger?

Domitia Lepida, also known as Domitia Lepida the Younger, Domitia Lepida Minor, or simply Lepida; was the younger daughter of Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus and Antonia Major. Her elder siblings were Domitia and Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, father of the emperor Nero. She was the great niece of Emperor Augustus, granddaughter of Octavia Minor and Mark Antony, second cousin to the Emperor Caligula, first cousin and mother-in-law to the Emperor Claudius, and paternal aunt of the Emperor Nero. Lepida was a beautiful and influential figure. Like her sister, she was also very wealthy. She had holdings in Calabria and owned the praedia Lepidiana.

Lepida was married three times. Her first husband was her cousin, the consul Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus. Lepida married Barbatus probably around 15. They had a son, Marcus Valerius Messala Corvinus and a daughter, Valeria Messalina, who became Empress and third wife to the Emperor Claudius. Barbatus most likely died around AD 20 or AD 21, shortly after Messalina was born. Lepida's second husband was Faustus Cornelius Sulla, consul suffectus in 31, a descendant of the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Their son, Faustus Cornelius Sulla Felix was born in 22 and married Claudia Antonia, the daughter of Claudius through his second marriage to Aelia Paetina. Faustus Cornelius Sulla died in AD 62.