Domnina

Who is Domnina?

According to a Christian tradition, recorded in The Passiones of St. Photeine, Domnina, daughter of the Roman emperor Nero, was converted in to Christianity along with her hundred slave girls, by the samaritan woman Photine. According to the tradition, Domnina ordered that "all the tempting gold be sold and the money distributed to the poor".

Domnina is not recorded in historical sources, and the story is likely a Christian myth dating to late antiquity, or to the medieval period. Nero's only recorded offspring was a daughter named Claudia Augusta, who died in infancy.

"Nero's daughter", named Domnina or otherwise, is also mentioned in some versions of the medieval fable of 'Virgil in the basket', as the lady who is the subject of the poet's affections. Such tales often blend fact with fiction and freely conflate and combine items from different eras of history, without regard for the actual chronology.