Bruttia Crispina

Bust of Crispina (Louvre, Paris)

Bruttia Crispina (†193 CE): name of a Roman empress, wife of the emperor Commodus.

Family

daughter of Gaius Bruttius Praesens, a former consul
daughter of Laberia Marcia Hostilia Crispina Moecia Cornelia
a brother Lucius Brutius Quintius Crispinus

Life

Date of birth not recorded
Summer 178: Marries to Commodus
180: Second consulship of Gaius Bruttius Praesens; death of Marcus Aurelius; accession of Commodus
181 Conspiracy of Lucilla
182: Possible pregnancy
187: Consulship of her brother Lucius Bruttius Quintius Crispinus
192: Accused of adultery, she is exiled to Capri
192, 31 December: Commodus killed
193 Crispina is murdered; damnatio memoriae

The Historia Augusta (Commodus, 5.9) and Cassius Dio (Roman History, 72.4.6) suggest that Commodus exiled his wife after the conspiracy of Lucilla, but several inscriptions prove that she was still in favor: CIL 8.16530 (Theveste, 185); CIL 3.12487 (Neatarnarea, 187); CIL 8.22689 (Sabratha, 192).

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