Julia Domna

Julia Domna as Atargatis (or the Moon). (British Museum)

Julia Domna (c.170-217): Roman empress, wife of the emperor Septimius Severus.

Family:

Father: Julius Bassianus
Husband: Septimius Severus
Sister: Julia Maesa
Sons: Caracalla, Geta

Julia Domna. Bust from the Louvre, Paris (France). Photo Marco Prins.

Julia Domna (Louvre)

Life:

c.170: Born in Emesa
185: Marriage to Septimius Severus
186: Birth of Caracalla
189: Birth of Geta
193: Accession of Severus; Julia Domna called Augusta
195: Honorary title Mater Castrorum
211, February: Death of her husband
211, December: Caracalla kills Geta
215: In charge of the cura epistularum Graecarum, epistularum Latinarum, and the office of a libellis
217: Assassination of Caracalla; commits suicide in Antioch
Buried in the Mausoleum of Augustus, later transferred to the Mausoleum of Hadrian

Other:

Julia Domna played an important role as center of circle of Roman and Greek philosophers and sophists, including Philostratus, whom she ordered to write the Life of Apollonius

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