Ovid and the Julio-Claudians: Julia the Younger – “Love, Myths and Other Stories” – LXXXIII
Vipsania Julia Agrippina, known as Julia the Younger, was a princess belonging to the Julio-Claudian Dynasty, and the elder granddaughter of the emperor Augustus. She was the first daughter of Julia the Elder, Augustus’ daughter, and his second husband Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. About 5 BC or 6 BC, Augustus arranged her to marry Lucius Aemilius Paullus.
The year 8 AD saw the banishment of Julia the Younger on the charge of adultery. Julia was exiled for having an affair with Decimus Junius Silanus, a Roman Senator. According to scholars the affair was not political, but moral. They suppose that Julia and Silanus were in a relationship, possibly marriage, a circumstance which, when it became known, infuriated Augustus. Julia was sent to Tremirus, a small Italian island, where she gave birth to a child. Augustus rejected the infant and ordered it to be exposed, or left on a mountainside to die. Silanus went into voluntary exile, but returned under Tiberius' reign.
The same year Ovid was banished by Augustus and, according to Ovid's own specification, the “Ars Amatoria” and an “error” were the two causes of his exile.
«Perdiderint cum me duo crimina, carmen et error
alterius facti culpa silenda mihi»
[Tr. 2,1 207 - 208]
"two charges brought me ruin, a poem and a mistake, of my fault in the one I must keep silent”
Translation by A.L. Wheeler
The nature of the error has given rise to futile speculation. Perhaps Ovid was somehow involved in a dynastic scandal involving Julia the Younger and her lovers. The year 8 AD saw the banishments of Julia the Younger and Ovid. This occurrence could be a mere coincidence, but it is tempting to think that Ovid was somehow involved in the affair (as an innocent witness or as a go - between of sorts?) and punished accordingly. This would explain why the “Ars amatoria” was invoked as a reason for the exile: the poem would have been used to demonstrate that Ovid was a proponent and enabler of adultery both in word and in deed. The problem with the theory is that the punishment would seem unusually harsh for someone only marginally involved. Note that Julia’s supposed lover, Decius Iunius Silanus, got off much more lightly: he left Rome voluntarily, not having been officially exiled, and was allowed back after Augustus ’ death.
Source: K. Volk, Ovid
Marble portrait
38 x 18 x 21 cm
Late I cent. BC – Early I cent. AD
Roma, Sovraintendenza Archeologica, Belle Arti e Paesaggio
Exhibition: “Ovidio: Loves, Myths & Other Stories”
Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome
Ovid and the Julio-Claudians: Julia the Younger – “Love, Myths and Other Stories” – LXXXIII
Vipsania Julia Agrippina, known as Julia the Younger, was a princess belonging to the Julio-Claudian Dynasty, and the elder granddaughter of the emperor Augustus. She was the first daughter of Julia the Elder, Augustus’ daughter, and his second husband Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. About 5 BC or 6 BC, Augustus arranged her to marry Lucius Aemilius Paullus.
The year 8 AD saw the banishment of Julia the Younger on the charge of adultery. Julia was exiled for having an affair with Decimus Junius Silanus, a Roman Senator. According to scholars the affair was not political, but moral. They suppose that Julia and Silanus were in a relationship, possibly marriage, a circumstance which, when it became known, infuriated Augustus. Julia was sent to Tremirus, a small Italian island, where she gave birth to a child. Augustus rejected the infant and ordered it to be exposed, or left on a mountainside to die. Silanus went into voluntary exile, but returned under Tiberius' reign.
The same year Ovid was banished by Augustus and, according to Ovid's own specification, the “Ars Amatoria” and an “error” were the two causes of his exile.
«Perdiderint cum me duo crimina, carmen et error
alterius facti culpa silenda mihi»
[Tr. 2,1 207 - 208]
"two charges brought me ruin, a poem and a mistake, of my fault in the one I must keep silent”
Translation by A.L. Wheeler
The nature of the error has given rise to futile speculation. Perhaps Ovid was somehow involved in a dynastic scandal involving Julia the Younger and her lovers. The year 8 AD saw the banishments of Julia the Younger and Ovid. This occurrence could be a mere coincidence, but it is tempting to think that Ovid was somehow involved in the affair (as an innocent witness or as a go - between of sorts?) and punished accordingly. This would explain why the “Ars amatoria” was invoked as a reason for the exile: the poem would have been used to demonstrate that Ovid was a proponent and enabler of adultery both in word and in deed. The problem with the theory is that the punishment would seem unusually harsh for someone only marginally involved. Note that Julia’s supposed lover, Decius Iunius Silanus, got off much more lightly: he left Rome voluntarily, not having been officially exiled, and was allowed back after Augustus ’ death.
Source: K. Volk, Ovid
Marble portrait
38 x 18 x 21 cm
Late I cent. BC – Early I cent. AD
Roma, Sovraintendenza Archeologica, Belle Arti e Paesaggio
Exhibition: “Ovidio: Loves, Myths & Other Stories”
Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome