This paper aims to provide a meaningful example of a one-parent family. There is not mention in the sources of Fulvius Plautianus’ wife, and mother of his two children Plautilla and Hortensius. It is well known how controversial the political figure of Plautianus was during the first decade of Septimius Severus’ government. Because of his unscrupulous ambition, Plautianus was able to become a member of the imperial family through the marriage of his daughter Plautilla to Caracalla, the son and successor of Septimius Severus. There is some evidence to suggest that the powerful prefect of the praetorian guards deliberately chose not to remarry and to maintain his status as a single pater familias. After the civil war, by taking active part in the first phase of Severus’ quest for consensus within the military hierarchies, Plautianus managed to be fully integrated in the emperor’s dynastic construct. However, the collision with the senatorial aristocracy and, above all, the underestimation of Iulia Domna’s political influence, undermined the manoeuvres of Plautianus, whose key pawn was his daughter Plautilla.
"Una familia monoparental: Fulvia Plautilla en la estrategia política de Fulvio Plauciano”
Orietta Dora Cordovana
2023-01-01
Abstract
This paper aims to provide a meaningful example of a one-parent family. There is not mention in the sources of Fulvius Plautianus’ wife, and mother of his two children Plautilla and Hortensius. It is well known how controversial the political figure of Plautianus was during the first decade of Septimius Severus’ government. Because of his unscrupulous ambition, Plautianus was able to become a member of the imperial family through the marriage of his daughter Plautilla to Caracalla, the son and successor of Septimius Severus. There is some evidence to suggest that the powerful prefect of the praetorian guards deliberately chose not to remarry and to maintain his status as a single pater familias. After the civil war, by taking active part in the first phase of Severus’ quest for consensus within the military hierarchies, Plautianus managed to be fully integrated in the emperor’s dynastic construct. However, the collision with the senatorial aristocracy and, above all, the underestimation of Iulia Domna’s political influence, undermined the manoeuvres of Plautianus, whose key pawn was his daughter Plautilla.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
