Volusia Cornelia,[1] also known as Cornelia Volusia[2] was a Roman woman of Patrician status who lived in the late 1st century. She was the daughter of the senator Quintus Volusius Saturninus, suffect consul in 92.[3] She was born and raised in Rome. Her cognomen Cornelia, she inherited from paternal great-grandmother Cornelia Lentula, the daughter of the consul of 3 BC, Lucius Cornelius Lentulus[4] from the gens Cornelia.

Inscriptionals

Volusia is known through various surviving inscriptions. The evidence reveals she was a wealthy, distinguished woman[5] of the Senatorial class.[6] She owned a private luxurious villa in Nemi, the previous possession of the Roman emperor Caligula.[1] In an area of the villa, Volusia restored a theatre.[1] The theatre was used to entertained guests that happened to be at the villa, such as family members, friends sharing a vacation, neighboring villa-owners and notables invited to dinner.[7] After the theatre was restored, her deed was recorded in a monumental inscription.[1] which has decorative handles.[8] One branch of the Volusii family had a praedium in the area of Nemi and a fistulae bearing the name of Volusia was also found.[1]

The inscription which is dated from the mid-1st century[8] reads in Latin which is translated in English:

volvsia q. f. cornelia theatrvm
vetvstate corrvptvm restitvit et excolivit
Volusia Cornelia, daughter of Quintus, restored and decorated the theatre damaged by age.[9]

The plaque is on display at the National Museum of Rome. She was also a donor at the Sanctuary of Diana at Nemi.[8]

The below funeral inscription is dedicated to commemorate the hairdresser of Volusia. The Latin inscription which is found in Rome reads in English:

To the Departed Spirits.
Elate, hairdresser of Cornelia Volusia
lived twenty years. Hellanicus (made this)
for a well-deserving wife. (CIL VI, 7296, Rome)[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Marzano, Roman Villas in Central Italy: A Social and Economic History, p. 196
  2. ↑ Biographischer Index der Antike, p. 249
  3. ↑ Rudolf Hanslik, "Volusia Q.f. Cornelia 23", Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, Supplement 9A, col. 1863
  4. ↑ Levick, Tiberius the Politician, p. 53
  5. ↑ Green, Roman Religion and the Cult of Diana at Aricia, p. 280
  6. ↑ Green, Roman Religion and the Cult of Diana at Aricia, p. 63
  7. ↑ Marzano, Roman Villas in Central Italy: A Social and Economic History, pp. 196-7
  8. 1 2 3 The World of Class - Images of Class: Patrons - Volusia Cornelia Archived 2013-11-03 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ Green, Roman Religion and the Cult of Diana at Aricia, p. 263
  10. ↑ Joshel, Slavery in the Roman World, p. 143

Sources

  • The World of Class - Images of Class: Patrons - Volusia Cornelia
  • B. Levick, Tiberius the Politician, Routledge, 1999
  • Biographischer Index der Antike (Google eBook), Walter de Gruyter, 2001
  • A. Marzano, Roman Villas in Central Italy: A Social and Economic History, BRILL, 2007
  • C.M.C. Green, Roman Religion and the Cult of Diana of Aricia, Cambridge University Press, 2007
  • S.R. Joshel, Slavery in the Roman World, Cambridge University Press, 2010
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