Domitilla the Elder

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Domitilla the Elder
Flavia Domitilla Major.jpg
Spouse Vespasian
Issue Titus
Domitilla the Younger
Dynasty Flavian (by marriage)
Father Flavius Liberalis
Died Before 69

Flavia Domitilla Major (Major, Latin for the elder) Flavia Domitilla the Elder or Domitilla the Elder (died before 69, perhaps c. 65) was the wife of the Roman Emperor Vespasian.[1]


Flavia Domitilla was born in Sabratha from Italian colonists who moved there during Augustus times. She was a daughter of Flavius Liberalis, a humble quaestor’s clerk. Before her marriage, she was a formal mistress to an African knight.

Roman denarius depicting Flavia Domitilla Minor

Vespasian married her around 38 AD. She was the mother of Domitilla the Younger and of the emperors Titus and Domitian. She died before Vespasian assumed the purple of emperor.

She was even the grandmother of Saint Flavia Domitilla,[2] daughter of Domitilla the Younger.


  1. ^ Suetonius: Divus Vespasianus, 3
  2. ^ Santa Flavia Domitilla

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