Otho of Etruria and settled at Ferentinum (currently Ferento, near Viterbo) in Etruria. The future emperor appears first as one of the most reckless and extravagant of the young nobles who surrounded Nero. This friendship was brought to an end in 58 AD because of his wife, the noblewoman Poppaea Sabina. Otho introduced his beautiful wife to the emperor upon Poppaea's insistence, who then began an affair that would eventually lead to her premature death. After securely establishing this position as his mistress, she divorced Otho and had the emperor send him away as governor to the remote province of Lusitania
Poppaea (gens) evidence of the Poppaei prior to the first century, but from inscriptions the family seems to have been concentrated in Campania. The surname "Sabinus" suggests that they claimed Sabine ancestry. The region of Campania where the greatest number of Poppaei are found was associated with the Samnites, an Oscan-speaking people who also claimed Sabine descent. The chief praenomina of the Poppaei were "Gaius" and "Quintus". A few of the family used other names, such as "Publius, Lucius, Sextus", and "Titus". All of these were common names throughout Roman history. Poppaea (gens) The gens Poppaea was a minor plebeian family at