Nero’s final wife
Statilia Messalina belonged to a wealthy senatorial family and was married several times before becoming Nero’s third wife in 66 CE, following the death of Poppaea Sabina. Nero had her husband, the consul Marcus Julius Vestinus Atticus, killed during the Pisonian conspiracy, though the surviving sources do not establish that Vestinus participated in it.
Surviving the dynasty
Statilia remained Nero’s wife until his death on 9 June 68 CE and survived the collapse of the Julio-Claudian regime. Otho later intended to marry her, according to Suetonius. Compared with the hostile and elaborate traditions about Messalina and Agrippina, the surviving record of Statilia’s life is sparse — and no surviving portrait is securely identified as her, though a Capitoline Museums bust of a Julio-Claudian woman, dated to the 50s–70s CE, has been proposed as a likeness.
Historical sources
Tacitus, Annals 15.68–69
The death of Vestinus during the Pisonian crisis.
Suetonius, Nero 35; Otho 10
Nero’s marriage to Statilia and Otho’s later intentions.
Cassius Dio, Roman History 62.27
Statilia in the final years of Nero’s reign.
Portrait: Jamie Heath / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. Dated 50–70 CE; the identification as Statilia Messalina is proposed, not certain. Resized for display.