Early life She had two younger siblings:
Domitia Lepida and
Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus (cos. AD 32). The date of her birth is not recorded and can be only estimated as no later than 7 BC, but possibly as much as 10 years earlier, if one would allow a long delay between her birth and those of her two siblings.
Marriages Domitia was likely married to a cousin of
Sejanus named
Quintus Junius Blaesus with whom she had a son named
Junius Blaesus who served as a governor under emperor
Vitellius. She married the consul
Decimus Haterius Agrippa, who died in 32 as a victim of
Tiberius' reign of terror. Domitia bore Agrippa a son,
Quintus Haterius Antoninus (cos. AD 53) in approximately 20. In 33 Domitia married the witty, wealthy, and influential
Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passienus. Crispus was the adopted grandson and biological great-great nephew of the historian
Sallust. After January 41, Crispus divorced Domitia, so he could marry Domitia's former sister-in-law
Agrippina the Younger, who had recently returned from exile. Thereby, Crispus became the stepfather of Agrippina's son Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (
Nero), who was Domitia's nephew. Crispus soon died mysteriously, leaving a fortune to Agrippina and her son. Alternatively,
Christian Settipani had suggested that Domitia wasn't actually married to Blaesus - it was her daughter from marriage to Sallustius Crispus who become a wife of Blaesus's son. According to his hypothesis, the marriage between Domitia and Crispus took place earlier, c. 20-25.
Later life During the reigns of
Caligula,
Claudius and
Nero, Domitia was an influential rival to Agrippina. In June 59, she died while confined to a bed with severe
constipation. Nero was visiting her at the time, and she commented that when he shaved his beard (a Roman symbolic act, usually performed during a ceremony at the age of twenty-one), she would gladly die peacefully. Nero turned to those with him and joked, "I'll take it off at once." According to a rumor, he then ordered the doctors to administer a fatal dose of
laxative to his aunt and seized her property while she was dying. Modern scholars such as
Miriam T. Griffin distrust the claim that Nero poisoned her. ==References==