Julia (Serviana) Paulina (or
Paullina) was the daughter and only child of Iberian Roman politician and
consul Lucius Julius Ursus Servianus and Paulina Minor. She was born at an unknown time and place between 98 and 117, during the reign of her third cousin Emperor
Trajan. Some time before Trajan's death in 117, her parents arranged for her to marry the Roman senator
Gnaeus Pedanius Fuscus Salinator, ordinary consul in 118. Roman senator
Pliny the Younger sent a letter of congratulations to her parents regarding her wedding (
Epistulae, VI.26). Her husband was originally from present-day
Barcelona, Spain (then in the Roman province of
Hispania Tarraconensis), himself son of a former consul of the same name. In 118, during her husband's consulship, Julia Paulina had a son, the younger Lucius Pedanius Fuscus Salinator. Julia Paulina and her husband seem to have both died before 136. Her father Servianus and Emperor Hadrian organised a private funeral for her. The Emperor was ridiculed by the public for only granting his niece a state funeral and apotheosis under pressure from the
Senate, but bestowing a sumptuous funeral and full
divine honours on his lover
Antinous. Julia's father Servianus cherished the idea that her son would succeed Hadrian, whom the aging Emperor himself considered his heir. He promoted the young Salinator, gave him special status in his court, and prepared him for the succession. However, in 136, Hadrian changed his mind and adopted
Lucius Aelius Caesar as his heir. Julia's father and son planned to challenge his decision; to avoid any conflict, Hadrian ordered their deaths. ==References==