She was the second daughter of
Aemilia Lepida and
Marcus Junius Silanus Torquatus, one of the
Junii Silani. Her maternal grandparents were
Julia the Younger, granddaughter of the emperor
Augustus, and
Lucius Aemilius Paullus,
consul in AD 1. Lepida married
Gaius Cassius Longinus (c. 13 BC - AD 69), a person with remarkable ancestral wealth. Cassius was
praefectus urbi circa AD 27, consul
suffectus in AD 30,
proconsul of
Asia in 40 or 41, and
governor of
Syria between about AD 45 and 49. Lepida and Cassius raised Lepida's nephew,
Lucius Junius Silanus Torquatus, whose father was murdered by Empress
Agrippina the Younger. In AD 66, Lepida's husband and nephew were expelled from Rome by Emperor
Nero for being a part in
Gaius Calpurnius Piso's conspiracy. Cassius was deported to
Sardinia. Lepida was accused by Nero of
black magic and incest with her nephew; her subsequent fate is unknown. Cassius was later rehabilitated, and recalled from exile by
Vespasian. Lepida bore Longinus two children: Cassia Longina (born c. AD 35), who married the Roman general
Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, and Cassius Lepidus (born c. AD 55). The latter had a daughter, Cassia Lepida (born c. AD 80), who married
Gaius Julius Alexander Berenicianus (born c. AD 80), consul in AD 116, and proconsul of Asia in AD 132, and had a daughter, Julia Cassia Alexandra, mother of
Avidius Cassius. ==See also==