Annia Aurelia Fadilla, most commonly known as Fadilla (159 – after 211)[1] was one of the daughters born to
Marcus Aurelius and his wife
Faustina the Younger. She was a sister to
Lucilla and
Commodus. Fadilla was named in honor of her late maternal aunt Aurelia Fadilla. The cognomen Fadilla, was the
cognomen of the mother and a half-sister of
Antoninus Pius. Her maternal grandparents were Antoninus Pius and
Faustina the Elder and her paternal grandparents were
Domitia Lucilla and praetor
Marcus Annius Verus.
Life
Fadilla was born and raised in Rome. During the reign of her father, she married
Marcus Peducaeus Plautius Quintillus,[2] a
Roman senator who later served twice as
consul and as
Augur, and who was a nephew of Roman emperor
Lucius Verus (who had co-ruled with her father from 161–169 and
through adoption was
her uncle).[3] The mother of Plautius Quintillus was
Ceionia Fabia, sister of Lucius Verus. Fadilla bore Marcus Peducaeus Plautius Quintillus two children: a son, (Plautius) Quintillus, and a daughter, Plautia Servilla.
When her father died in 180, her remaining brother Commodus succeeded him as Roman emperor. During Commodus' reign, Fadilla and her family lived in a private palace on
Capitoline Hill in Rome which was later bestowed by the later Roman emperor
Elagabalus (218–222) as one of his mother's favorite residences. Her husband became one of Commodus' main advisers.
According to
Herodian (History of the Roman Empire 1.13.1), Fadilla warned Commodus about
Marcus Aurelius Cleander, a
Praetorian prefect, who was becoming too powerful. With the help from one of her sisters, she uncovered and revealed a palace conspiracy aimed at the removal of Commodus in 189.[4][5]
^The epitomator of Cassius Dio (
72.22) gives the story that Faustina the Elder promised to marry Avidius Cassius. This is also echoed in HA"Marcus Aurelius" 24.
Giacosa, Giorgio (1977). Women of the Caesars: Their Lives and Portraits on Coins. Translated by R. Ross Holloway. Milan: Edizioni Arte e Moneta.
ISBN0-8390-0193-2.
Lambert, Royston (1984). Beloved and God: The Story of Hadrian and Antinous. New York: Viking.
ISBN0-670-15708-2.