Milonia Caesonia (wife of Caligula, d. AD 41)

The death of Caesonia and her daughter, killed together with Caligula in AD 41: engraving, 1704

Caesonia was neither young nor beautiful and already had three daughters from another union, but according to Suetonius Caligula loved her more than his other wives (Caligula 25). Dio writes that he married her when she was pregnant (59.23). The daughter she bore was named Julia Drusilla.

During the assassination on January 24, AD 41, she was killed together with her husband and daughter (Suetonius, Caligula 59; Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 19). Rumor said she had given the emperor a love potion that drove him mad. There is no evidence for this.

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  • Image: Jan Luyken, 1704, Rijksmuseum, CC0

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