List of distinguished Roman women

The list below includes Roman women who were notable for their family connections, or their sons or husbands, or their own actions. In the earlier periods, women came to the attention of historians either as poisoners of their husbands, or as wives, daughters, and mothers of great men such as Scipio Africanus. In later periods, women exercised or tried to exercise political power either through their husbands or political intrigues, or directly. Even the Severan dynasty from the beginning to the end was completely dominated by four powerful and calculating women.

During the Roman Republic

Valeria, the name of the women of the Valeria gens
* Valeria, first priestess of Fortuna Muliebris in 488 BC
Aemilia Tertia, wife of Scipio Africanus and mother of Cornelia, noted for the unusual freedom given her by her husband, her enjoyment of luxuries, and her influence as role model for elite Roman women after the Second Punic War. Her date of birth, marriage, and death are all unknown. Her husband's birth and death dates are also not known precisely, but approximated.
Cornelia, virtually deified by Roman women as a model of feminine virtues and Stoicism, but never officially deified. The first Roman woman, whose approximate birth year and whose year of death is known, thanks to a law she caused to be passed to allow her granddaughter to inherit.
Publilia, the name of a woman of the gens Publilius. She was killed in 154 BC for poisoning her husband, the consul of the preceding year.
Julia (daughter of Caesar), daughter of Julius Caesar and fourth wife of Pompey the Great.
Clodia (wife of Metellus), an aristocratic woman attacked by Cicero in his speech Pro Caelio. She was the sister of Cicero's enemy Publius Clodius Pulcher and is identified by some with the "Lesbia" of Catullus's poems.
Fulvia. A woman married in turn to three prominent late republican politicians: Publius Clodius Pulcher, Gaius Scribonius Curio, and Mark Antony. She is famous for stabbing the tongue of Cicero's severed head in 43 BC with her golden hairpin.

Name	Image	Dates	Details
Cornelia		c. 190s – c. 115 BC	Daughter of Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, the hero of the Second Punic War. She was the mother of the Gracchi brothers, and the mother-in-law of Scipio Aemilianus.
Servilia		100 BC – after 42 BC	The mother of Roman politician Brutus and a lover of Julius Caesar, whom her son would later assassinate.

During the Classical Roman Empire

Agrippina the Elder, wife of Germanicus, granddaughter of Augustus, mother of emperor Caligula and Agrippina the Younger
Agrippina the Younger, niece and wife of emperor Claudius, mother of emperor Nero; held up as a bad example.
Aurelia, mother of Julius Caesar
Antonia the Elder, grandmother of Emperor Nero
Antonia Minor, mother of Emperor Claudius and Germanicus, favorite niece of Augustus Caesar, considered a role model for women in the Roman Empire after she refused to remarry and spent the rest of her life raising her children and grandchildren.
Atia, mother of Augustus and Octavia Minor
Claudia Pulchra, wife of Publius Quinctilius Varus
Claudia Marcella, nieces of Caesar Augustus
Domitia Lepida the Elder, aunt of Emperor Nero
Domitia Lepida the Younger, sister of the following, Mother of the Empress Valeria Messalina
Domitia Longina, wife of Emperor Domitian
Domitia Calvilla, mother of Emperor Marcus Aurelius
Domitia Paulina, Aelia Domitia Paulina, Julia Serviana Paulina, female relatives of Emperor Hadrian
Julia the Elder, daughter of Augustus
Julia Livia, granddaughter of Emperor Tiberius
Livia Drusilla, wife of Tiberius Claudius Nero, mother of the Emperor Tiberius, and then wife of Augustus Caesar.
Livilla, granddaughter of Livia
Valeria Messalina, Emperor Claudius' wife, notorious for her promiscuity.
Octavia the Younger, sister of Caesar Augustus and fourth wife of Marcus Antonius
Plautia Urgulanilla, Emperor Claudius' first wife
Scribonia, second wife of Augustus and mother of his only legitimate child
Vipsania Agrippina, first wife of Tiberius and the only one he loved
Vibia Sabina, wife of Hadrian
Vipsania Julia, granddaughter of Augustus
Claudia Metrodora, Greco-Roman public benefactor, lived on Kos.
Lucilla, Roman Empress, failed in her coup attempt on brother Commodus.
Aquilia Severa, Vestal Virgin and wife of Elagabalus.
Clodia, possibly Catullus's Lesbia
Domitia Decidiana, wife of Roman General Gnaeus Julius Agricola and mother-in-law to historian Tacitus.

Name	Image	Dates	Details
Argentaria Polla		c. 1st Century AD	Patroness of Martial and Statius. She was also the wife of the Roman poet Lucan.
Procula		c. 1st Century AD	Wife of Pontius Pilate, the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, who presided over the trial of Jesus and later ordered Jesus' crucifixion.
Pomponia Graecina		died c. 83 AD	The wife of Aulus Plautius, the general who led the Roman conquest of Britain. She was speculated to have been an early Christian, and is a saint honoured by the Roman Catholic Church.
Julia Domna		160 – 217 AD	Wife of Septimius Severus and Mother of Caracalla and Geta.
Julia Maesa		before 160 AD – c. 224 AD	Grandmother of Elagabalus and Alexander Severus. Best known for her plotting the restoration of the Severan dynasty to the Roman throne after the assassination of Caracalla and the usurpation of the throne by Macrinus.
Julia Soaemias		180 – 222 AD	Mother of emperor Elagabalus, she was her son's regent. After an uprising led by the Praetorian Guard, she entered the camp to protect her son, but was slain along with Elagabalus by the Praetorian Guard in 222.
Julia Avita Mamaea		after 180 –235	Mother of Roman emperor Alexander Severus and remained one of his chief advisors throughout his reign. She was killed in 235 by rebel soldiers along with her son.
Ulpia Severina		c. 3rd Century AD	Wife of emperor Aurelian. After Aurelian's death, she briefly ruled the Roman Empire, until the new emperor, Marcus Claudius Tacitus was chosen by the Senate.
Galla Placidia		388–389 or 392–393 – 450	Daughter of the Roman emperor Theodosius I. Mother to emperor Valentinian III. She became queen consort to Ataulf, king of the Visigoths from 414 until his death in 415, and briefly empress consort to Constantius III in 421.