Lucius Antonius (20 BC – AD 25) was the son of Iullus Antonius (son of Mark Antony) and Claudia Marcella Major (niece of emperor Augustus).
Lucius Antonius | |
---|---|
Born | 20 BC |
Died | 25 AD |
Children | Marcus Antonius Primus (possibly)[a] |
Parents |
|
Relatives | Octavia Minor, maternal grandmother |
Family | Julio-Claudian dynasty |
From his mother’s earlier marriage to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa he had two older attested siblings, two half-sisters named Vipsania Marcella and Vipsania Marcellina. Some epigraphic evidence suggests he had a sister named Iulla Antonia[b][6] and a brother named Iullus.[7] Around 1 BC he had probably already been betrothed to a girl of high birth.[8]
In 2 BC his father was charged with adultery with Julia (daughter of Augustus) and was forced to commit suicide. Lucius was sent to Marseille as a result of his father's indiscretion. Lucius was described as a adulescentulus at the time, meaning that he was quite young.[8] He was sent there under the pretence of "studying", and it was not an official exile but was in practise the same as one.[9] Once there he studied law.
G. V. Sumner proposed that Lucius may have been a progenitor of a Junius Blaesus who was descended from Marcus Antonius.[8]
Tacitus records his death in AD 25 at Ann. 4.44.4-5.[10] Despite his father's actions the senate decreed that he should be honoured with a burial at the Tomb of the Octavii, which was the tomb of his maternal grandmother Octavia Minor. This was likely done at the request of a relative (or relatives) in the imperial family, possibly his mother Marcella if she was still alive at the time.[9]
A boy on the Ara Pacis has been identified by some to possibly be Lucius.[11][12]