Cornelia Salonina
Roman empress from 253 to 268
title: "Cornelia Salonina" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["3rd-century-roman-empresses", "3rd-century-greek-women", "year-of-birth-unknown", "crisis-of-the-third-century", "cornelii", "augustae", "valerian-dynasty", "mothers-of-roman-emperors"] description: "Roman empress from 253 to 268" topic_path: "general/3rd-century-roman-empresses" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelia_Salonina" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Roman empress from 253 to 268 ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox royalty"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| consort | yes |
| name | Cornelia Salonina |
| title | Augusta |
| image | Портрет Корнелии Салонины.jpg |
| caption | Marble bust of Cornelia Salonina |
| full name | Publia Licinia Julia Cornelia Salonina |
| spouse | Gallienus |
| issue | Valerianus |
| Saloninus | |
| Marinianus | |
| succession | Empress of the Roman Empire |
| reign | 253 – 268 |
| birth_place | Possibly Bithynia |
| death_date | 268 (disputed) |
| death_place | Mediolanum, Italia (disputed) |
| dynasty | Valerian |
| house-type | Imperial Dynasty |
| regnal name | Julia Publia Licinia Cornelia Salonina Augusta |
| :: |
|consort = yes |name = Cornelia Salonina |title = Augusta |image = Портрет Корнелии Салонины.jpg |image_size = |caption = Marble bust of Cornelia Salonina |birth_name = |full name = Publia Licinia Julia Cornelia Salonina |spouse = Gallienus |issue = Valerianus Saloninus Marinianus |succession = Empress of the Roman Empire |reign = 253 – 268 |birth_date = |birth_place = Possibly Bithynia |death_date = 268 (disputed) |death_place = Mediolanum, Italia (disputed) |place of burial = |dynasty = Valerian |house-type = Imperial Dynasty |regnal name = Julia Publia Licinia Cornelia Salonina Augusta Publia Licinia Julia Cornelia Salonina (died 268, Mediolanum) was an Augusta of the Roman Empire, married to Roman Emperor Gallienus and mother of Valerian II, Saloninus, and Marinianus.
Life
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Salonina_Coin.jpg" caption="[[Antoninianus]] with bust of Salonina"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Arco_di_Gallieno_o_Porta_Esquilina_-lato_interno-_Panairjdde.jpg" caption="This arch, a gate in the [[Servian Walls]] of [[Rome]], was dedicated to [[Gallienus]] and SALONINAE SANCTISSIMAE AUG, "to Salonina, most holy ''Augusta''"."] ::
Salonina's origin is unknown. One modern theory is that she was born of Greek origin in Bithynia, then part of the province of Bithynia et Pontus, Asia Minor. However, there exists some scepticism on that. There has been speculation that she was related to a senator named Publius Cornelius Saecularis of Salona. She may also have been related to her father-in-law's second wife Cornelia Gallonia, and possibly to the previous empress Julia Cornelia Paula.
She married Gallienus about ten years before his accession to the throne. When her husband became joint-emperor with his father Valerian in 253, Salonina was named Augusta.
Salonina was the mother of three princes, Valerian II, Saloninus and Marinianus. Her fate after Gallienus was murdered during the siege of Mediolanum in 268 is unknown. One theory is that her life was spared; another is that she was executed together with other members of her family, at the orders of the Senate of Rome.
Her name is reported on coins with Latin legend as Cornelia Salonina; however, from the Greek coinage come the names Iulia Cornelia Salonina, Publia Licinia Cornelia Salonina, and Salonina Chrysogona (attribute that means "begotten of gold"). The names "Publia Licinia" were probably added to her name to mirror her husband whose two first names were "Publius Licinius".
References
Bibliography
- Bray, John. Gallienus : A Study in Reformist and Sexual Politics, Wakefield Press, Kent Town, 1997,
- Partial Salonina coinage
- "Dictionary of Roman Coins", by Seth William Stevenson (1889).
References
- Bray (1997), pp. 30, 347. Supporters of Greek Bithynian origin include Andreas Alföldi in "Die Vorherrschaft der Pannonier im Römerreiche und die Reaktion des Hellenentums unter Gallienus", ''Studien zur Geschichte der Weltkrise des 3, Jahrhunderts nach Christus''. M.78 Taf. Darmstadt, 1967; and R. Munsterburg in ''Numismatische Zeitschrift'', vol. LVIII (1925), p. 41
- Lissner, Ivar. (1958). "The Caesars: might and madness". Putnam.
- Bengtson, Hermann – Bloedow, Edmund Frederick. (1988). "History of Greece: from the beginnings to the Byzantine era". University of Ottawa Press.
- Bray (1997), p. 30, who cites [[Jean Gagé]], ''Programme d' italicité et nostalgies d'hellénisme autour de Gallien et Salonine'', Aufstieg und niedergang der Römischen Welt, vol. 5, New York, 1975, {{ISBN. 3-11-004971-6, p. 839
- (1970). "Bulletin archéologique du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques". Impr. nationale.
- Barbieri, Guido. (1951). "L'albo senatorio da Settimio Severo a Carino. 193-285". A. Signorelli.
- Jefferson Bray, John. (1997). "Gallienus: A Study in Reformist and Sexual Politics". Wakefield Press.
- Wilkes, J. J.. (1969). "Dalmatia". Harvard University Press.
- Alföldy, Géza. (1968). "Epigraphische Studien: Sammelband". Rheinland-Verlag.
- Syvänne, Ilkka. (2019). "The Reign of Emperor Gallienus: The Apogee of Roman Cavalry". Pen and Sword.
- Bray (1997), pp. 50-51
- Bray (1997), p. 308
- Alaric Watson, ''Aurelian and the Third Century'', (Oxford: Routledge, 1999) {{ISBN. 0-415-30187-4, p. 41
- Kajava, Mika. (1995). "Roman Female Praenomina: Studies in the Nomenclature of Roman Women". Institutum Romanum Finlandiae.
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