Pompeia paulina Lucij annei senece coniuge · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: Pompeia paulina Lucij annei senece coniuge
Subject: Seneca; Nero; Emperor Nero; Important Women; Famous Women; Devotion; Assassination; Conspiracies; Pompeia Paulina
Period: 1450-1500;
Geographic: Italy; Ancient Rome
Description: This engraving depicts Seneca and his wife Pompeia Paulina committing suicide in bathtubs. Seneca is depicted on the left side of the image with Pompeia Paulina in the tub beside him. After emperor Nero found out that his tutor, Seneca, was involved in the conspiracy to assassinate him, he ordered a centurion to command Seneca to commit suicide. Not wanting to live without her husband, Pompeia Paulina got into the tub next to Seneca and slit her arm to die with him. Seneca is depicted dead in the engraving; however, a servant is illustrated saving Paulina by tying a rope around her arm to stop the flow of the blood. Emperor Nero did not want Pompeia Paulina to die as he had nothing against her, which is why the servant saved her life.
Image Creator: Anonymous (Engraver)
Type: Text; Woodcut Engraving
Identifier: mta:18233
Language: lat
Source Name: Iohannis Bocacij in librum de claris mulieribus
Parent Collection: 1487 Leuven; 1487 Leuven
Image: mta_18233_OBJ.png
Collection: Early Modern Women
Subject: Seneca; Nero; Emperor Nero; Important Women; Famous Women; Devotion; Assassination; Conspiracies; Pompeia Paulina