Talk:Flavia Domitilla (wife of Clemens)

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Eusebius says, seemingly, that St. Flavia Domitilla was the daughter of "Titus Flavius Clemens' sister". But Clemens' brother was Titus Flavius Sabinus IV. And, T.F.S. III did have a sister, named Flavia, whose daughter would have been "the niece", of T.F.C. Thus, if Eusebius is said to have been "confused", perhaps he mistook TFS III for TFS IV. At any rate, "everybody's right" is an option -- TF Clemens could have had a niece, named Flavia Domitilla, AND married her, which would not necessarily have been uncommon. 66.235.26.150 (talk) 12:26, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

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It seems like there's some pious material of questionable origin being passed of as fact here. Anyone know better on this? john k 00:18, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Saint Flavia Domitilla and her husband are considered saints in the Roman Catholic Church. 6 April 2006.

Needs serious work to find out which stories are Talmudic and which Christian and which classical. User|Neddyseagoon 17:10, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

There seems to be a mistake in the Sentence about "The education of Domitian's grandchildren". When he was murdered, D. did not leave living issue, so the story obviously refers to Vespasian's grandchildren (the nephews of D.). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.64.2.191 (talk) 14:22, 8 October 2012 (UTC)

About the number of children

The article presently cites a secondary source, "A contemporary inscription indicates that Flavia Domitilla had seven children, who were thus grandnephews and grandnieces of Domitian." However, a brief examination of the evidence shows this should not be taken as a fact. The "contemporary inscription" is CIL VI, 8942 = ILS 01839, which reads:

Tatia Baucyl[is nu]-
trix septem lib[erorum pronepotum]
divi Vespasian[i filiorum Fl(avi) Clementis et]
Flaviae Domitil[lae uxoris eius divi]
Vespasiani neptis a[ccepto loco e]-
ius beneficio hoc sep{h}ulcru[m feci]
meis libertis libertabus po[sterisq(ue) eor(um)]

Which translates as "For Tatia Baucyl[is], [nu]rse to the seven [great-grandchildren] of Vespasian divi, [the sons of Flavius Clement and] Flavia Domitil[la] [his wife], the grandchildren of Vespasian [divi], [I created here] this tomb in benefit of my freedmen, [and her] freedmen [descendants]". While this restoration is based on the work of Mommsen, who is considered one of the greats of Classical studies, it still remains a theory or an opinion that it refers to 7 great-grandchildren of Vespasian, who are the children of Flavius Clement & Flavia Domitilla. It is worth noting that in his edition of this inscription, Hermann Dessau is much more conservative, adding only the restorations to the first & last lines while relegating Mommsens' suggested restorations to a footnote.

In short, while it is possible Clement & Domitilla had 7 children, & Titia Baucyllis was nurse to their children, we can only be certain the couple had the two children Suetonius mentions in his biography of Domitian. To insist on more is to depend on what has been called history from square brackets. -- llywrch (talk) 18:43, 26 April 2020 (UTC)

I wish I had the means of citing the reliable sources on which your comment is based. I think you are quite correct. Please cite Dessau's study, which is well known to you, in a form that less informed people like myself could use: Author, Title, Date, Volume, Page, or whatever else will serve as a usable citation of the source.

Perhaps someone other than Llywrch can also provide the necessary information. Bealtainemí (talk) 10:45, 27 April 2020 (UTC)