Claudia Marcella Minor

Octavia was pregnant when she married Mark Antony in 40, and it is likely that the child was Marcella Minor - but this is not a certainty. If so, Marcella was born after the death of her father and she grew up part of the first post-Actium generation.[2] Her full siblings were older sister Claudia Marcella Major and her only surviving brother Marcus Claudius Marcellus. From her mother's second marriage to Mark Antony she would also gain two half sisters, Antonia Major and Antonia Minor.

Marcella's first known marriage was to the future consul of 12 BC, Marcus Valerius Messalla Appianus.[2] Marcella bore Appianus a son named Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus and likely a daughter named Claudia Pulchra.[3]

There has been some speculation among historians such as George Patrick Goold[4] that her daughter Claudia Pulchra might have actually been the child of Publius Claudius Pulcher (the son of Clodius) from an earlier marriage, but others such as Ronald Syme have rejected this proposal.[5] Syme does on the other hand agree that Appianus likely wasn't Marcella's first husband,[6] as the marriage is recorded rather late, he instead proposed a marriage to a son of Lucius Marcius Philippus[lower-alpha 2] who may have died or been repudiated before he was old enough to be consul or to Marcus Appuleius, Marcella's maternal half-cousin who is assumed to have died some time after his consulship in 20 BC.[7]

Marcella later married the former consul and censor Lucius Aemilius Lepidus Paullus, also known as Paullus Aemilius Lepidus.[8][2] Paullus was previously widowed. From the earlier marriage he had three children.[9] The marriage of Marcella and Paullus linked two honored republican houses and tied them closely to the imperial circle.[2] Marcella bore him a son called Paullus Aemilius Regillus.[2] Regulus served as a quaestor during the rule of the Roman emperor Tiberius who reigned from 14 until 37.[10] Eva Bayer-Niemeier proposed that the Lucius Aemilius Paullus who died in 14 may have been another son of Lepidus and Marcella, but J. Scheid and Syme thinks that this man was identical with the Lucius Aemilius Paullus who was consul in 1 AD[11] but this is not a universally agreed upon position.[12]

Some scholars have tried to reverse the order of her husbands, but find difficulty if they delay Marcella's first marriage (as alleged) until 15 BC when she was 25. If so, she would be very old for a first marriage, and then have to remarry and immediately have two children before Appianus died in office in 12 BC. Instead, marriage 10 years earlier seems much more likely, given that Marcella's two younger half-sisters had already married by 15, and the younger Antonia gave birth to Germanicus on 24 May 15 BC.

In the next generation two Vipstani are known, with the cognomina "Messalla" and "Poplicola". This led Ronald Syme to observe that either Lucius or Marcus Vipstanus Gallus married a daughter of Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus and Claudia Marcella Minor, who is named (for convenience) Valeria Messallia.[13] French historian Christian Settipani endorsed this view.[14] However, Messallinus (son of Corvinus) was younger than Marcella. That fact does not prevent the marriage, but makes it unlikely, given Roman tradition. This alliance with the gens Valeria led to the prominence of the Vipstani during the first centuries of the Roman Empire.[15]