Editing Plautia Urgulanilla (section)

== Family ==
Urgulanilla was a member of the [[Plautia gens]]. She was of [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]] descent.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Claudius-Roman-emperor#ref22515|title = Claudius &#124; Biography, Achievements, Death, Meaning, & Facts| date=15 November 2023 }}</ref>

Her father was [[Marcus Plautius Silvanus (consul 2 BC)|Marcus Plautius Silvanus]], the [[Roman consul|consul]] for the year 2 BC, and a decorated general, honoured with triumphal ornaments for his successes in the [[Bellum Batonianum]] or [[Great Illyrian Revolt]] in 12 AD.<ref>Dio, ''The Roman Histories'' LVI.17</ref><ref name="Taylor-24">[[Lily Ross Taylor]], "Trebula Suffenas and the Plautii Silvani", ''Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome'', 24 (1956), p.&nbsp;24</ref> He had served beside [[Tiberius]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Cargill-Martin |first=Honor |title=Messalina Empress, Adulteress, Libertine: The Story of the Most Notorious Woman of the Roman World |publisher=Pegasus Books |year=2023 |isbn=9781639363964}}</ref> Her paternal grandmother was [[Urgulania]], after whom Urgulanilla was named; her maternal grandmother was also a close friend of the Empress [[Livia Drusilla]].<ref>Tacitus, ''Annales'', II.34.</ref>

Her mother was named Lartia and was the daughter of Gnaeus [[Lartia gens|Lartius]].<ref>Tacitus, ''Annales'', II.34.</ref><ref name="Taylor-242">[[Lily Ross Taylor]], "Trebula Suffenas and the Plautii Silvani", ''Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome'', 24 (1956), p.&nbsp;24</ref>

Urgulanilla had three attested siblings:

* Marcus Plautius Silvanus, mentioned above. It is probable that he adopted [[Tiberius Plautius Silvanus Aelianus]], who was consul in 45 AD and in 74 AD.
* Aulus Plautius Urgulanius, who died at the age of nine.<ref>{{CIL|14|3606}}</ref>
* [[Publius Plautius Pulcher]], friend and companion of his nephew [[Claudius Drusus]]. Quaestor to Tiberius, and [[augur]]; governor of [[Sicilia]].<ref>{{CIL|14|3607}}</ref> He was made a [[Patrician (Ancient Rome)|patrician]] by Claudius.

Through her family Urgulanilla was well-connected, but her marriage to Claudius was not a splendid match for a member of the imperial family; rather, it came about as consequence of the unfortunate fates of the other candidates. Claudius broke off his first engagement after [[Julia the Younger]], the mother of his fiancée [[Aemilia Lepida (fiancee of Claudius)|Aemilia Lepida]], fell into disgrace, and his second fiancée [[Livia Medullina]] died on their wedding day.

Claudius and Urgulanilla were married circa 9 AD.

Urgulanilla had two attested children: 
* A son with Claudius, named [[Claudius Drusus]], whose betrothal to a daughter of [[Sejanus]] instilled great expectations in the prefect,<ref name=tall>Miriam Tamara Griffin, ''Nero: The End of a Dynasty'', [[Psychology Press]], 2000, p. 194.</ref> left unfulfilled when Drusus died in early childhood after he tossed a pear into his mouth and choked to death.<ref name=":0" />
* A daughter, Claudia, who was born five months after her divorce from Claudius. Claudius claimed that she had been fathered by his freedman Boter and thus repudiated the child and he had her laid at Urgulanilla's doorstep.<ref>[[Suetonius]]. Claud. 27.</ref> She is sometimes confused with her younger half-sister [[Claudia Antonia]]