A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

the husband of C. Silius. whom the latter was obliged to put away in A. D. 47 when Messalina fell in love with him. Silana is described by Tacitus as distinguished by her birth, her beauty, and her wantonness. She had formerly been an intimate friend of Agrippina, but afterwards quarrelled with her, because Agrippina had prevented Sextius Africanus from marrying her. Accordingly when Agrippina displeased her son Nero in A. D. 55, Silana endeavoured to have her revenge by accusing Agrippina of having intended to marry Rubellius Plautus, and then to raise him to the throne in the place of Nero. But Agrippina had not yet lost all her influence over her son; and Silana, in consequence of her accusation, was driven into exile. She returned to Italy when the power of Agrippina was declining, but died at Tarentum before the murder of the latter in A. D. 59 (Tac. Ann. 11.12, 13.19, 22, 14.12). Tacitus does not mention the father of this Junia Silana. She may, however, have been the daughter of M. Silanus, consul A. D. 19 [SILANUS, JUNIUS, No. 8], and the sister of Junia Claudilla, who married the emperor Caligula.