Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus

Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus (64 BC – 8 AD) was a Roman general, author and patron of literature and art.

Corvinus was the son of the consul in 61 BC, Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger, and his wife, Polla. Some dispute his parentage and claim another descendant of Marcus Valerius Corvus to be his father. Valeria, one of the sisters of Corvinus, married the Roman Politician Quintus Pedius (a maternal cousin to the Roman emperor Augustus). His great-nephew from this marriage was the deaf painter Quintus Pedius.

Corvinus married twice. His first wife was in Calpurnia, possibly the daughter of the Roman politician Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus. With Calpurnia, Corvinus had one daughter called Valeria Messalina, who married the Roman senator Titus Statilius Taurus III, another daughter, also called Valeria, who married the Roman consul Marcus Lollius, and a son called Marcus Valerius Messalla Messallinus, who served as a Roman consul in 3 BC. His second son was Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus, consul in 20 AD, who is believed to have been born to a second unknown wife on the basis of a 23-year gap between the consulship of the elder son and the consulship of the second son. The writings of the poet Ovid (Ex Pontis XVI.1-52) reveal that the second wife of Corvinus was a woman called Aurelia Cotta. Another fact supporting that Aurelia Cotta was the mother of Marcus Aurelius Cotta Maximus Messalinus is that he was later adopted into the Aurelii Cottae.

It is common for some historians to refer to Corvinus and attribute the triumph against the Aquitani, the victory at Messana, and the epithet Corvinus to him, when in actuality they are referring to three different generations of men named Valerius Corvinus: Marcus Valerius Corvus, born 370 BC, Manius Valerius Maximus Corvinus Messalla, consul 263 BC (birthdate unknown), and Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus, born 64 BC. How and why the name changed from Corvus to Corvinus is unclear. To add to the confusion, Manius is sometimes referred to as Marcus.

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