Gaia Acilia Lavinia: an independent girl before her time
The story of Gaia Acilia Lavinia, of the Acilii family, is based on few sources, not all of which are reliable: she probably lived in Ostia Antica, the port of Rome at the mouth of the Tiber River, in the 1st century AD in a splendid villa in the south-west part of the city.
The second son of the family, she was an independent spirit who challenged the strict rules of the rich Roman families of the early empire; devoted to the cult of Mithras, she found herself rejecting many of the suitors presented to her by her parents.
She only gave in to the proposal of the young commander of the fleet who had just returned from victorious campaigns in the south-east of the Mediterranean.
In the family home, the sculpture dedicated to “Love and Psyche” stood out, still on display today for the admiration of visitors to the Archaeological Park of Ostia Antica.
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