Lygia was a Germanic Roman noblewoman who was the foster daughter of Aulus Plautius and the wife of Marcus Vinicius during the 1st century AD. She was born a Lugian princess, and her father assigned her to Plautius as a hostage during his campaign in Lygia. She later went on to embrace Christianity, as did her bodyguard Ursus and, ultimately, her husband.
Biography[]
Cellina was born in Budorgis, Silesia (present-day Wroclaw, Poland) to the Germanic Lugii people. She was the daughter of the Lugian king, and, as a child, she was assigned as a hostage to the Roman general Aulus Plautius after his successful campaign against the Lugii. She changed her name to "Lygia" to honor her Lugian origins, and she was raised as an adopted daughter of Plautius and Pomponia Graecina at their estate in the Italian countryside near Rome. Her mother introduced her to Christianity, and she and her bodyguard Ursus both became devout Chrisitans.
Life with Vinicius[]
Lygia meeting Marcus Vinicius
By 64 AD, Lygia had grown into a beautiful young woman, and she attracted the attention of the Roman general Marcus Vinicius during his stay at Plautius' estate. While she initially rebuffed his advances and disliked his condescension and arrogance, and resented Emperor Nero's arrangement for her to marry Vinicius as a reward for his loyal service in Gaul and Britannia, she came to love her husband. Following the Great Fire of Rome, Nero ordered all of Rome's Christians to be arrested, scapegoating them for the fire, and Lygia and her family were among the imprisoned. Marcus was also thrown in prison, and the Christian apostle Peter married the two in the Circus prisons.
In 68 AD, to spite her unrequited crush Vinicius, Empress Poppaea had Lygia tied to a post in the arena circus as her bodyguard Ursus was forced to fight off a bull aiming to kill her. Ursus was successful in killing the bull, earning the crowd's favor. When Nero ordered that the Lugians be executed anyways, Vinicius and his soldiers rebelled and freed the Lugians, and they then announced that Galba was marching on Rome to overthrow Nero. The people of the arena then rose up against Nero, allowing for Vinicius, Lygia, and Ursus to escape Rome amid the chaos. They then settled on Vinicius' estate in Sicily, living a peaceful life there.