Pandateria (Ventotene): Island Prison for Imperial Women

Seemingly an insignificant island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, 46 km off the coast of Gaeta, the island of Ventotene (in ancient Roman time known as “Pandateria”) is actually a place of some historical significance, being as a prison for the several distinguished (and sometime infamous) women of the Julio-Claudian dynasty.  The place holds numerous dark secrets of the tragedies of several Imperial women, which stand in stark contrast to its pink and white houses and navy-blue harbour. As a place of exile, its residence (such as Julia the Elder mentioned in our last blog) were confined to lonely existence, cut off from visitors and all kinds of pleasure. Nowadays, there can be found on the island a prison fortress built in 1965.

The island of Ventotene itself is part of the Pointine islands, which were created as a result of volcanic activity. The islands were inhabited for thousands of years. Neolithic artifacts and obsidians dating back to the Bronze Age have been discovered on these islands. The Etruscans also inhabited the islands, but the earliest recorded history of these islands occurs with the Roman Victory over the Volsci in 338 BC.

Julia the Elder is not the only ‘unfortunate’ residence of Ventotene. In 19 AD, her daughter, Agrippina the Elder was also banished by the Emperor Tiberius, was flogged until she lost her eyes, and finally perished due to malnutrition just like her mother. After Agrippina the Elder’s son, Caligula, became Emperor in 37 AD, he went to the island to collect remains and bring them back to Rome. However, Caligula then banished two of his sisters, Julia Livilla and Agrippina the Younger, after the ‘plot of the three daggers’ where both his sisters and Marcus Aemlius Lepidus conspired to overthrow him in 39 AD. Both sisters eventually returned, however, after their uncle Claudius took the throne, only for Julia Livilla to be banished again at the instigation of Claudius’ wife, Messalina, in 41 AD. Julia Livilla’s fate was finally sealed on her second exile when she was starved to death on the island (the same fate as her mother and grandmother). Her remains were brought back to Rome when her sister Agrippina the Younger became Claudius’ wife and hence Empress (yes, she did replace Messalina and marry her uncle!). The last distinguished Julio-Claudio woman who was banished was Claudia Octavia, Claudius and Messalina’s daughter and first wife of the Emperor Nero. She was banished in 62 AD when Nero wanted to replace her with Poppaea Sabina, and was later executed at Nero’s order (she was boiled alive). The island has indeed flovoured all generations of Julio-Claudian Imperial women! Nowadays, its dark history is still looming beneath its colourful façade of buildings and azure water which attract holidaymakers worldwide.