Bust of Giulia, daughter of Titus, niece and lover of Domitian
The incestuous relationships in Ancient Rome they were far from rare, but the one that involved Domitian, emperor from 81 to 96 AD and his niece Giulia, daughter of brother Tito, had such gruesome implications as to upset even the public opinion of the time, albeit accustomed to all sorts of baseness regarding the powerful of the moment.
Domitian and Giulia were, as mentioned above, uncle and nephew, which would have already been enough to arouse the murmur and legitimate blame of the people, but the situation could have found a sort of normality and acceptability if at least the man had married the girl , which he promised at first, but then he was careful not to keep.
Domitian is remembered for an endless series of atrocities, but the behavior he held with his niece was nothing short of shameful and the consequences were tragic.
Noting the lack of seriousness on the part of her close and treacherous relative, Giulia tried to forget her sad experience and to rebuild a life by marrying Tito Flavio Sabino, but once again she found herself forced to deal with her uncle's perfidy, who nevertheless continued to maintain that strong influence over her that would have been fatal:soon left a widow, Giulia was again seduced by the Emperor, only this time got pregnant .
What better occasion to regularize a much talked about and controversial bond, especially since Domitian still had no heirs?
But even this time the hated Emperor was unable to behave like a man: forced to have an abortion , Giulia died soon after due to the consequences of the rudimentary intervention.