| Herennia Etruscilla | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Augusta | |||||||||
 Bust of Herennia Etruscilla. | |||||||||
| Empress of the Roman Empire | |||||||||
| Tenure | 249–251 | ||||||||
| Spouse | Decius | ||||||||
| Issue | |||||||||
| |||||||||
Herennia Cupressenia Etruscilla was Roman empress as the wife of Emperor Decius. She was the mother of Emperors Herennius Etruscus and Hostilian.[1]
As with most third-century Roman empresses, very little is known about her. She was probably from a senatorial family. It is assumed that her ancestors settled in Etrurian lands.[2] Herennia married Decius probably before 230[2] and gained the title Augusta when Decius became emperor 249.
While information about her is scarce, coins with her portrait are numerous and easy to obtain. Legends on coins struck at Rome only ever give her name as 'Herennia Etruscilla' but billon tetradrachms struck at Alexandria supply the Cupressenia element in abbreviation: ΕΡ ΚΟΥΠ ΑΙΤΡΟΥCΚΙΛΑ (Greek: Her. Koup. Aitrouskila), showing that her full name was Herennia Cup(ressenia) Etruscilla.[3] The Cupressenia element is expanded from the 'ΚΟΥΠ' in the Alexandria coin legends, from the Latin cupresseus "cypress tree" and symbol of Juno.[4]
