Papianilla

Who is Papianilla?

Papianilla was a Roman noblewoman.

She was the daughter of Eparchius Avitus, who rose from the Gallo-Roman senatorial aristocracy to become Western Roman Emperor from 455 to 456. Papianilla had two brothers, Agricola and Ecdicius, and possibly some sisters; she was related to another Papianilla.

Before her father's rise to the throne, she married Sidonius Apollinaris, another member of the same aristocracy, and had four children: Apollinaris, Severiana, Roscia and Alcima.

Papianilla brought her husband the estate called Aviaticum in Auvergne. Her husband gave away silver vessels from their home to the poor, but he criticised him and bought them back.