Marcus Valerius Messalla Appianus is believed to have been born a son of Appius Claudius Pulcher (consul 38 BCE) by an unknown wife. This son is then believed to have been adopted by a Marcus Valerius Messalla - possibly Marcus Valerius Messalla Rufus

Marcus Valerius Messalla Rufus

Marcus Valerius Messalla Rufus , was a Roman politician, and consul in 53 BC.- Family :Marcus Valerius Messalla Rufus was the son of an otherwise unknown Marcus Valerius Messalla and Hortensia...

 (consul 53 BCE) or else a son of that man, specifically Marcus Valerius Messalla (suffect consul 32 BCE) - so becoming Marcus Valerius Messalla Appianus.

Career

Very little is known of the career of Marcus Valerius Messalla Appianus, except that he achieved the consulship in 12 BCE, and died not very long afterward.

Marriage and children

Sometime, probably in the late 20s BCE, Appianus married Claudia Marcella Minor

Claudia Marcella

Claudia Marcella was the name of the two daughters of Octavia Minor, the sister of Emperor Augustus, by her first husband, the consul Gaius Claudius Marcellus Minor. According to Suetonius, they were known as The Marcellae sisters. The sisters were born in Rome...

, a daughter of Octavia Minor

Octavia Minor

Octavia the Younger , also known as Octavia Minor or simply Octavia, was the sister of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus , half-sister of Octavia the Elder, and fourth wife of Mark Antony...

 by her first husband, Gaius Claudius Marcellus

Gaius Claudius Marcellus Minor

:See Gaius Claudius Marcellus for other men of this name, or Gaius Claudius Marcellus Maior for his cousin, consul of 49 BC.Gaius Claudius Marcellus Minor was a Roman senator and consul. He was a member of the distinguished Claudius family...

. The couple had two children - a boy named Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus

Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus

Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus was a consul of ancient Rome. He was the father of the Roman Empress Valeria Messalina, great-nephew of the Emperor Augustus, and father-in-law to the Emperor Claudius....

 and a girl, Claudia Pulchra

Claudia Pulchra

Claudia Pulchra was the name of several women of Roman gens of Claudii during the 1st century BC and 1st century AD. The Latin pulchra is the root of the English word pulchritude .-Wife of Tiberius Gracchus:...

 . Through his son, Appianus was the grandfather of Valeria Messalina, the third wife of Claudius

Claudius

Claudius , was Roman Emperor from 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, he was the son of Drusus and Antonia Minor. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul and was the first Roman Emperor to be born outside Italy...

.

Claudia Pulchra was the last wife of P. Quinctillius Varus.