Marcia Aurelia was the daughter of Marcus Aurelius Sabinianus Euhodus, an imperial freedman (see names) under the co-emperors Marcus Aurelius (161-180 CE) and Lucius Verus (161-169 CE ). Raised by a Christian eunuch, Hyacinthus, she became the concubine of the emperor's nephew, Marcus Ummidius Quadratus (consul 167 CE); he was put to death by the emperor Commodus for his involvement in an assassination plot led by the emperor's sister Lucilla. Marcia subsequently became Commodus' favorite mistress and, adept at handling the unstable emperor (180-192 CE), she used her influence to diminish his cruelty (see Cassius Dio, Roman History 73.4). She obtained the release of Christians who had been sent to labor in the Sardinian mines; one of these was Callistus, who later, as bishop of Rome (217-222 CE), passed contested liberal legislation on the marriage of Christian women. Marcia was thought to have poisoned Commodus on December 31, 192; she then married her fellow-slave and long-time lover, Eclectus. As a result, both were put to death in 193 by Pertinax, a stern imperial successor to Commodus who was assassinated within three months by his own soldiers. Marcia was the patroness of Anagnia, a hill town southeast of Rome famed as the summer retreat of the 2nd century emperors. Another inscription of the period refers to a statue of her erected by the town in gratitude for her largesse.