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Cassius Dio on Poppaea Sabina: the milk of 500 she-asses every day
In the early 3rd century, the historian Cassius Dio reports that Poppaea had 500 she-asses milked every day in order to bathe in their milk – as an example of her luxury.
- Author
- Cassius Dio (Lucius Cassius Dio)
- Work
- Roman History (Rhomaika)
- Passage
- Book 62, ch. 28, § 1 (preserved in the epitome of Xiphilinus)
- Time & place
- early 3rd c. AD · Roman Empire
- Type of source
- Roman historiography
In the original words
What the original says
She had gilded girths put upon the mules that carried her and caused five hundred asses that had recently foaled to be milked each day that she might bathe in their milk.
She had gilded girths put on the mules that carried her and had five hundred she-asses that had recently foaled milked every day so that she could bathe in their milk.
English rendering: our own translation by the DON DONKEY’S editorial team, following the sense of the text.
Background
Who, when, what kind of text
Cassius Dio (c. 163 – after AD 229) came from Nicaea in Bithynia, was a Roman senator and consul and wrote in Greek a Roman History in 80 books from the beginnings to AD 229.
The books on Emperor Nero have not survived in the original, only in an abridged version made by the Byzantine monk John Xiphilinus in the 11th century. Wording and selection are therefore partly due to the editor.
As the Greek text could not be checked here in a freely accessible edition with precise passage references, we quote the public-domain English translation by Herbert Baldwin Foster (1905).
Content
What the source reports about donkey milk
Dio mentions Poppaea Sabina in connection with her death in AD 65 and announces that he will describe her excessive luxury “very briefly”. As examples he cites gilded girths for her mules and five hundred she-asses that had recently foaled and were milked daily for her bath.
He adds that Poppaea set great store by appearing youthful and radiant; when one day she disliked her reflection in the mirror, she is said to have wished to die before she faded.
Dio does not claim any medical or cosmetic effect of the milk. For him, the milk bath serves as evidence of extravagance at Nero’s court.
At a glance
Figures & facts from the source
Critical assessment
How reliable is this source?
A late source
Dio wrote around a century and a half after Poppaea’s death. That, like Pliny, he gives the number 500 suggests a common literary tradition rather than independent confirmation.
Transmission via an abridgement
The passage survives only in the epitome of Xiphilinus. Details of the wording may therefore differ from the original text.
Moral intent
Dio uses the milk bath as an example of luxury and vanity. The anecdote is part of a critical portrayal of Nero and his court.
Today’s assessment
The passage is a testimony to the ancient Poppaea tradition. It says nothing about effects of donkey milk.
Our assessment
Dio provides the often-quoted number of she-asses milked daily – but with a great distance in time and with moralising intent. For us, this is a piece of cultural history, not an advertising message.
References
Sources to check
- Primary sourceEnglish translation by H. B. Foster, “Dio’s Rome”, vol. 5, 1905 (Project Gutenberg)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10890 - SupplementaryF. Ursin (2020): “The mother of chemical peeling” – Oder: Wie Kleopatra zum Bad in Eselsmilch kam, thersites 12, 38–70 (DOI 10.34679/thersites.vol12.95)
https://thersites-journal.de/index.php/thr/article/view/95
More sources and studies in the research archive. Summarised by the DON DONKEY’S editorial team, as of November 2026.
The source summarised above does not come from DON DONKEY’S® and does not refer to our products. It serves solely to inform about knowledge of donkey milk.
DON DONKEY’S® donkey milk and donkey milk powder are foods. They are not intended to prevent, treat or cure any disease and do not replace medical advice.
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