Julia Caesaris
Julia Caesaris is the name of all women in the Julii Caesarii
patrician family (to which, for instance
Julius Caesar and
Augustus belonged), since feminine names were their father's
gens and
cognomen declined in the female form.
In
Roman history, there are at least four Julia Caesaris cited by the ancient sources.
Augustus' daughter
Julia Caesaris was the only child of Augustus, from his first marriage with Scribonia. She was born in 39 BC, only a few days before her father divorced her mother to marry Livia Drusilla.
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Julia was first married to her cousin Claudius Marcellus (son of aunt
Octavia) who died young. Then, Augustus gave Julia as wife to
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, a man from a modest family that became his most trusted general. The marriage resulted in five children: Julia Caesaris Minor,
Agrippina Major (mother of Emperor
Caligula), Lucius Caesar, Gaius Caesar and
Agrippa Postumus (a posthumous son). Augustus, who took care of their education personally, adopted the boys Lucius and Gaius Caesar.
Even when Agrippa was alive as
pater familias, Augustus exerted an enormous influence on the family. His kin should be the perfect example of Roman virtue, especially his daughter and granddaughters. They were forced to be role models of modesty and chastity, they spent their days taking care of the house, spinning and weaving the men's clothes, dressing with simplicity. After the death of Agrippa and his sons Lucius and Gaius Caesar, Augustus nominated his stepson
Tiberius as heir. To secure the claim, Tiberius then married Julia, but to do this he had to divorce Vipsania (daughter of a previous marriage of Agrippa), the wife he dearly loved. Due to this, Tiberius and Julia's marriage was unhappy from the start. Not a long time after, Julia was arrested for adultery charges and Tiberius divorced her immediately. Augustus was deeply disappointed and considered her execution. He then decided for Julia's exile, in the harshest conditions possible. She was confined on an island, with no men in sight, deprived of every luxury. Five years later she was brought back to Italy but never again admitted in the Imperial family. Augustus never forgave her and in his will he explicitly excluded her to be buried in his Mausoleum and ordered to remain confined to an Italian city. Tiberius, who still detested her, pulled the punishment forward and ordered that she could not leave one room and see nobody. Later, Caligula, who loathed the idea of being grand-son of the up-start Agrippa, invented that his mother Agrippina was the product of an incestuous union between Julia and Augustus.
Caesar's daughter
Julia Caesaris was the only child of Julius Caesar, born from his first marriage with Cornelia Cinna. In April
59 BC, Caesar married his daughter to
Pompey, although she was promised to Faustus Cornelius Sulla (
Sulla's heir). The motives were purely political, as both men needed to solidify their alliance (
triumvirate) against the conservative faction of the
senate, led by
Cato the Younger. But according to
Plutarch, Pompey fell in love with his young wife and, because wives were not supposed to accompany their husbands on duty, he decided to rule Hispania Tarraconensis by proxy. Julia died in childbirth in
54 BC. Her death left her father in Gaul (see
Gallic Wars) and her husband devastated by grief. Against the strong opposition of the
plebeian tribunes (Pompey's political enemies), Julia was entitled to state funerals and buried in Campus Martius. After her death, the alliance between Pompey and Caesar faded, which eventually led to civil war. In
45 BC already ruling as
dictator without opposition, Caesar offered the city a series of games and
gladiatorial fights in her honour. After Caesar's assassination in
March 15 44 BC, he was cremated and buried side by side with his daughter's grave.
Marius' wife
Julia Caesaris was the wife of Gaius Marius and paternal aunt of
Julius Caesar. According to
Plutarch, it was by marrying her, a
patrician woman, that the up-start Marius got the snobbish attention of the
senate and launched his political career. Julia is remembered as a virtuous woman devoted to her husband and their only child, Young Marius. Her reputation alone permitted her to keep her status, even after
Sulla's persecutions against Marius himself and his allies. Julia died in
69 BC and deserved a devoted funeral eulogy from her nephew
Julius Caesar.
Sister of Julius Caesar
Julia Caesaris was the sister of Julius Caesar married to Marcius Atius Balbus and
Caesar Augustus' grandmother.
Mother of Antony
\nJulia Caesaris, known in the sources as Julia Antonia to distinguish her from the previous, was the wife of Marcus Antonius Creticus and mother of
Gaius,
Lucius and
Marcus Antonius, the triumvir. She was a cousin of
Julius Caesar and through these family ties, her son's early military career was supported by Caesar. She married for the second time to Publius Cornelius Lentulus, a politician involved in and executed during the
Catiline conspiracy of
63 BC.
\nSee also:
Women in Rome -
Julio-Claudian family tree
Category:Ancient Romans\n
