Julia Caesaris (youngest sister of Julius Caesar)
| Julia Caesaris | |
|---|---|
| Born |
101 B.C. Rome |
| Died | 51 B.C. |
| Spouse | Marcus Atius Balbus |
| Issue |
Atia Balba Prima Atia Balba Caesonia Atia Balba Tertia (?) |
| Father | Gaius Julius Caesar |
| Mother | Aurelia Cotta |
Julia Caesaris (101 BC-51 BC) was the second of two daughters of Gaius Julius Caesar III and Aurelia Cotta. Their third and last child was Julius Caesar. Both sisters were named Julia Caesaris and were born and raised in Rome.
Siblings
The elder of the two sisters of Julius Caesar is sometimes called Julia Major (Major Latin for the elder) by historians (but she should not be confused with Julia the Elder, daughter of Emperor Augustus). Likewise, the younger is sometimes called Julia Minor, (Minor Latin for the younger) and should not be confused with Julia the Younger, Augustus' first granddaughter (also the former Julia's great-great-granddaughter).
It is not known if it was the elder or the younger of the dictator's sisters who gave evidence against Publius Clodius Pulcher when he was impeached for impiety in 61 BC. Julia and her mother gave the legal courts a detailed account of the affair he had with Pompeia, Julius Caesar's wife. Caesar divorced Pompeia over the scandal.[1]
Marriage and offspring
Caesar's youngest sister married Marcus Atius Balbus, a praetor and commissioner who came from a senatorial family of plebeian status. Julia bore him three (or two, according to other sources) daughters. The second daughter, known as Atia Balba Caesonia was the mother of Octavia Minor (fourth wife of triumvir Mark Antony) and of first Emperor Augustus. Atia Balba Caesonia' sister, Atia Balba Prima (or Atia Balba Tertia) was the wife of Lucius Marcius Philippus. Their daughter, Marcia, later married to Paullus Fabius Maximus and bore him a son, Paullus Fabius Persicus. Fabia Numantina was either Marcia's daughter with Maximus or a daughter of his brother Africanus Fabius Maximus.
Another Atia, who may have been her daughter or her husband's daughter with a woman named Claudia, was married to Gaius Junius Silanus. Their son, also named Gaius Junius Silanus, became consul in AD 10. Though, Atia may have been the emendation of "Appia". Sons of the consul in 10 were Appius Junius Silanus, consul in 28, Decimus Junius Silanus, who involved in the disgrace of Julia the Younger, and Marcus Junius Silanus, consul suffectus in 15.[2]
Death
Balbus died in 52 BC and Julia died a year later. At age 12 Octavius, her youngest grandson, the future Emperor Augustus, delivered her funeral oration.
Sources
- Suetonius - The Twelve Caesars - Caesar and Augustus.
- Julia, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
Notes
- ↑ Suet. Caes. 74; Schol. Bob. in Clod. p. 337, Orelli.
- ↑ Syme, Ronald (1989). The Augustan Aristocracy. Oxford: Oxford Clarendon Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-0-19-814731-2.
A third Atia can now be conjured up.
(Limited Previes: "Atia, wife of Marcius Philippus (suff. 38 BC)" and "A daughter (Atia) would supply a wife for C. Silanus" of this page in Google Books)