Preview

Aurelia Cotta Essay Example

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
654 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Aurelia Cotta Essay Example
Aurelia Cotta

Who was the mother of famous Julius Caesar? The woman who raised Julius and his two sisters is Aurelia Cotta. She raised her daughters both name Julia and her son Julius, she then eventually raised her grandson Augustus. Her husband Gaius Caesar the elder, died at a young age, and before that he was gone most of the time so she was the one in charge of raising her children (15 Interesting Women of Ancient Rome). Many women in today’s world do not get the recognition they deserve for all the hard work they do. Aurelia Cotta should be recognized as a strong and loving mother who did what was best for her children. Aurelia gave birth to three children, her daughters Julia Caesaris Major, Julia Caesaris Minor, and her son Julius Caesar. The daughter’s names meant Julia the elders and Julia the younger. Aurelia’s husband, Gaius had a long career in Roman politics and served as proconsul of Asia. He was said to have died suddenly while putting on his shoes, he left the majority of his estate to his son Gaius Julius Caesar, who later on became a dictator of Rome (Aurelia Cotta: Life of Julius Caesar’s mother). The life for widowed Aurelia was never dull, she was always looking out for her children.
As a young adult Caesar was married to a woman named Cornelia. When he was eighteen the dictator of Rome, Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix (a political enemy) ordered Caesar to divorce his wife. Julius naturally refused and Sulla tried to take away his inheritance from his father. Aurelia protested the case with the assistance of her brother Gaius Aurelius Cotta, who later became Consul. Any mother would defend their children in this case just as Aurelia did for Julius (Aurelia Cotta: Life of Julius Caesar’s mother). Cornelia died at a young age, awhile after giving birth to their only son. Aurelia then took on the responsibility of raising Julius’s son. She was proved highly effective in running Caesar’s home and became a prominent matriarch within

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Alcibiades' mother Deinomache was an aristocrat. His father Cleinas died in the Battle of Coronea. After his father's death, Alcibiades' relative, Pericles, became his guardian.…

    • 580 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Flavia died before Vespasian's emperorship and after her death Vespasian returned to his former mistress, Caenis, who had been secretary of Antonia, (daughter of Marc Anthony and mother of Claudius). Caenis apparently exerted considerable influence over Vespasian and remarried his wife in all but name, even after he became emperor.…

    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Such an action was a reflection of the perseverance and determination to cease power, not plainly for herself, but for her son, which was not a common action displayed by many Roman women at the time. This further emphasises how important, influential…

    • 342 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Despite the seemingly incongruity of their marriage, Ahenobarbus still provided Agrippina with the means to expand her power further, in the form of her son, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (born 37CE), later to become the Emperor Nero. Having a son was key to establishing Agrippina as a genuine force in Roman politics. A son could be manipulated and indoctrinated to suit Agrippina’s needs, and by virtue of her illustrious family tree, her son was assured to…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Agrippina was related to the Claudian ‘gens’, one of the oldest and most illustrious patrician families with imperial connections. Her father Germanicus had risen through the cursus honoroum to two consulships and the proconsulships of Germany and Gaul. Germanicus’s brother was the brother was the future Claudian emperor, Claudius. Agrippina’s family lineage was therefore immensely prestigious. Her mother is quoted twice by Tacitus asserting her descent from the blood of the divine Augustus. According to revisionist Barret, Agrippina would have learnt from her mother in her formative years a powerful sense of her important place in the scheme of things.…

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Similar to how Mama watches out for her son Walter, Calpurnia tries to warn her husband, Julius Caesar, against evil and something awful that has a potential of happening. Mama shows her authority over Walter when she gives him the responsibility of putting away a share of the money, “Listen to me, son. I say I been wrong, son. That I been doing to you what the rest of the world been doing to…

    • 2289 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the epic, Odyssey, Homer presents both Calypso and Circe as goddesses who employ not only their divine powers, but also the power of seduction used by mortal women, to hold captive the hero, Odysseus.…

    • 1059 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    agrippina the younger

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Agrippina the Younger was an Empress. Her rank in Roman society was higher than that of her husband, as she was the sister of an emperor, Caligula. Because she was so high up, she was allowed to attend senate meetings and watch and listen behind a curtain. Agrippina murdered and deceived many people throughout her life. The first of these was her second husband, who it is suspected Agrippina poisoned. She then convinced Claudius, her Uncle to marry her, in order that her son, Nero, would become Emperor. Just 4 years after her marriage to Claudius, she murdered him so that Nero became the Emperor of Rome.…

    • 664 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Agrippina's Influence

    • 532 Words
    • 3 Pages

    While in exile, Agrippina’s husband Ahenobarbus died of dropsy and her son was sent to live with a relative of Caligula. Caligula used the death of Ahenobarbus to seize most of Lucius’s assets and inheritance, essentially leaving him in poverty (Agrippina the Younger). Potentially alienating the entire empire including his Praetorian Guard with his bizarre and erratic behavior, Caligula, his wife, and his daughter were murdered on January 24 AD 41. (Agrippina II). After his assassination, Caligula was replaced by his paternal uncle, Tiberius Claudius Caesar. Better known as Claudius, Tiberius Claudius Caesar lifted the exile on his nieces, Agrippina and Livilla, restored their properties and wealth, and reinstated his nephew Lucius’s inheritance…

    • 532 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Rome a symbol of strength, empowerment and prosperity for many, leaving no doubt in modern historians thoughts that this utopia was one of the most prominent of the ancient era’s. One dynasty within this epoch stands out, as being one of the most provocative and influential was the Julio-Claudian dynasty. This period was introduced with the instigation of the emperor Julio Augustus, known as one of the most appreciated emperors in Roman history. After Augustus came the rulers Tiberius, Gaius Germanicus (Caligula), Claudius and Nero. With every new ruler the amount of power and wealth in the city swelled, some even say that it was the golden age of Roman literature and arts. Each of these power broker’s have one person in common, apart from imperial extravagance and notoriety, they all have felt the sting of Julia Agrippina’s manipulative powers (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013). When studying Agrippina it is found that many of the sources do not retain a sympathetic view of the During the Julio-Claudian era Agrippina the younger only retained her power through the manipulation of her son, husband and peers. By doing this she made herself on the most powerful women in Rome.…

    • 1775 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    His father, Gaius Octavius, was the first senator in the family but died when Octavius was four. This left Octavius with no distinguished connections: except that of his mother who was the daughter of Julia, sister of Julius Caesar. This relationship rendered Augustus the great-nephew to the cunning, intelligent and manipulative dictator of Rome who was undoubtedly the most powerful man in the city at the time. Caesar saw many qualities of himself within young Octavius (such as his cunning, his vengefulness and his political smarts that were to be displayed later on in Octavius’ life) and it was him that launched Octavius in Roman public life. For example, Octavius was born into a formerly patrician family that later reverted to the Plebeian rank after the death of his father.…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The ideal Roman woman’s role was exemplified by Cornelia Scipionis Africana, the loyal wife and mother who manages the household. Cornelia is known as the seamless example of a picture perfect woman: “It is reported that as Cornelia, their mother, bore the loss of her two sons with a noble and undaunted spirit” 9. She was famous for her dignified behaviour after her sons were murdered. This is the ideal political mother.…

    • 2167 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Gaius Marius

    • 1880 Words
    • 8 Pages

    In 115BC he married Julia of the powerful family ‘Julii”. This marriage would make him, In effect, the uncle of Julius Caesar…

    • 1880 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Emperor Tiberius

    • 363 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Tiberius was born in 42 BC. Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusila are the parents of Tiberius. His parents divorced when Tiberius was four years old, and his mother married Augustus. At first, Tiberius wasn’t supposed to take the throne, but since Augustus’s own three sons died in his life time, Tiberius was the only option. Tiberius was married to Vipsiania, and they had a son named Drusus. After the death of Julia’s husband Agrippa, Tiberius was forced to divorce Vipsiania and marry Julia by Augustus. Julia is the daughter of Augustus. Tiberius married Julia in 11 BC.…

    • 363 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Marcus Brutus

    • 1195 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Marcus Junius Brutus was the son of Marcus Junius Brutus the Elder and Servilia Caepionis. His father was killed by Pompey the Great in dubious circumstances after he had taken part in the rebellion of Lepidus; his mother was the half-sister of Cato the Younger, and later became Julius Caesar's mistress.[2] Some sources refer to the possibility of Caesar being his real father,[3] but this is unlikely since Caesar was 15 at the time of Brutus' birth. Brutus' uncle, Quintus Servilius Caepio, adopted him when he was a young man and Brutus was known as Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus for an unknown period of time.…

    • 1195 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays