Julia the Younger

For other Roman women named Julia Caesaris, see Julia Caesaris

Julia the Younger (in Latin: Iulia Minor, (edd.), Prosopographia Imperii Romani saeculi I, II et III (PIR), Berlin, 1933 - I 635 19 BC – AD 28 or early 29) was the eldest daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia the Elder (Augustus' daughter). Agrippina the Elder (Germanicus' wife) was her younger sister. Vipsania (Tiberius' and later Asinius Gallus' wife), also a daughter of Vipsanius Agrippa, was their half-sister.

Life

About 5 or 6 BC, Augustus arranged her to marry Lucius Aemilius Paullus.Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, "II. Augustus", LXIV Paullus had a family relation to her, as both had Scribonia as grandmother: Julia's mother was a daughter of Scribonia by Augustus; Paullus' mother, Cornelia Scipio, was a daughter of Scribonia resulting from her earlier mariage to Publius Cornelius Scipio Salvito.

Paullus and Julia had Aemilia Lepida and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. She built a large pretentious country house. Due to Augustus’ dislike of large overdone houses, he demolished it.Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, "II. Augustus", LXXII

In AD 8, Julia was exiled for having an affair with Decimus Silanus, a senator. She was sent to Trimerus, a small Italian island, where she gave birth to a child. Augustus rejected the infant and ordered it to be exposed,Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, "II. Augustus", LXV or left on a mountainside to die. Silanus went on voluntary exile, but returned under Tiberius' reign.Tacitus, Ann. III, 24

In 14, Paullus was executed as a conspirator in a revolt.Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, "II. Augustus", XIX Livia Drusilla plotted against her step-daughter's family and ruined them. This led to open compassion for the fallen family. Julia died on the same island where she had been sent in exile twenty years earlier.Tacitus, Ann. IV, 71 Due to the adultery that Julia committed, Augustus stated in his will that she would never be buried in Rome.Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, "II. Augustus", CI

Variants of her name

Julia the Younger is also mentioned under following names:

Vipsania Julia (Agrippina);
Iulilla;
Julia, Augustus' granddaughter
Julia (Caesaris) minor.

She was no Julia Caesaris by birth: being the daughter of a Vipsanius Agrippa makes her a Vipsania Agrippina by birth, although there are no contemporary sources that show that that name would have been used for her. She came to belong to the household of the Julio-Claudian dynasty as she was raised and instructed by her maternal grandfather Augustus.Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, "II. Augustus", LXIV – note that Augustus was member of the Julii Caesares gens through (posthumous) adoption by the (maternal) uncle of his mother Atia - that maternal uncle was of course Julius Caesar; Augustus was an Octavius by birth (hence his name Octavianus after that posthumous adoption had taken place). Further Augustus adopted Tiberius as his son (and heir), and while Tiberius was remarried to Julia the Elder, Augustus sort of became paternal grandfather to Julia the Elder's children too, including Julia the Younger. A formal adoption "in the family of the Caesars" among the offspring of M. Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia the Elder is however only recorded regarding Vipsania Julia's brothers Gaius — hence Gaius (Julius) Caesar — and Lucius — hence Lucius (Julius) Caesar.Tacitus, Ann. I, 3 Her youngest sister (Agrippina "the Elder") and brother (Agrippa Postumus) are usually called after their natural father. Likewise, her eldest half-sisters (Vipsania Agrippina and Vipsania Marcella) were named after their father Vipsanius (Agrippa). Her youngest half-brother, unnamed in contemporary sources, was later sometimes dubbed Tiberillus, after his father Tiberius.

Note that also the youngest of the two sisters of Julius Caesar is sometimes named Julia (Caesaris) minor by historians.

Notes

External links

The Archeological museum of the University of Innsbruck displays a sculpted head that is presumably Vipsania Julia's: Inv. Nr. I/506 – Image at the university's website.

19 BC births | 28 deaths | Julio-Claudian Dynasty | Ancient Roman women

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Life

Variants of her name

See also

Notes

External links