- Caecilia Metella
Caecilia Metella was the name of all women in the Caecilii Metelli family, since feminine names were taken from the father's "gens" and "cognomen" declined in the female form.
The written sources of Roman history cite at least four women called Caecilia Metella. The famous tomb of Caecilia Metella on the Appian Way belongs to a fifth Caecilia Metella.
Dalmatica
Caecilia Metella Dalmatica (died around
80 BC ) was daughter of Lucius Caecilius Metellus Dalmaticus, "Pontifex Maximus " in115 BC . Dalmatica's first marriage, as a young "matrona", was toMarcus Aemilius Scaurus , an aging politician at the peak of his power. Thepatrician Scaurus was "princeps senatus " (president of the Senate) and a traditional ally of her family. Dalmatica bore Scaurus two children: Marcus Aemilius Scaurus (II) andAemilia Scaura , second wife ofGnaeus Pompeius Magnus . Following Scaurus' death, Dalmatica marriedLucius Cornelius Sulla . In86 BC ,Gaius Marius obtained his seventh consulship and outlawed his political enemies, ordering confiscation of property and several persecutions. Sulla, at the time in the East fighting kingMithridates VI of Pontus , was at the top of the list. Dalmatica was forced to abandon Rome and met Sulla in Greece. There, she gave birth to the twins Faustus Cornelius Sulla and Fausta (marriedTitus Annius Milo , praetor in 54 BC). In81 BC , following a brief civil war with the last of Marius' supporters, Sulla entered Rome and was appointed dictator. Again, Dalmatica followed her husband and became Rome's "First Lady." She died around80 BC . Ignoring the anti-luxury laws that he drafted himself, Sulla organized a spectacular state funeral for her.Balearica
"See full article,
Caecilia Metella (priestess) ."Caecilia Metella Balearica Major, elder daughter of
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Balearicus , was aVestal Virgin and aPriestess of theGoddess Juno Sospita . By her influence, the youngGaius Julius Caesar was saved from the rage of her brother-in-law, the DictatorLucius Cornelius Sulla Felix , who had sentenced him to death for refusing to divorce his wife Cinnilla. She was also later the protectress ofSextus Roscius , defended famously byCicero and her nephews Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer andQuintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos Iunior in the celebrated defense "Pro Roscius".Fact|date=November 2007Caecilia Metella Balearica Minor (died
89 BC ) was the second daughter of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Balearicus, consul in123 BC . Her oldest sister was aVestal virgin . Balearica was married to Appius Claudius Pulcher, a politician of an old, although somewhat impoverished,patrician family. As a member of an important family and married into another, Balearica was one of Rome's most esteemed "matronas". She had a reputation of virtue and modesty, allied to an irreproachable conduct as a mother of two boys (Appius and Gaius) and three girls (Claudia Prima, Claudia Secunda, and Claudia Tertulla - this one known to history asClodia ). While pregnant with her sixth child, Balearica had a dream of Juno complaining about the neglect of her temple. As any other Roman would, she took the dream very seriously and proceeded to clean the temple herself, with the help of the censor Lucius Julius Caesar. Shortly afterwards, Balearica died in childbirth. Her youngest son was to be the notoriousPublius Clodius .Calva
Caecilia Metella Calva was daughter of
Lucius Caecilius Metellus Calvus , Consul in142 BC , and sister ofLucius Caecilius Metellus Dalmaticus andQuintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus . She was married to Lucius Licinius Lucullus,Praetor in104 BC . Instead of playing the role of a virtuous married woman, Calva engaged in a succession of scandalous affairs, mostly with slaves, that eventually led to divorce. She was the mother of Lucius Licinius Lucullus (Consul in74 BC ) andMarcus Terentius Varro Lucullus (Consul in73 BC ).Cretica
Caecilia Metella or Caecilia Metella Cretica (b. c.
100 BC , fl.69 BC ) was daughter of the consulQuintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus , who was Consul in69 BC , and a daughter-in-law ofTriumvir Marcus Licinius Crassus , the wealthiest greattenant ofRome , and wife Axia Tertula, apparently married to his second surviving son and heir Marcus Licinius Crassus Iunior or the Younger, who was a legate toJulius Caesar , and father of the next Consul of that name. Their son wasMarcus Licinius Crassus Dives (consul 30 BC) , who was the first imperial consul to be denied a Triumph or theSpolia opima byAugustus as part of a deliberate policy to stress the importance of the emperor and reduce that of individual generals. This Caecilia Metella appears to have been rather different from the other more famous Caecilia Metellas, in that she lived and died in obscurity apart from her famous son and her tomb. Her husband erected in her memory, at the top of a hill of theAppian Way , a monumental tomb of the most elegant proportions, dominant of all temples, tombs and villae of the proximity; standing on a quadrangular base seven metres high, it has on her a cylindrical body 11 metres high with 29 metres diameter; on the side of the Appian Way is still visible the following distical: CAECILIAE / Q. CRETICI F. / METELLAE CRASSUSCeler's daughter
Caecilia Metella Celer was daughter of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer by his wife, the notorious
Clodia . In53 BC , Metella Celer was married toPublius Cornelius Lentulus Spinther , a conservative politician, allied to her father's family. Like her mother, Metella did not content herself with a simple married life. Briefly after the wedding she started an affair withPublius Cornelius Dolabella , a man of the opposite political spectrum. Spinther divorced her in45 BC in the midst of a huge scandal.Marcus Tullius Cicero bitterly discusses the affair in his letters, because at the time, his daughter Tullia was Dolabella's wife.Metella went back to her family in absolute disgrace. She was still in her twenties and very beautiful. Her cousins did not hesitate in using her for political conspiracies. Metella seduced several of
Julius Caesar 's intimate friends, in order to get the family name cleared after the defeat of the "Optimates " in the battles of Pharsalus and Munda. Amongst her non-political lovers is the poet Ticida, who wrote about Metella, giving her the name ofPerilla . Her last known lover was one Aesopo, a wealthy member of the "equites ", who supported the Caecilii Metellii for a few years. Her date of death is unknown.See also
*
Women in Rome
*Caecilius Metellus
*Caecilii Metelli family tree
* [http://www.ceciliametella.com/index2.html Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella]
*Manuel Dejante Pinto de Magalhães Arnao Metello and João Carlos Metello de Nápoles, "Metellos de Portugal, Brasil e Roma", Torres Novas, 1998External links
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