[Julia Caesaris, Wife of Pompey, 1553, Guillaume Rouille, source: Wikimedia Commons]
Julia was the only known daughter of Julius Caesar and his only legitimate child to survive to adulthood. After the death of her mother when she was a small child, she was probably raised by her maternal grandmother, Aurelia Cotta. She was eventually engaged to marry one Quintus Servilius Caepio in 59 BCE, but her father broke off the engagement shortly before the wedding to have her marry his ally Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Meanwhile, her father married Calpurnia Pisonis, who was younger than Julia herself.
Despite a pretty significant difference in ages (he was 47, she was in her late teens or early twenties), this political marriage was a good match on a personal level and Julia and Pompey fell deeply love with each other. When Pompey was given governorship of Hispania Ulterior, he handed over control to his subordinates and remained in Rome, far contrary to the usual practice, partially so that he could stay with his wife.
In 53 BCE, Julia received a great shock. She saw the servants bringing home her husband’s bloodstained toga. Thinking her husband dead, she collapsed and ended up having a miscarriage. This incident may have contributed to her death in childbirth a year later. The daughter she bore only survived her mother by a few days.
With Julia’s death, one of the bonds between Julius Caesar and Pompey was broken, weakening their alliance. Her loss didn’t sever all ties between them, but it only made the eventual break between them unavoidable.
*One of many to have that name, but perhaps the best known.
Plutarch, “Life of Caesar” - Lacus Curtius
Plutarch, “Life of Pompey” - Lacus Curtius
Goldsworthy, Adrian. Caesar: Life of a Colossus. Yale University Press, 2008.
Leach, John. Pompey the Great. Routledge, 2014.
Julia (2) - Livius.org
Pompey and Julia - Livius.org