Cossutia was a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

woman who became engaged to

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...

prior to his reaching adulthood. There has been debate among historians on whether the marriage actually occurred.

Biography

Early life

Cossutia belonged to a very wealthy

equestrian The word equestrian is a reference to equestrianism, or horseback riding, derived from Latin ' and ', "horse". Horseback riding (or Riding in British English) Examples of this are: * Equestrian sports *Equestrian order, one of the upper classes i ...

family from

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

Caesar

Cossutia appealed to Caesar, although the Cossuti were not even '' novi homines''. She was recommended to Caesar by his father and it is believed that the future dictator of Rome married Cossutia after he began wearing the ''toga virilis''. Both families issued coins with her image and were inscribed with ''Uxor Caesaris''. No children sprang from this relation. In 84 BC, after his father's death, Caesar left Cossutia and married Cornelia, as that was more pragmatic than the earlier relation to Cossutia.''Women of Caesar's Family'', The Classical Journal, Volume 13, 1918, pp. 502-506. It is also possible that Caesar chose to leave her to marry Cornelia because he had been nominated as ''

Flamen Dialis In ancient Roman religion, the was the high priest of Jupiter. The term ''Dialis'' is related to ''Diespiter'', an Old Latin form of the name ''Jupiter''. There were 15 '' flamines'', of whom three were ''flamines maiores'', serving the thre ...

'', a role which demanded marriage to a

patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...

via ''

confarreatio In ancient Rome, ''confarreatio'' was a traditional patrician form of marriage. The ceremony involved the bride and bridegroom sharing a cake of emmer, in Latin ''far'' or ''panis farreus'', hence the rite's name. (''Far'' is often translated as "s ...

''.

Later years

Cossutia perhaps died in Pisa, Italy in 84 BC.

Scholarly disagreement

In the past it was commonly accepted that Caesar and Cossutia were married, but more recent opinions differ. Among those arguing that Caesar was never married to this woman are Ludwig Friedrich Otto Baumgarten-Crusius,

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

, Charles Merivale,

James Anthony Froude James Anthony Froude ( ; 23 April 1818 – 20 October 1894) was an English historian, novelist, biographer, and editor of ''Fraser's Magazine''. From his upbringing amidst the Anglo-Catholic Oxford Movement, Froude intended to become a clergy ...

Theodore Ayrault Dodge Theodore Ayrault Dodge (May 28, 1842 – October 26, 1909) was an American officer, military historian, and businessman. He fought as a Union officer in the American Civil War; as a writer, he was devoted to both the Civil War and the great gener ...

William Warde Fowler William Warde Fowler (16 May 1847 – 15 June 1921) was an England, English historian and ornithologist, and tutor at Lincoln College, Oxford, Lincoln College, Oxford. He was best known for his works on religion in ancient Rome, ancient Roman ...

Ernest Gottlieb Sihler Ernest Gottlieb Sihler (1853–1942) was a professor of classics at New York University. Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, he was the son of Lutheran missionary Wilhelm Sihler and great-uncle to Andrew Sihler. Sihler's professional name was Ernest G ...

, , and

John Carew Rolfe John Carew Rolfe, Ph.D. (October 15, 1859 in Newburyport, Massachusetts – March 26, 1943) was an American classical scholar, the son of William J. Rolfe. Rolfe graduated from Harvard University in 1881 and from Cornell University (Ph.D.) ...

.Notes and Discussions — "Caesar's First Wife", ''

Classical Philology Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

'', Volume 12, 1917, pg. 93. The French author lists Cossutia first, then Cornelia, Pompeia, and Calpurnia, as wives of Caesar. The ancient historian

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...

largely ignores Cossutia,''American Notes and Queries'', Volume 1, 1888, pg. 20. but names her as one of Caesar's wives.

Suetonius Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (), commonly referred to as Suetonius ( ; c. AD 69 – after AD 122), was a Roman historian who wrote during the early Imperial era of the Roman Empire. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies ...

also used the word for an official divorce when describing the separation.

Cultural depictions

Cossutia appears as a major character in the opera '' Young Caesar'', and as a minor character in several novels.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cossutia 84 BC deaths Year of birth unknown Women of Julius Caesar