Caecilia Metella (fl. 1st century BC) was a Roman matron of the first century BC, who belonged to the powerful family of the Caecilii Metelli. She was possibly the mother of Clodius. [1]
Caecilia Metella (fl. 1st century BC) was a Roman matron of the first century BC, who belonged to the powerful family of the Caecilii Metelli. She was possibly the mother of Clodius. [1]
Caecilia Metella was the daughter of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Balearicus, consul in 123 BC. [2] [3]
She was possibly married to Appius Claudius Pulcher, a politician of an old, somewhat impoverished, patrician family. As a member of an important family and married into another, Metella would be one of Rome's most esteemed matronas. Pulcher had six known children; three sons, Appius, Gaius and the famous Publius, and three girls; one who married Lucullus, one who married Quintus Marcius Rex, and one (known as Clodia) who married Metellus Celer. [4]
During Sulla's proscriptions, Metella sheltered Sextus Roscius after his father's murder. Later, Roscius was defended by the young Cicero, helped by Metella's nephews Metellus Celer and Metellus Nepos, in the celebrated speech Pro Roscio Amerino . [2]
This woman has been identified with the one who in 90 BC had a dream of Juno Sospita complaining about the neglect of her temple. [5] Metella cleaned out the temple and was credited with saving the cult of Sospita. [6]
Author Colleen McCullough included Metella as a character in her novel Fortune's Favourites , a fictionalised account of the demise of Sulla and rise of Julius Caesar. [7] She describes Metella as "an ex-Vestal", a claim for which there is no historical evidence.
Clodius is an alternate form of the Roman nomen Claudius, a patrician gens that was traditionally regarded as Sabine in origin. The alternation of o and au is characteristic of the Sabine dialect. The feminine form is Clodia.
Clodia, nicknamed Quadrantaria, Nola, Medea Palatina by Cicero, and occasionally referred to in scholarship as Clodia Metelli, was one of three known daughters of the ancient Roman patrician Appius Claudius Pulcher.
Publius Clodius Pulcher was a Roman politician and demagogue. A noted opponent of Cicero, he was responsible during his plebeian tribunate in 58 BC for a massive expansion of the Roman grain dole as well as Cicero's exile from the city. Leader of one of the political mobs in the 50s, his political tactics – combining connections throughout the oligarchy with mass support from the poor plebs – made him a central player in the politics of the era.
The gens Claudia, sometimes written Clodia, was one of the most prominent patrician houses at ancient Rome. The gens traced its origin to the earliest days of the Roman Republic. The first of the Claudii to obtain the consulship was Appius Claudius Sabinus Regillensis, in 495 BC, and from that time its members frequently held the highest offices of the state, both under the Republic and in imperial times.
Caecilia Metella may refer to:
Mucia Tertia was a Roman matrona who lived in the 1st century BC. She was the daughter of Quintus Mucius Scaevola, the pontifex maximus and consul in 95 BC.
Pompeia was either the second or third wife of Julius Caesar. Pompeia's parents were Quintus Pompeius Rufus, a son of a former consul, and Cornelia, the daughter of the Roman dictator Sulla. Caesar married Pompeia in 67 BC, after he had served as quaestor in Hispania, his first wife Cornelia having died in 69 BC.
Appius Claudius Pulcher was a Roman noble, general and politician of the 1st century BC. He was the father of a number of renowned Romans, most notable: the infamous Clodius and Clodia.
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus was a statesman and general of the Roman Republic during the second century BC. He was praetor in 148 BC, consul in 143 BC, the Proconsul of Hispania Citerior in 142 BC and censor in 131 BC. He got his agnomen, Macedonicus, for his victory over the Macedonians in the Fourth Macedonian War.
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer was a Roman politician who was consul in 60 BC and in the next year opposed Pompey, Caesar, and the so-called First Triumvirate's political programme. He was a member of the powerful and influential plebeian noble family, the Caecilii Metelli. Prior to 62 BC, he was an ally of Pompey and had served as urban praetor in 63, augur by 63 BC, possibly aedile in 67 BC, and plebeian tribune in either 72 or 68 BC.
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Balearicus was a Roman statesman and general who was elected consul for the year 123 BC.
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos was an ancient Roman politician during the Late Republic. He was a son of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Nepos and served as tribune of the plebs in 62 BC, consul in 57 BC, and the governor of Hispania Citerior from 56–55 BC.
Lucius Caecilius Metellus was a Roman aristocrat. He was praetor in 71 BC. He succeeded Gaius Verres as governor of Sicily in 70 BC. He died in office as consul in 68 BC. His co-consul was Quintus Marcius Rex.
Gaius Caecilius Metellus Caprarius was a consul of the Roman Republic in 113 BC with Gnaeus Papirius Carbo. He served under Scipio Aemilianus in Numantia around 133 BC. He was praetor in 117 BC. His proconsulship in Thrace in 112–111 BC earned him a triumph. He was censor in 102 BC with his cousin, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus.
Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus was a politically active member of the Roman upper class. He was praetor in 74 BC and pontifex from 73 BC until his death. He was consul in 69 BC along with Quintus Hortensius Hortalus.
Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica was a politician of the Roman Republic. He belonged to the great patrician family of the Cornelii Scipiones, and was the son of the pontifex maximus Nasica Serapio, who famously murdered Tiberius Gracchus in 133 BC. Nasica was on track to a prestigious career like most of his ancestors, being praetor in 118 BC, but he died during his consulship in 111 BC.
Caecilia Metella was a Roman matron at the beginning of the 1st century BC. The daughter of the pontifex maximus Lucius Caecilius Metellus Dalmaticus, she married two of the most prominent politicians of the period, first the princeps senatus Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, then Lucius Cornelius Sulla.
Caecilia Metella was daughter of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer and Clodia. She was an infamous woman in Rome during the late Republic and a celebrity of sorts.
The gens Caecilia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are mentioned in history as early as the fifth century BC, but the first of the Caecilii who obtained the consulship was Lucius Caecilius Metellus Denter, in 284 BC. The Caecilii Metelli were one of the most powerful families of the late Republic, from the decades before the First Punic War down to the time of Augustus.
Clodius's mother, therefore, must remain ignota.