Caecilia Attica

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Caecilia Attica (born 51 BC), was the daughter of Cicero's Epicurean friend and eques, knight Titus Pomponius Atticus. Her mother, Pilia, was a descendant of Marcus Licinius Crassus, a member of the First Triumvirate. Atticus and Pilia were married in 56 BC, when Atticus was already 53 years old.^[1] Caecilia´s aunt, Pomponia, married Cicero´s younger brother Quintus Tullius Cicero around 70 BC.^[2]

Caecilia Attica is several times mentioned in the letters between her father and Cicero. Cicero was very fond of this little girl,whom he would never see growing into an adult as he was murdered in 43 BC. He gave her the pet name Attica, the feminine equivalent to her father´s cognomen Atticus. (In Rome women generally did not have a cognomena, their name was just the feminine form of their father´s surname, as in Caecilia´s case Caecilius.) In his letters he sent always greetings to her, and often asked if she had one of her bouts of high fever that caused distress to him.^[3] In one letter to Atticus in the beginning of the 40es BC he tells him not to reprimand Attica, who was sulking and angry at Cicero. He said, that she was quite right in insisting that Cicero had not on his last visit said properly goodbye to her.^[4]

In history Caecilia Attica is often called Pomponia Attica. This mix up rises from the fact that his father, Titus Pomponius Atticus was at a relatively advanced age adopted by his uncle, Quintus Caecilus. This meant, according to the Roman custom that his name, changed to Quintus Caecilius Pomponianus Atticus, and Pomponia Attica´s name into Caecilia Attica.

Caecilia Attica was given a broad literary education.^[5] Her education started at the early age of five or six.^[6] His father procured her a private tutor, one of his freedmen. (Having a private tutor and education at home was considered to be the proper way to educate women in Rome.) There were gossip that she had had an affair with this tutor. However, Roman historians were very fond of scandals and used sources that modern historians would consider unreliable.

Around 37 BC, she married Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Octavian´s right-hand man, and trusted friend.^[7] Octavian and Agrippa were childhood friends and had studied together in Apollonia, Illyria (modern Albania) before Gaius Julius Caesar had adopted Octavian. This was socially a very fortunate marriage for Attica, as Augustus had secretly planned to make Agrippa his successor and heir. This was disclosed when Augustus, during a serious illness, handed over his seal ring to Agrippa. But Agrippa died before Augustus in 12 BC

The marriage was negotiated by Mark Antony. Caecilia Attica´s and Agrippa´s daughter Vipsania Agrippina was born in 36 BC. She was the mother-in-law of the emperor Tiberius, Gaius Asinius Gallus and grandmother to Drusus Julius Caesar and his half-brothers.

In 28 BC Agrippa married for a second time Augustus' niece Claudia Marcella Major in a political alliance. It's unknown if Agrippa divorced Attica or if she had already died.