Junia Tertia

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Junia Tertia, or Tertulla, (c. 60 BCs-22 AD) was the third daughter of Servilia Caepionis and her second husband Decimus Junius Silanus, half-sister of Marcus Junius Brutus, and wife of Gaius Cassius Longinus.

As the relation of so many controversial figures of the late Roman Republic, many rumours swirled around Tertia. She was first said by some to be the natural daughter of Julius Caesar, her mother's lover at the time of her birth. Later on it was said that Servilia offered her up to Caesar when his interest in her mother began to wane. This caused Cicero to remark, at an auction where Caesar had sold goods to Servilia at reduced prices, that they had been discounted by a third (tertia).

Like her mother, Tertia was allowed to outlive her husband Cassius, unmolested by the triumvirs and Augustus. She survived to an advanced age, dying in the reign of the emperor Tiberius, around 22 AD. She had amassed a great estate in her long widowhood, and left her fortune to many prominent Romans, excepting the emperor himself. Tiberius returned the favor by allowing a large funeral to be held in her honor, but prohibiting the masks of Brutus and Cassius to be displayed in the procession.