Pompeia (sister of Pompeius Strabo)

Pompeia (flourished 2nd and 1st century BC) was a Roman woman. Pompeia was born and raised into a noble family in Picenum (modern Marche & Abruzzo) a rural district in Northern Italy, off the Adriatic Coast.

Pompeia’s mother was a woman called Lucilia. Lucilia’s family originated from Suessa Aurunca (modern Sessa Aurunca) and she was a sister of satire poet Gaius Lucilius. Lucilius was a friend of Roman general Scipio Aemilianus Africanus.

Her paternal grandfather was Gnaeus Pompeius, while her father was Sextus Pompeius. Pompeia had two elder brothers Sextus Pompeius and Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo. Through Strabo, she was a paternal aunt to triumvir Pompey and his sister Pompeia.

Pompeia married Marcus Atius Balbus (148 BC-87 BC), a senator of plebs status from Aricia (modern Ariccia). Pompeia and Balbus had a son a younger Marcus Atius Balbus in 105 BC. Her son married Julia Caesaris Minor, the second eldest sister of dictator Gaius Julius Caesar. The younger Balbus and Julia had three daughters. Among Pompeia’s descendants was the first Roman Emperor Augustus.

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