Atia Balba Caesonia

Atia († second half of the year 43 BC) was the mother of the Roman Emperor Augustus and the niece of Gaius Julius Caesar. To distinguish them from her younger sister, she is sometimes called Atia maior ( " the Elder" ).

Life

Atia was the elder daughter of Marcus Atius Balbus and Julia, the sister of Caesar. In her first marriage she was married to Gaius Octavius ​​, with whom she had two children, the daughter of Octavia Minor and Gaius Octavius ​​Thurinus, the later Augustus. After the death of her husband, Lucius Marcius Philippus married Atia (consul 56 BC). When her son Octavius ​​in 44 BC after the murder of Caesar, who had adopted him in his will, tried to return her legacy Atia and Philippus advised him unsuccessfully on it. The following year, when her son his first consulate had attained, died Atia.

Myths

The tradition emphasizes Atias careful education of her son out. She is said to have claimed that his true father of the god Apollo was he who she has been approached as a serpent:

" ( 4) In the ' studies about God and divine things ' of Asclepiades of Mendes I read: When Atia had come at midnight to a solemn service of Apollo and had parked her litter in the temple, she was, while the other women already slept, and dozed off. Suddenly a snake had crawled to her, a little later did this they leave again; she had woken cleaned, as if she had been with her husband. And at the same moment had shown on her body once, so about the appearance of a snake that has been painted, and I can never remove more so since she was never gone in public bathrooms. Augustus was born in the tenth month after that, and was therefore thought to be a son of Apollo. Before niederkam dreamed Atia, what they carry in themselves, may be borne to the stars and wide from over heaven and earth in its whole extent. And also the father Octavius ​​dreamed of Atias lap come forth the radiant light of the sun. "

Modern reception

A character named Atia, however, has little in common with the historical tradition, appears in the television series Rome. There she is played by actress Polly Walker.