Pompeia (c. 87 bce–?)

Roman noblewoman who was the second wife of Julius Caesar. Born around 87 bce; death date unknown; daughter of Quintus Pompeius Rufus and Cornelia; granddaughter of Quintus Pompeius Rufus (consul in 88) and Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix; second wife of Julius Caesar (100–44 bce); children: none. Julius Caesar was first married to Cornelia (c. 100–68 bce); his third wife was Calpurnia (c. 70 bce–?).

Pompeia was born about 87 bce, the daughter of Quintus Pompeius Rufus and Cornelia. Her grandfathers were Quintus Pompeius Rufus (consul in 88) and Lucius Cornelius Sulla, whose long and ruthless career included the capture of Jugurtha (107), a command in the Italian Social War (90–89), a consulship (88), civil war against the Marian faction (87–82), the conquest of Mithradates of Pontus (87–83), and a dictatorship (82–79).

Little is known of Pompeia's youth, but in 67 she married Julius Caesar, a year after the death of his beloved spouse, Cornelia (c. 100–68 bce), and the year after Caesar returned from Spain where he had served as a provincial quaestor. At that time, Caesar (the heir to Gaius Marius' political faction) was engaged in building bridges with selected ex-Sullans (including especially Marcus Licinius Crassus) in an effort to break into the uppermost echelon of Roman politics. Thus, Caesar and Pompeia's marriage was one of political convenience.

Virtually nothing is known about Pompeia as Caesar's wife until late in their marriage, but apparently neither felt much for the other. In fact, both seem to have had roving eyes. In Pompeia's case, by 62 she had attracted the amorous attentions—attentions which Pompeia in no way rejected—of Publius Clodius, a slightly younger-than-Caesar, up-and-coming political scion of an ancient family. Nevertheless, Pompeia and Clodius had scant opportunity to be alone because Aurelia (Caesar's mother) maintained a strict watch over Pompeia. However, this situation changed on December 5, 62 bce, when at Caesar's home there was to be celebrated the annual religious ritual dedicated to the Bona Dea (Good Goddess).

This festival honored a feminine deity (with fertility associations) whose worship was so cloaked in secrecy that even her name was unknown to most Romans: "Bona Dea" was the title of this deity, not her name. Every December, at a nocturnal ceremony which forbade male attendance, the women of the household of a Roman magistrate with imperium (that is, the holder of one of the few offices in the state to which the Roman people had granted by vote the responsibility to enforce the law and lead armies) hosted the celebration in honor of the goddess. In attendance were the Vestal Virgins, and whatever transpired in the appropriate rituals was done on behalf of the welfare of the entire Roman people. Caesar's home was selected for the celebration in honor of the Bona Dea in 62 for two reasons: first, in that year he served as a praetor (the most junior office with the power of imperium); and second, because in 63 Caesar had been elected by the Roman people to hold the office of pontifex maximus, the priesthood which essentially made Caesar the most important religious official of the Republic.

Under cover of this festival, Pompeia, through a maidservant Abra , arranged a tryst with Clodius: he arrived at Caesar's house after dusk dressed as a woman and was admitted by Abra. As Abra sought out her mistress, Clodius made the mistake of touring Caesar's abode, where he met another servant (this time, unfortunately, one of Aurelia's) who asked the stranger to join in the religious celebration. Although Clodius attempted to decline, he was drawn into a better-lit room where it became clear that he was no woman. Discovering that a man had intruded where no man was meant to be, Aurelia's maid ran screaming to her mistress, who immediately shut down the festival and inaugurated a search of the house, discovering Clodius in Abra's room. News of the scandal spread rapidly through Rome and caused considerable disquiet, for most Romans grew nervous at the thought that any god or goddess might have been honored with less than complete piety. Making the scandal even more public was the fact that Clodius had many political enemies who wished to use his violation of religious scruple to attack him politically. Not long after the aborted tryst, therefore, Clodius was indicted upon charges of impiety at a state religious festival and was brought to trial.

As a prominent politician-priest, Caesar was in a pickle over what had transpired. The desire of Pompeia to dally with Clodius embarrassed Caesar so much that he divorced her—by written notification no less, for he refused to have a personal confrontation with the woman who had so besmirched his public standing. However, when Clodius was tried, Caesar refused to testify against him, for, although embarrassed, Caesar did not want to admit publicly that he was a would-be cuckold. When questioned by the astonished prosecution as to why he divorced Pompeia while refusing to admit in public that she was anything less than totally faithful to her marriage, Caesar issued the famous dictum, that he had done so not because she had actually done anything wrong but "because Caesar's wife must be above suspicion"—an ironic howler in the city which knew Caesar himself to be quite an expert in extramarital sexual relations. In fact Caesar acted as he did because although he had been embarrassed by Clodius, Caesar felt that Clodius' popularity among the masses might in the future be useful to Caesar's political ambition. Thus, Caesar refused to testify against a potential political ally, but still divorced Pompeia lest any future antic embarrass him anew. What thereafter happened to Pompeia, who no children with Caesar, is unknown.

William S. S. , Associate Professor of Classical History, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California