Julia

Julia (c. 130 BC – 69 BC) was a daughter of praetor Gaius Julius Caesar II (grandfather of Caesar) and Marcia (daughter of praetor Quintus Marcius Rex). She was a sister of Gaius Julius Caesar III (the father of Julius Caesar) and Sextus Julius Caesar III, consul in 91 BC.

At about 110 BC she married Gaius Marius; as a result, she is sometimes referred to as Julia Maria. They had a son, Gaius Marius the Younger.

According to Plutarch, it was by marrying her, a patrician woman, that the upstart Marius got the attention of the snobbish Roman Senate and launched his political career. Julia is remembered as a virtuous woman devoted to her husband and their only child. Her reputation alone permitted her to keep her status, even after Sulla's persecutions against Marius himself and his allies.

Julia died in 69 BC and received a devoted funeral eulogy from her nephew Julius Caesar.

• Plutarch, Parallel Lives, written approx. 75 CE:
  • "(The Life of) (Gaius) Marius"
    • John Dryden translation at MIT classics
    • Stewart/Long translation at Project Gutenberg
    • Bernadotte Perrin (ed.) translation at LacusCurtius
  • "(The Life of) (Julius) Caesar"
    • John Dryden translation at MIT classics
    • Stewart/Long translation at Project Gutenberg
    • Bernadotte Perrin (ed.) translation at LacusCurtius
    • Bernadotte Perrin (ed.) translation at Perseus project
    • Thomas North (ed.) translation at Perseus project