Sempronia was an

Ancient Roman woman Freeborn women in ancient Rome were citizens (''cives''), but could not vote or hold political office. Because of their limited public role, women are named less frequently than men by Roman historians. But while Roman women held no direct politi ...

of the late Republic who was the wife of Decimus Junius Brutus, the consul of 77 B.C. and step-mother of his son

Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus (27 April 81 BC – September 43 BC) was a Ancient Rome, Roman general and politician of the crisis of the Roman Republic, late republican period and one of the leading instigators of Julius Caesar's Assassination ...

who became one of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

assassins An assassin is a person who commits targeted murder. The origin of the term is the medieval Order of Assassins, a sect of Shia Islam 1090–1275 CE. Assassin, or variants, may also refer to: Fictional characters * Assassin, in the Japanese adult ...

Biography

Early life

It has been speculated that she may have been the daughter of

Gaius Gracchus Gaius Sempronius Gracchus ( – 121 BC) was a reformist Roman politician and soldier who lived during the 2nd century BC. He is most famous for his tribunate for the years 123 and 122 BC, in which he proposed a wide set of laws, i ...

, although historian

Erich Gruen Erich Stephen Gruen ( , ; born May 7, 1935) is an American classicist and ancient historian. He was the Gladys Rehard Wood Professor of History and Classics at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught full-time from 1966 until 2008 ...

considers this unlikely. Others instead believes that she was the sister of

Fulvia Fulvia (; d. 40 BC) was an aristocratic Roman woman who lived during the late Roman Republic. Fulvia's birth into an important political dynasty facilitated her relationships and, later on, marriages to Publius Clodius Pulcher, Gaius Scribo ...

's mother Sempronia, but this is unsure as well. A third option put forward is that she could have been the daughter of

Gaius Sempronius Tuditanus Gaius Sempronius Tuditanus was a politician and historian of the Roman Republic. He was consul in 129 BC. Biography Early life Gaius Sempronius Tuditanus was a member of the plebeian gens Sempronia. His father had the same name and was senator ...

, the consul of 129 BC.

Adult life

Sempronia was described as a distinguished, witty, beautiful, accomplished, and passionate woman, who spoke

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. She could sing, play the lyre and dance very well. The historian

Sallust Gaius Sallustius Crispus, usually anglicised as Sallust (, ; –35 BC), was a historian and politician of the Roman Republic from a plebeian family. Probably born at Amiternum in the country of the Sabines, Sallust became a partisan of Julius ...

states she was extremely fortunate in life, marriage, and children, yet had a profligate character. According to him she had "masculine daring" and involved herself in politics. Without the knowledge or consent of her husband, she participated in the

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

Catiline Lucius Sergius Catilina ( – January 62 BC), known in English as Catiline (), was a Roman politician and soldier best known for instigating the Catilinarian conspiracy, a failed attempt to seize control of the Roman state in 63 BC. ...

and allowed the conspirators to meet in her home to plan. Sempronia and women like her represented a "new woman" in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, with abilities and interests that would become common for women of Rome in later years, a contrast to classical Roman women like

Cornelia Cornelia may refer to: People *Cornelia (name), a feminine given name *Cornelia (gens), a Roman family Places *425 Cornelia, the asteroid ''Cornelia'', a main-belt asteroid ;Italy *Cornelia (Rome Metro), an underground station on Rome Metro *Via ...

who stood for values from the earlier Republican period. She was said to have had many male lovers and Sallust stated that she "sought out men more than she was sought out by them". Sempronia knew

and was likely one of his mistresses. Her step-son Decimus Albinus has been considered as one of Caesar's potential

illegitimate children Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as ''b ...

and it is likely Caesar knew them well.

Research

In the past she has sometimes been conflated with another woman by the same name who was the sister of the Gracchi brothers.

Johann Caspar von Orelli Johann Caspar von Orelli (Latin ''Iohannes Caspar Orellius''; 13 February 1787 – 6 January 1849), was a Swiss classical scholar. Life He was born at Zürich of a distinguished Italian-speaking family from Locarno which had taken refuge in ...

supposed that this Sempronia may be the same Sempronia who, according to

Asconius Quintus Asconius Pedianus (9 BC – AD 76) was a Roman rhetorician from Patavium. There is no evidence that Asconius engaged in a public career, but his familiarity with the politics and geography of contemporary Rome suggests that he may hav ...

, gave testimony at the trial of

Titus Annius Milo Titus Annius Milo (died 48 BC) was a Roman politician and agitator. The son of Gaius Papius Celsus, he was adopted by his maternal grandfather, Titus Annius Luscus. In 52 BC, he was prosecuted for the murder of Publius Clodius Pulcher and exile ...

in 52 B.C. This Sempronia was the daughter of a Sempronius Tuditanus, and supposedly the mother of

Publius Clodius Pulcher Publius Clodius Pulcher ( – 18 January 52 BC) was a Roman politician and demagogue. A noted opponent of Cicero, he was responsible during his plebeian tribunate in 58 BC for a massive expansion of the Roman grain dole as well as Cic ...

. However, as Clodius' wife was Fulvia, the daughter of a Sempronia and granddaughter of Sempronius Tuditanus, it seems that she was not the same Sempronia who married Brutus, and that the woman witnessing was actually Clodius' ''mother-in-law'', not ''mother''.

Cultural depictions

Sempronia is a focal character in the 1600s play by

Ben Jonson Benjamin Jonson ( 11 June 1572 – ) was an English playwright, poet and actor. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence on English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satire, satirical ...

, ''

Catiline His Conspiracy ''Catiline His Conspiracy (1611)'' is a Jacobean tragedy written by Ben Jonson. It is one of the two Roman tragedies that Jonson hoped would cement his dramatic achievement and reputation, the other being '' Sejanus His Fall'' (1603). Backgrou ...

''. She is the title character of the

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

The Consul's Wife ''A Gladiator Dies Only Once'' is a collection of short stories by American author Steven Saylor, first published by St. Martin's Press in 2005. It is the eleventh book in his Roma Sub Rosa series of mystery stories set in the final decades of th ...

" by

Steven Saylor Steven Saylor (born March 23, 1956) is an American author of historical novels. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied history and classics. Saylor's best-known work is his '' Roma Sub Rosa'' historical mystery ...

where she and her lover are plotting to have her husband murdered. She also appears in Saylor's novel '' Catilina's Riddle''. In Saylor's works she is indeed depicted as the daughter of

, Saylor notes that he is aware that this is considered debatable among historians, but that he enjoys to speculate on the possibility due to it being interesting and fitting for her character, as the Gracchi were known for their rebellious nature. Sempronia is mentioned, but does not appear, in the novel ''

The October Horse ''The October Horse'' is the sixth novel in Colleen McCullough's ''Masters of Rome series''. It was first published in November 2002 by Century in UK and Simon & Schuster in USA. Plot introduction The book begins with Gaius Julius Caesar's Eg ...

'' and appears in ''

Caesar's Women ''Caesar's Women'' is the fourth historical novel in Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series, published in 1996. Plot summary The novel is set during a ten-year interval, from 68 to 58 BC, which Julius Caesar spent mainly in Rome, climbin ...

'', by

Colleen McCullough Colleen Margaretta McCullough (; married name Robinson, previously Ion-Robinson; 1 June 193729 January 2015) was an Australian author known for her novels, her most well-known being '' The Thorn Birds'' and '' The Ladies of Missalonghi''. Lif ...

. In the novel ''Respublica: A Novel of Cicero's Roman Republic'' Sempronia is portrayed as a vile woman who murders her husband and mentally and sexually abuses her son Decimus. She is the

point of view character A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

in the novel ''Catilinas sammansvärjning'' by

Göran Hägg Göran Olof Waldemar Hägg (7 July 1947 – 30 September 2015) was a Swedish author, critic and docent in literature science. Biography Hägg grew up in Tallkrogen, south of Stockholm. After graduating from studies in philosophy at Stockholm Un ...

. She plays a major part in the novel ''

A Slave of Catiline A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes''. It is similar in shape to the Ancient G ...

'' by Paul Anderson. She is also a character in the novel ''The Roman Traitor'' by

Henry William Herbert Henry William Herbert (7 April 1807 – 17 May 1858), pen name Frank Forester, was an English-born American novelist, poet, historian, illustrator, journalist and writer on sport. Chester Starr, Starr writes that "as a classical scholar he ...

.Herbert, Henry William; ''The Roman Traitor: A True Tale of the Republic, a Historical Romance'', Volume 1–2 - page: 69

References

External links

{{Commons category, Sempronia (wife of Decimus Brutus) 1st-century BC Roman women 1st-century BC Romans Catilinarians Female criminals Mistresses of Julius Caesar Sempronii