the atrium      about    archives    features     subscribe     email us     search     this day     awotv     media archive     golden threads     bibliotheca     latin course    sosii books	this day in ancient history tullia Tullia, or Tulliola as she was affectionately known to her father, was the daughter of the orator Marcus Tullius Cicero and his wife Terentia. *** Chronology of Tullia's Life August 5, ca. 79 B.C. -- Tullia is born by 63 B.C. -- married to Calpurnius Piso Frugi 57 B.C. -- death of Calpurnius 56 B.C. -- married to Furius Crassipes 51 B.C. -- divorced from Furius 50 B.C. -- married to Publius Cornelius Dolabella May 19, 49 B.C. -- Tullia gives birth to a son, who did not survive long, unfortunately 46 B.C. -- divorced from Dolabella February 45 B.C. -- Tullia dies, shortly after giving birth *** Most of what we do know about Tullia comes from Cicero's letters to her and to others, especially Terentia and Atticus. Taken together, they offer a glimpse into what must have been an "interesting" home life for Tullia. Links to them are provided below. *** On the curiosity side of things, in the 15th century a tomb was opened in Rome which was identified as being that of Tullia. Amongst other things found in the tomb was a lamp which was supposedly still burning after some 15+ centuries. This famous example of one of the middle ages' "perpetual lamp" discoveries seems to be a favourite image in poetry. links If you'd like to find out a bit more about Tullia on the web, ecce: David Noy's webpage to accompany a lecture at Lampeter focuses on Tullia and Terentia and has quite a bit of useful information The stemma of the Pisones Frugi suggests the importance of the family Tullia was married to *** These are the letters in which Tullia is mentioned (I've tried to get them all but I suspect I've missed some). They are presented in what seems to be chronological order based on Shuckburgh's translation; the addressees as listed seem to me to be somewhat inconsistently presented (via Perseus): ad Fam. 14.4 -- April 29, 58 B.C. to Terentia and Tullia ad Fam. 14.2 -- October 5, 58 B.C. to Terentia ad Fam. 14.1 -- November 28, 58 B.C. to Terentia ad Fam. 14.3 -- November 29, 58 B.C. to Terentia ad Att. 4.1 -- September 57 B.C. -- to Atticus ad Att.4.16 -- June 24, 54 B.C. -- to Atticus ad Att. 6.1 -- February 22, 50 B.C. -- to Atticus ad Att. 6.4 -- June 50 B.C. -- to Atticus ad Fam. 14.5 -- October 16, 50 B.C. to Terentia ad Att. 7.3 -- December 9, 50 B.C. -- to Atticus ad. Fam 14.18 -- January 22, 49 B.C. to Terentia and Tullia ad Att. 7.12 -- January 22, 49 B.C. -- to Atticus ad Att. 7.13 -- January 23, 49 B.C. -- to Atticus ad Fam 16.12 -- January 27, 49 B.C. to Tiro ad Att. 7.16 -- January 28, 49 B.C. -- to Atticus ad Att. 10.1 -- April 3, 49 B.C. -- to Atticus ad Att. 10.8a -- May 2, 49 B.C. -- to Atticus ad Att. 10.13 -- May 7, 49 B.C. -- to Atticus ad Att. 10.18 -- May 19, 49 B.C. -- to Atticus ad Fam. 14.7 -- June 7, 49 B.C. to Terentia ad Fam. 14.14 -- July 23, 49 B.C. to Terentia and Tullia ad Fam. 9.9 -- June 48 B.C. -- Dolabella to Cicero ad Fam. 14.6 -- July 15, 48 B.C. to Terentia ad Fam. 14.19 -- November 27, 48 B.C. to Terentia ad Fam. 14.9 -- December 17, 48 B.C. to Terentia ad Fam. 14.17 -- December 28, 48 B.C. to Terentia ad Fam. 14.11 -- June 14, 47 B.C. to Terentia ad Fam. 14.15 -- June 19, 47 B.C. to Terentia ad Fam. 14.13 -- July 10, 47 B.C. to Terentia ad Fam 4.5 -- March, 45 B.C. -- Servius Sulpicius to Cicero ad Fam. 4.6 -- April, 45 B.C. -- to Servius Sulpicius *** On the supposed tomb of Tullia and the lamp therein, see: A brief item in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable Rodolfo Lanciani's account in Pagan and Christian Rome (via Lacus Curtius) ... it begins at "To come back ..." The lamp is featured in John Donne's Eclogue .... ... and Thomas Love Peacock's There is a Fever of the Spirit *** In the near future, the Atrium will have its own Cicero page, but until then, if you want to learn more about the man who sired Tullia, the following sites are worth a visit: Andrew Riggsby's Cicero Home Page William Harris' introduction to Cicero's writings Patriot.net's collection of Cicero's works (in Latin) bibliography Bradley, K.R. Discovering the Roman Family (New York, 1998.); see especially chapter .8 "A Roman family" Clark, P.A. "Tullia and Crassipes", Phoenix 45 (1991), pp.28-38. Collins, J.H. "Tullia's engagement and marriage to Dolabella", Classical Journal 47 (1952), pp.162-8. Dixon, Susan. "Family Finances: Terentia and Tullia" in B. Rawson (ed.) The Family in Ancient Rome, (Ithaca, 1980) 93-120 input If you have anything to add by way of links on the web and/or more traditional bibliography, feel free to drop me a line. I can't guarantee that I'll use it, but I'll certainly check it out!
Copyright © 2001 David Meadows
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