Terentia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Terentia (lived 1st century BC) was the wife of the renowned orator Marcus Tullius Cicero. She was renowned in Rome for her quick temper and sharp tongue. She is one of the few Roman women mentioned in sources of the Republican era.
Born into the patrician class (the nobility of Roman society), Terentia was no beauty, but was endowed instead with considerable force of character and a strong intellect, as well as a huge dowry. She took the unusual step for those times in selecting her own husband before the paterfamilias (the male head of the family) could arrange one for her, and she insisted on maintaining control of her huge dowry. She would continue to hold the pursestrings for much of her married life.
There were two children born of the union, a daughter Tullia Ciceronis and a son, Marcus Tullius Cicero Minor.
Although Cicero was a New Man (in Rome this was someone in social and political circles without noble ancestry), Terentia overlooked her husband's modest background as she believed in his potential. She proved to be a tower of strength to her husband.
However, a few years before his death, Cicero divorced Terentia and married a younger woman called Publilia. This second marriage of Cicero also ended in divorce shortly afterwards. Terentia outlived her husband by many years, dying at the age of 103.
