Aurelia Cotta

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Aurelia Cotta or Aurelia (120 BC-54 BC) was the mother of Julius Caesar. She was a daughter of Rutilia and Lucius Aurelius Cotta. Her father was consul in 119 BC and her paternal grandfather of the same name was consul in 144 BC. The Aurelii Cottae family were prominent during the Roman Republican era. Her mother Rutilia, was a member of the Rutilius family. They were of consular rank.

Her 3 half-brothers were consuls: Gaius Aurelius Cotta in 75 BC, Lucius Cotta in 74 BC and Marcus Cotta in 65 BC; they were the sons of her mother, Rutilia's second marriage with her paternal uncle Gaius Aurelius Cotta.

Aurelia married a praetor, Gaius Julius Caesar the Elder. Her husband died 85 BC-84 BC. Their children were:

• Julia Caesaris the Elder
• Julia Caesaris the Younger (101 BC-51 BC)
• Gaius Julius Caesar (100 BC-44 BC)

The historian Tacitus, considers her as an ideal Roman matron and thinks highly of her. Plutarch describes her as a "strict and respectable" woman. Highly intelligent, independent and renowned for her beauty and common sense, Aurelia was held in high regard throughout Rome.

Aurelia and her family were very influential in her son’s upbringing and security. Her husband, the elder Gaius Caesar, was often away, so the task of raising their son fell mostly on Aurelia's shoulders. When the younger Caesar was about 18, he was ordered by the then dictator of Rome, Lucius Cornelius Sulla, to divorce his young wife Cornelia. Young Caesar firmly refused, and by so doing, put himself at great risk from Sulla. Aurelia became involved in the petition to save her son and along with her brother Gaius Cotta, defended young Caesar against the dictator Lucius Cornelius Sulla.

During the Bona Dea festival, held at Caesar’s house, it was she who discovered Publius Clodius disguised as a woman, ostensibly in order to start or continue an affair with her second daughter-in-law Pompeia Sulla (see, Pompeia (wife of Julius Caesar). Although Caesar himself admitted her possible innocence, he divorced her shortly after saying, "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion."

After her first daughter in law Cornelia Cinna minor died young, Aurelia raised her young granddaughter Julia Caesonis in her stead and presided as mistress over her son's households.