Calpurnia Pisonis
Calpurnia Pisonis (born 75 BC), daughter of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, sister of Lucius Calpurnius Piso, "the Pontifex", was a Roman woman and the third and last wife of Julius Caesar. Calpurnia was the great-granddaughter of a lieutenant of Lucius Cassius Longinus, whose name was Lucius Piso. The grandfather of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesonius was killed by the Tigurini during the Gallic Wars, as was Lucius Cassius Longinus.[1]
[edit] Marriage and Caesar's demise
Caesar and Calpurnia married in late 59 BC. Calpurnia was a sixteen-year-old virgin.[2] No children resulted from the union. However, Caesar's daughter Julia, born by his previous wife Cornelia Cinna, was still a child at this time. It was supposed that Calpurnia helped to raise her. Following Caesar's death on the Ides of March (March 15) of 44 BC, Calpurnia delivered all Caesar's personal papers, including will and notes, and most precious possessions to Mark Antony, one of the new leaders of Rome. She did not remarry after the death of Caesar.
According to historical tradition, reflected in some ancient sources,[3] Calpurnia had a premonition of her husband's murder and tried to warn him in vain. She also encouraged Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus to send word to the senate that Caesar was sick on the day of his death, but Caesar refused to lie.
[edit] Calpurnia in literature and popular culture
- In Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Calpurnia has a dream that a statue of Caesar was flowing with blood as many Romans wash their hands in the blood. She also sees in her dream that Julius Caesar would die in her arms.
- A version of Calpurnia was portrayed by Haydn Gwynne in HBO's series Rome.
- Her character from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar was also portrayed by Sylvia Lennick in Wayne and Shuster's comedy sketch "Rinse the Blood Off My Toga", parodied as a hysterical Italian-American housewife repeatedly wailing "I told him, Julie! Don't go!" in a Bronx accent.[4]
- She was also portrayed by British actresses Greer Garson in the 1953 adaptation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, by Joan Sims in Carry on Cleo, by Italian actress Valeria Golino in the 2002 made for TV movie Julius Caesar, by Gertrude Michael in Cecil B. DeMille's 1934 Cleopatra, and by Gwen Watford in 20th Century Fox's 1963 "Cleopatra."
- She is shown in Mist of Prophecies (part of the Roma Sub Rosa series by Steven Saylor) taking part on solving a murder. She gets Gordianus the Finder to look into a threat to her husband in the latest book in this series, The Triumph of Caesar.
- In the motion picture The Addams Family, there is a portrait of Calpurnia on the wall of the Adams'.
- In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Calpurnia is portrayed as a housemaid to Atticus Finch, and a mother to both Jem and Scout Finch [5]
[edit] References
- ^ Caesar's Gallic War, Book 1, Julius Caesar, Hinds & Noble, 1898, pg. 83.
- ^ Cicero: The Secrets of his Correspondence, Volume 1, Jerome Carcopino translator, Taylor & Francis, 1951, pg. 352.
- ^ Vita Caesaris, chapters 19–24, recounts Caesar's assassination; extracts are quoted in "The Assassination of Julius Caesar, 44 BC". EyeWitness to History. http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/caesar2.htm. Retrieved 9 November 2005.. For an assessment of Nicolaus and his sources see Sihler, E.G. Annals of Caesar: A Critical Biography with a Survey of the Sources (New York : G. E. Stechert, 1911), pp. 293–4
- ^ "Sylvia Lennick, Wayne & Shuster sidekick, dies at 93". The Globe and Mail, August 10, 2009.
- ^ http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/mocking/characters.html
