Julia was the daughter of Gaius Julius Caesar and Marcia (daughter of praetor
Quintus Marcius Rex). She was a sister of
Gaius Julius Caesar (the father of
Julius Caesar) and
Sextus Julius Caesar, consul in 91 BC. At about 110 BC she married
Gaius Marius. They had a son,
Gaius Marius the Younger.
Plutarch also mentions that Marius had two step-sons named Quintus Granius and Gnaeus Granius; it is possible that these men were children of Julia by an earlier marriage or step-children of Marius from a marriage to another woman before Julia. If Quintus and Gnaeus were indeed Julia's sons, then her earlier husband was likely a member of the Campanian trading family since Julia was a
patrician and would only have married someone from the
Grania gens if they were very rich. According to
Plutarch, it was by marrying her, a patrician woman, that the upstart Marius got the attention of the snobbish
Roman Senate and launched his political career. Julia is remembered as a virtuous woman devoted to her husband and their only child. Her reputation alone permitted her to keep her status, even after
Sulla's persecutions against Marius himself and his allies. Julia died in 69 BC and received
a devoted funeral eulogy from her nephew
Julius Caesar, before he left to serve under
Gaius Antistius Vetus in
Hispania Ulterior. ==See also==