A Brief History
Sometime in the year 62 B.C., the famous Roman General Julius Caesar decided to divorce his second wife Pompeia. In regard to his reasoning, he famously said that any wife of his must be above suspicion.
Digging Deeper
Actually he said, “my wife ought not even be under suspicion.” This quote, however, later evolved into the expression: “Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion.” So, what event brought about the doubt concerning Pompeia’s character? Well, she had hosted an all-girls party known as Bona Dea (good goddess) to which Vestal Virgins had been invited and to which entry by males was prohibited. A young, troublemaking politician known as Publius Clodius Pulcher managed to gain admittance by disguising himself as a woman. He was caught, but rumors soon circulated that he had intended to seduce Pompeia. Brought to trial for his transgression, both Caesar’s mother and sister condemned his action in court. Caesar, himself, however, said nothing and so without any angry words from the husband, Pulcher was acquitted. Punished instead was innocent Pompeia as Caesar served her with divorce papers, citing that with his political ambitions, he needed a wife who was free of scandal, more specifically speaking, she needed to be beyond reproach.
To the modern-day person, it seems that Caesar might have been looking for a way to rid himself of his wife, and Pulcher’s crashing of the party came at a convenient time. Either Caesar used it as an opportunity to openly find fault with Pompeia where there was otherwise none, or he had set Pulcher up to it. Why else did he not defend his wife’s honor in court? Nowadays, typical excuse for divorce include: “We’ve grown apart.” or “I love my wife, but I’m not in love with her.” etc. Leave it to Caesar, however, to not mince his words. With respect to Pompeia, the die was cast. Caesar may not have voiced the real reason why he wanted to be free of her, but he knew what he wanted, and for some reason being married to Pompeia was not advantageous for him any more, be it lack of children after 5 years or insufficient politician connections. Or, maybe he was being completely honest, and he simply did not want the embarrassing incident to negatively impact his political aspirations. At any rate, in regard to this particular marriage, the man who usually came, saw and conquered, instead came, saw and left.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Macdonald, Fiona. Women in Ancient Rome. Brighter Child, 2000.
MacLachlan, Bonnie. Women in Ancient Rome: A Sourcebook (Bloomsbury Sources in Ancient History). Bloomsbury Academic, 2013.
Rawson, Beryl. Marriage, Divorce, and Children in Ancient Rome (OUP/Humanities Research Centre of the Australian National University Series). Clarendon Press, 1996.
The featured image in this article, Pompeia from Promptuarii Iconum Insigniorum, is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 70 years or fewer.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="6186 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=6186">34 Comments
It is very interesting what lengths people will go to sometimes to end a marriage, ruler or commoner.
This article does cause you to wonder if that was the real reason he wanted a divorced. Also, its interesting to see the contrast of reasoning then and now.
I think it was just an excuse to divorce her.
I think that based on how ancient rulers were that his intentions were as he stated. Any sort of ancient leader wanted to be seen as the highest person without fault, a god if you will. Having a wife with such a background could therefore damage that reputation so he just got rid of the problem before it grew.
the article calls into question why he really wanted to divorce her in the first place. it seems to me he just used this as a excusce to divorce her without saying the real reason or reasons behind it.
In today’s world, divorce is very common. Back then, it was not as popular as it is today. It sounds like Caesar was looking to divorce his wife, but didn’t know how to go about it. The whole scenario with Pulcher could have been an excuse for Caesar to make the divorce happen. I wonder what the real reason was for Caesar to want a divorce from his wife. The whole situation with Pulcher was not Pompeia’s fault.
If Caesar did put Pulcher up to it, he probably wasn’t the first man in power to have this type of idea. It seems that women were divorced often for reasons that were out of their control, such as not being able to bear children or just not being attractive enough.
this makes me wonder why he wanted the divorce in the first place, i think there was a much more interesting reason as to why he really divorced her.
I wonder how Pulcher was caught. Caesar probably put him up to it so he could divorce his wife. This could especially be the case since Caesar did not have anything to say about the matter.
I am stuck on the question of what is the real story? Sure the story with Pulcher could have been a factor, but to me it was not the main reason Caesar wanted to divorce his wife. Wish there was a way to find out the truth.
Okay, there is no way that is the only reason he wanted a divorce. Something else had to have happened. I didn’t even know divorce was a thing during this time period.
Was this the only reason he wanted divorce? I think there is more behind his reasoning.
I think that Caesar knew that he could get any woman that he wanted. Because of this he may have fallen out of love with her and not needed much of a reason to divorce her.
I don’t think we have all the details of what happened. I think there might have been more to the story but if not then I think he thought he could get any girl and got bored with her.
At least he was one of the nicer leaders in how he went about seeking another wife. Many other rulers would’ve had their wives killed. At least he let her live.
I believe he just wanted a divorce.
Maybe she had horrible body odor like one of Henry’s wives?
He probably just got sick of her shit and wanted her out of his life.
Caesar most likely had a real reason to divorce her, he just didn’t want to either make it known or kill her so he said this instead.
It seems that this party happened at the wrong time for Caesar’s wife because I believe he was waiting for some time to divorce her and this was his way out of the marriage.
The entire event sounds like something out a comedy, though it was taken very seriously at the time. I wonder what happened to Pulcher and Pompeia after the trial and divorce.
It seemed like Caesar was looking for a way out of his marriage for a long while and his wife gave him the perfect excuse to do so, and it happened to be a party.
I feel like he was being completely honest
I find that when you have to say that your wife does not have to be suspicious, it makes your wife suspicious.
Honestly it seems he was fishing for a way out of his marriage and it was a convenient excuse.
With so much power behind the name “Julius Caesar” I do not think that it would be a stretch to believe that he had got rid of his wife over this minute situation, it is all about being respected by the people around you. If she was hindering his respect from his men, she must go.
As many others have stated, i think he had much more reason for the divorce.
I think Caesar was just looking for an excuse to divorce her for the longest time, and she finally gave him a reason to.
It appears that Julius Caesar was wanting a way out of his marriage so when the opportunity presented himself he took advantage of it.
i thing ceaser wasnt happy so when the opportunity presented itself he took advantage
It’s an interesting concept that Caesar divorced his innocent wife over the fact that a scandal happened to her.
It seems that the scandal came at just the right moment for Caesar to leave his wife.
wow i never knew caesar had a divorce! did he get married again after? I know he had a kid with cleopatra but that wasn’t his wife.
Whatever floats his boat. Obviously he wasn’t happy, so it came at the right time