Marriages & Children
His wives and marriage details remain unknown, and he may not have married until after returning from the eastern wars.
No sons survived to adulthood, but he had at least two daughters Claudiae neither of whom are mentioned directly by name, but only in the context of their relationships by marriage: the younger to Pompey the younger (born ca.79 BC), while the elder was the first wife of Marcus Junius Brutus (born 85). The terminus ante quem for both marriages is spring 51 BC (calendar Iunius). Most likely Claudia maior married Brutus ca.59 (when he turned 26) while her minor sister's match with Magnus' son was probably arranged around the time of the Luca and Ravenna conferences (spring 56 BC), with the marriage taking place in Pompeius' second consulate after Appius returned from Sardinia.
It was an interesting choice of in-laws (adfines) since Brutus refused to speak to Pompeius Magnus until the Civil War, detesting him as a tyrant and the murderer of his father.
As he had no living sons, he adopted his nephew Gaius Claudius Pulcher, who changed his name to Appius Claudius Pulcher, and who became consul in 38 BC.
Read more about this topic: Appius Claudius Pulcher (consul 54 BC)
Famous quotes containing the words marriages and/or children:
“If marriages were made by putting all the men’s names into one sack and the women’s names into another, and having them taken out by a blindfolded child like lottery numbers, there would be just as high a percentage of happy marriages as we have here in England.... If you can tell me of any trustworthy method of selecting a wife, I shall be happy to make use of it.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“It is healthier, in any case, to write for the adults one’s children will become than for the children one’s “mature” critics often are.”
—Alice Walker (b. 1944)