Cornelia Africana - Biography

Biography

Cornelia married Tiberius Gracchus Major, the father of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, when he was already in an advanced age. The union proved to be a happy one and together they had 12 children, very unusual for Roman standards. Only three survived childhood: Sempronia, married to her cousin Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus; and the brothers Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, who would defy the political institutions of Rome, with their attempts at popular reforms. After her husband's death, she chose to remain a widow, while still enjoying a princess-like status, and set herself to educate her children. She even refused the marriage proposal of King Ptolemy VIII Physcon. Later in her life, Cornelia studied Latin and Greek language and literature. Cornelia took advantage of the Greek scholars she brought to Rome, notably the philosophers Blossius from Cumae and Diophanes from Mytilene, who were to educate young men. Cornelia always supported Tiberius and Gaius, even when their actions outraged the conservative patrician families in which she was born. After their violent deaths she retired from Rome to a villa in Misenum, but continued to receive guests.

Rome worshipped her virtues and, when she died at an advanced age, the city voted for a statue in her honour.