WI:Julius Caesar has a granddaughter

[bikchanin]

Julius Caesar had a daughter who named Julia Caesaris. She was married off to Pompey, and they had a very happy and loving marriage together despite the large age difference between the two. She died in 54 BC while she was pregnant, with the gender of the child being unknown. Pompey and Caesar were heartbroken by this and it may have been a contributing factor that led to the fallout between the two men and subsequent civil war.

The POD here is that Julia Caesaris lives just long enough to give birth but still dies in childbirth owing to the high maternal mortality back then. The child manages to survive and is a girl. Her name is Pompeia Magna Secunda or Pompeia Secunda for simplicity sake.

Since she's a girl and Rome is very patriarchal she will not be an heir to her father or grandfather. But, would the birth of this girl be enough to stave off civil war between Pompey and Caesar? What would the long term effects of this girls birth and her mothers death be on the republic?

 

[wcv215]

Since she's a girl and Rome is very patriarchal she will not be an heir to her father or grandfather. But, would the birth of this girl be enough to stave off civil war between Pompey and Caesar?

I doubt it.

What would the long term effects of this girls birth and her mothers death be on the republic?

Probably married/betrothed off to Octavian tbh as a way to strengthen his ties to Caesar, and maybe give him a connection to the old Pompeyans. She’d be 10 in 44 BC, two years too young for marriage.

 

[Lalli]

This POD hardly avoids pos-Caesar civil war assuming that he is still assassinated and probably he is.

Most plausible fate for her that she is married to either Octavian (yes, them have pretty big age gap) or then someone Octavian's ally or ally's son.

 

[bikchanin]

Interesting, so it seems that the Roman Republic devolving into civil war is a given at this stage. People seem confident that Octavian still rises to power ITTL. Still then, if Augustus is not married to Livia and married to Pompeia Secunda this could potentially bring about the rise not of a Julio-Claudian dynasty, but maybe instead a purely Julian dynasty.

 

[CeruleanDev]

For all I know, his modern-day descendant could be nothing like him.

 

[FouDuRoy]

Most plausible fate for her that she is married to either Octavian (yes, them have pretty big age gap) or then someone Octavian's ally or ally's son.

She would be nine years younger than Octavian. It is not that big of a gap.

Pompeia Segunda marrying Octavian is entirely possible but far from sure. I am pretty sure Mark Antony would want her for his son Antyllus. And I guess Octavian would want to marry her himself just to prevent her to marry someone else.

Logically, the one who decides who she marries would be her half-brother Sextus Pompey. Him choosing Octavian or Antyllus depends on what Octavian and Mark Antony offer to him. Would that allow Sextus to keep a prominent position instead of losing everything ? If he sides with Mark Antony, can this change the end of war?

Pompeia Segunda would probably already have children in -30. What would be her and their fate, depending on who she marries and who wins the war? Most likely, either she is empress either she ends up like Caesarion.

 

[wcv215]

Pompeia Segunda marrying Octavian is entirely possible but far from sure. I am pretty sure Mark Antony would want her for his son Antyllus. And I guess Octavian would want to marry her himself just to prevent her to marry someone else.

I was saying it would be something that Caesar would arrange. To give his chosen, even secretly chosen, heir a link to the Pompeyans.

 

[Lalli]

Interesting, so it seems that the Roman Republic devolving into civil war is a given at this stage. People seem confident that Octavian still rises to power ITTL. Still then, if Augustus is not married to Livia and married to Pompeia Secunda this could potentially bring about the rise not of a Julio-Claudian dynasty, but maybe instead a purely Julian dynasty.

Fall of Roman Republic was pretty inevitable and probably there would had been another civil war. And opposition for Caesar was probably inevitable too. Many conservatives just couldn't stand idea that someone would try change something and Caesar's personality hardly would had stopped that assuming that he still takes power.

For all I know, his modern-day descendant could be nothing like him.

We wouldn't even know their descedants anything. If Caesar's granddaughter's lineage manage to remain around, there would be millions of Caesar's descendants by 2023.