Aurelia Cotta was the mother of Gaius Julius Caesar and figures prominently in Nomenclator: Initium as she did in Caesar's life. Aurelia was born on May 21, 120 BC to Lucius Aurelius Cotta and his wife Rutilia. Hers was a patrician family of consular rank. Both her father and his father had attained the consulship as had three of her half brothers born to her mother and her mother's second husband, who was also Aurelia's paternal uncle.
Aurelia married the praetor, Gaius Julius Caesar while still in her teens and the couple produced three children in quick succession. As was Roman practice at this time, neither of their daughters had praenomen and were both named Julia Caesaris. The girls were born in 102 BC and 101 BC. Aurelia's son, Gaius Julius Caesar was born in 100 BC. Aurelia was widowed in 85 or 84 BC when her husband died suddenly.
Aurelia is described by Plutarch as being "strict and respectable." Historians agree that Aurelia was a beautiful, intelligent woman and was regarded as a model of virtue throughout her life.
When Gaius Julius Caesar was ordered by the dictator Sulla to divorce his wife Cornelia Cinna, daughter to Sulla's enemy and rival Cornelius Cinna, he refused. This bold refusal put young Caesar's life in jeopardy, forcing him to go into hiding. At that time, Aurelia stood up to the dictator and helped to secure a reprieve from the death sentence Sulla had ordered. When Cornelia died in childbirth, leaving Aurelia's son a widower, she helped raise her granddaughter and managed her son's household.
In Nomenclator: Initium, Aurelia is portrayed as a warm and intelligent woman who is politically astute enough to help her son advance his career as he rises on the cursus honorum.
