Niece of a dictator
Atia was the daughter of Julia, a sister of Julius Caesar, and Marcus Atius Balbus. Her marriage to Gaius Octavius, a senator who reached the praetorship, produced two children, Octavia Minor and the future Augustus; after his death in 59 BCE she married the senator Lucius Marcius Philippus.
Guiding a great-nephew’s rise
Ancient writers credit Atia with a careful, protective hand in raising her son and with urging caution when he considered his options after Caesar’s assassination in 44 BCE; Augustus himself is said to have honoured her memory. She did not live to see his rise to sole power, dying in 43 BCE, the year the Second Triumvirate was formed; the Senate voted her a public funeral.
Historical sources
Suetonius, Augustus 4; 8; 61
Atia’s family, her son’s upbringing, and Augustus’s regard for her memory.
Cassius Dio, Roman History 45.1–2
Her advice to Octavian following Caesar’s death.