Sempronia (sister of the Gracchi)

Sempronia (170 BC – after 101 BC), was a Roman noblewoman living in the Middle and Late Roman Republic, who was most famous as the sister of the ill-fated Tiberius Gracchus (died 133 BC) and Gaius Gracchus (died 121 BC), and the wife of a Roman general Scipio Aemilianus.

Sempronia was the oldest surviving child and only surviving daughter of Roman consul and censor Tiberius Gracchus Major and his wife Cornelia Africana. Her younger brothers were the famed Roman politicians Tiberius Gracchus and Gaius Gracchus. Her maternal grandparents were the great Roman general Scipio Africanus and his wife Aemilia Paulla, and her maternal great-uncle was another distinguished Roman general Lucius Aemilius Paulus Macedonicus. Her father had a formidable reputation as a general (having won a triumph in Sardinia), and was known as a strict censor who was yet tremendously popular.

Sempronia was born in Rome around 170 BC, and was raised and educated there by her mother. Her father died suddenly in 154 BC, and it is probable that she was engaged while he was still alive to her mother’s maternal first cousin Scipio Aemilianus Africanus who was her first cousin by adoption (by her maternal uncle). At her father's death, her young brothers were apparently partly raised and educated in Scipio's household; he was wealthy, rich, and cultivated a circle of literary-minded Romans and foreigners known to history as the Scipionic Circle. When Sempronia was age 17 or 18, and probably by 151 BC (when Scipio the Younger left for Spain), she appears to have married Scipio Aemilianus. He became a famous Roman general and a somewhat less successful Roman politician.

Certain historical accounts state that Sempronia and Scipio had a very unhappy marriage. They did not show any affection towards each other, and Scipio complained of her lack of beauty and her sterility. It is known that Sempronia had no children in her marriage. Nothing is known of her private life or character, but presumably both were irreproachable. Those same historical accounts state that the couple disagreed over Scipio's treatment of his young cousin and former ward Tiberius Gracchus, who had tried to arrange a settlement for Numantia and bring an entire Roman army out of captivity. Scipio denounced the treaty in the Senate, and although Gracchus was saved from punishment, he bore a grudge against Scipio and his allies henceforth. He allied himself with Scipio's political rival Appius Claudius Pulcher, who was Princeps Senatus and censor in 136 BC and other influential men allied to him by marriage, and became tribune of the plebs to implement a radical reform program that threatened to undermine the socio-economic and political order.

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