Terentia (; 98 BC – AD 6) was the wife of the renowned orator Marcus Tullius Cicero. She was instrumental in Cicero's political life both as a benefactor and as a fervent activist for his cause. Family background Terentia was born into a wealthy plebeian family by the name of Terentius. She may have been a daughter of the Terentii Varrones, who were the most important senatorial branch of that family. This is suggested by the fact that Cicero had a cousin with the cognomen Varro and a friend by the name of Marcus Terentius Varro. This Varro owned a house near Arpinum not far from Cicero's own birthplace. Therefore, if Terentia was indeed the daughter of a Varro, Cicero's links to this family may have influenced his marriage to Terentia. Terentia had one half-sister named Fabia, who was a Vestal Virgin and the daughter of a patrician named Fabius. If Terentia's mother married the plebeian Terentius first, then Terentia was the older sister and probably the sole inheritor of her father's estate. Upon her father's death, Terentia became very wealthy. She was endowed with a huge dowry, which included at least two blocks of tenement apartments in Rome, a plot of woods in the suburbs of Rome, and a large farm. The apartments and farm generated a considerable annual income. There is evidence that Terentia had much land in her own name. In addition to the public land she possessed, Terentia acquired a large woodland property among many other investments. She also owned a village which she intended to sell in the crisis of Cicero's exile. Her total dowry was 400,000 sesterces, which was the exact amount needed for a man to run for senator. Since Cicero was still under the authority of his father, the paterfamilias, he had not yet inherited anything. Therefore, Terentia's dowry was probably used to finance his political career. Marriage, family life, and children Terentia was around 18 years old when she married Cicero in 80 or 79 BC. Besides the connections between Cicero and the Terentii, Terentia probably married him because Cicero was an up-and-coming novus homo (new man) with a promising political career. She married Cicero in a sine manu marriage (see manus marriage), bringing with her the dowry and her private property. While the dowry passed into the control of Cicero's paterfamilias and later to Cicero himself, Terentia herself conducted the