 0058 B.C. - 0029
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| Name |
Livia |
| Birth |
0058 B.C. |
| Gender |
Female |
| Death |
0029 |
| Notes |
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livia
«b»Livia Drusilla«/b», after 14 AD called «b»Julia Augusta«/b» («u»Classical Latin «/u»: LIVIA DRVSILLA, IVLIA AVGVSTA«u»[1]«/u») (58 BC-29 AD) was the wife of «u»Augustus «/u» and one of the most powerful women in the «u»Roman Empire «/u», being Augustus' faithful advisor. She was also mother to «u»Drusus «/u» and «u»Tiberius «/u», grandmother to «u»Germanicus «/u» and «u»Claudius «/u», great-grandmother to «u»Caligula «/u» and «u»Agrippina the Younger «/u» and great-great-grandmother to «u»Nero «/u». She was deified by Claudius who acknowledged her title of «u»«i»Augusta «/u»«/i».
«b»Life
Birth and first marriage
«/b»She was born on 30 January 59 or 58 BC as the daughter of «u»Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus «/u» by his wife «u»Aufidia «/u», a daughter of the magistrate Marcus «u»Aufidius Lurco «/u». The diminutive Drusilla often found in her name suggests that she was a second daughter. «u»Marcus Livius Drusus «/u» was her brother. In 40 B.C her father married her to «u»Tiberius Claudius Nero «/u», her cousin of «u»patrician «/u» status who was fighting with him on the side of «u»Julius Caesar «/u»'s assassins against Octavian. Her father committed suicide in the «u»Battle of Philippi «/u», along with «u»Gaius Cassius Longinus «/u» and «u»Marcus Junius Brutus «/u», but her husband continued fighting against Octavian, now on behalf of «u»Mark Antony «/u» and «u»his brother «/u». In 40 BC, the family was forced to flee Italy in order to avoid Octavian's «u»proscriptions «/u», and joined with «u»Sextus Pompeius «/u» in «u»Sicily «/u», later moving on to «u»Greece «/u».
«b»Life with Augustus
«/b»A general amnesty was announced, and Livia returned to Rome, where she was personally introduced to Octavian in 39 BC. At this time, Livia already had a son, the future emperor «u»Tiberius «/u», and was pregnant with the second («u»Drusus the Elder «/u»). Legend said that Octavian fell immediately in love with her, despite the fact that he was still married to «u»Scribonia «/u». Octavian divorced Scribonia in 39 BC, on the very day that she gave birth to his daughter «u»Julia the Elder «/u» («u»Cassius Dio «/u»). Seemingly around that time, when Livia was six months pregnant, Tiberius Claudius Nero was persuaded or forced by Octavian to divorce Livia. On 14 January, the child was born. Octavian and Livia married on 17 January, waiving the traditional waiting period. Tiberius Claudius Nero was present at the wedding, giving her in marriage "just as a father would."«u»[7]«/u» The importance of the patrician Claudii to Octavian's cause, and the political survival of the Claudii Nerones are probably more rational explanations for the tempestuous union. Nevertheless, Livia and Octavian remained married for the next 51 years, despite the fact that they had no children apart from a single miscarriage. She always enjoyed the status of privileged counselor to her husband, petitioning him on the behalf of others and influencing his policies, an unusual role for a Roman wife in a culture dominated by the «u»paterfamilias «/u».
After «u»Mark Antony «/u»'s suicide following the «u»Battle of Actium «/u» in 31 BC, Octavian had removed all obstacles to his power and henceforth ruled as «u»Emperor
«/u», from 27 BC on, under the honorary title «i»Augustus«/i». He and Livia formed the role model for Roman households. Despite his wealth and power, Augustus and his family continued to live modestly in their house on the «u»Palatine Hill «/u». Livia would set the pattern for the noble Roman «i»matrona«/i». She wore neither excessive jewelry nor pretentious costumes, she took care of the household and her husband (often making his clothes herself), always faithful and dedicated. In 35 BC Octavian gave Livia the unprecedented honour of ruling her own finances and dedicated a public statue to her. She had her own circle of clients and pushed many protégés into political offices, including the grandfathers of the later emperors «u»Galba «/u» and «u»Otho «/u».
With Augustus being the father of only one daughter («u»Julia the Elder «/u» by Scribonia), Livia revealed herself to be an ambitious mother and soon started to push her own sons, «u»Tiberius «/u» and «u»Drusus «/u», into power. Drusus was a trusted general and married Augustus's favourite niece, Antonia Minor. Tiberius married Augustus' daughter Julia in 11 BC and was ultimately adopted by his stepfather in 4 BC and named as Augustus' heir.
Rumor had it that when «u»Marcellus «/u», nephew of Augustus, died in 23 BC, it was no natural death, and that Livia was behind it.«u»[8]«/u» After the two elder sons of Julia by «u»Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa «/u», whom Augustus had adopted as sons and successors, had died, the one remaining son «u»Agrippa Postumus «/u» was incarcerated and finally killed. «u»Tacitus «/u» charges that Livia was not altogether innocent of these deaths and «u»Cassius Dio «/u» also mentions such rumours, but not even the gossipmonger «u»Suetonius «/u», who had access to official documents, repeats them. Most modern historical accounts of Livia's life discount the idea. There are also rumors mentioned by Tacitus and Cassius Dio that Livia brought about Augustus' death by poisoning fresh figs. Augustus' granddaughter was «u»Julia the Younger «/u». Sometime between 1 and 14, her husband Paullus was executed as a conspirator in a revolt. Modern historians theorize that Julia's exile was not actually for adultery but for involvement in Paulus' revolt. Livia Drusilla plotted against her stepdaughter's family and ruined them. This led to open compassion for the fallen family. Julia died in 29 AD on the same island where she had been sent in exile twenty years earlier.
«b»Life after Augustus
«/b»Augustus died in «u»AD 14 «/u», being deified by the senate shortly afterwards. In his will, he left one third of his property to Livia, and the other two thirds to the successor Tiberius. In the will, he also adopted her into the Julian family, thus turning her into a patrician, and granted her the «u»honorific title of Augusta «/u». These dispositions permitted her to maintain her status and power after his death, under the name of «i»Julia Augusta«/i».
For some time, Livia and her son Tiberius, the new Emperor, appeared to get along with each other. Speaking against her became «u»treason «/u» in «u»AD 20 «/u», and in «u»AD 24 «/u» he granted his mother a theatre seat among the «u»Vestal Virgins «/u». Livia exercised unofficial but very real power in Rome. Eventually, Tiberius became resentful of his mother's political status, particularly against the idea that it was she who had given him the throne. At the beginning of the reign he vetoed the unprecedented title «i»Mater Patriae«/i» ("Mother of the Fatherland") that the Senate wanted to bestow upon her, in the same manner in which Augustus had been named «u»«i»Pater Patriae «/u»«/i» ("Father of the Fatherland"). (Tiberius also consistently refused the title of «i»Pater Patriae«/i» for himself.)
The historians Tacitus and Cassius Dio depict an overweening, even domineering dowager, ready to interfere in Tiberius' decisions, the most notable instances being the case of Urgulania, a woman who correctly assumed that her friendship with the empress placed her above the law, and Plancina, suspected of murdering Germanicus and saved at Livia's entreaty. A notice from «u»AD 22 «/u» records that Julia Augusta dedicated a statue to Augustus in the centre of Rome, placing her own name even before that of Tiberius.
Ancient historians give as a reason for Tiberius' retirement to Capri his inability to endure her any longer. Until AD 22 there had, according to Tacitus, been "a genuine harmony between mother and son, or a hatred well concealed;" Dio tells us that at the time of his accession already Tiberius heartily loathed her.«u»]«/u» In «u»AD 22 «/u» she had fallen ill, and Tiberius had hastened back to Rome in order to be with her. But in «u»AD 29 «/u» when she finally fell ill and died, he remained on Capri, pleading pressure of work and sending Caligula to deliver the funeral oration. Suetonius adds the macabre detail that "when she died... after a delay of several days, during which he held out hope of his coming, [she was at last] buried because the condition of the corpse made it necessary...". Divine honours he also vetoed, stating that this was in accord with her own instructions. Later he vetoed all the honours the Senate had granted her after her death and canceled the fulfillment of her will.
It would not be until 13 years later in «u»AD 42 «/u», under the reign of her grandson «u»Claudius «/u», that all her honours would be restored and her deification finally completed. Named «i»Diva Augusta«/i» (The Divine Augusta), she received an elephant-drawn chariot to convey her image to all public games. A statue of her was set up in the temple of Augustus along with her husband's, races were held in her honour, and women were to invoke her name in their sacred oaths.
Her «u»Villa ad Gallinas Albas «/u» north of Rome is currently being excavated; its famous frescoes of imaginary garden views may be seen at «u»National Museum of Rome «/u». One of the most famous statues of Augustus - the «u»Augustus of Prima Porta «/u» came from the grounds of the villa.
«b»Livia's personality
«/b»While reporting various unsavoury hearsay, the ancient sources generally portray Livia (Julia Augusta) as a woman of proud and queenly attributes, faithful to her imperial husband, for whom she was a worthy consort, forever poised and dignified. With consummate skill she acted out the roles of consort, mother, widow and dowager. Dio records two of her utterances: "Once, when some naked men met her and were to be put to death in consequence, she saved their lives by saying that to a chaste woman such men are in no way different from statues. When someone asked her how she had obtained such a commanding influence over Augustus, she answered that it was by being scrupulously chaste herself, doing gladly whatever pleased him, not meddling with any of his affairs, and, in particular, by pretending neither to hear or nor to notice the favourites of his passion."
With time, however, and widowhood, a haughtiness and an overt craving for power and the outward trappings of status came increasingly to the fore. Livia had always been a principal beneficiary of the climate of adulation that Augustus had done so much to create, and which Tiberius despised ("a strong contempt for honours", Tacitus, Annals 4.37). In 24, typically, whenever she attended the theatre, a seat among the Vestals was reserved for her (Annals 4.16), and this may have been intended more as an honour for the Vestals than for her (cf. Ovid, Tristia, 4.2.13f, Epist.Ex Ponto 4.13.29f).
Livia played a vital role in the formation of her children Tiberius and Drusus. Attention focuses on her part in the divorce of her first husband, father of Tiberius, in 39/38 BC. It would be interesting to know her role in this, as well as in Tiberius' divorce of «u»Vipsania Agrippina «/u» in 12 BC at Augustus' insistence: whether it was merely neutral or passive, or whether she actively colluded in Caesar's wishes. The first divorce left Tiberius a fosterchild at the house of Octavian; the second left Tiberius with a lasting emotional scar, since he had been forced to abandon the woman he loved for dynastic considerations.
«b»Livia in literature and popular culture
Livia in ancient literature
«/b»In Tacitus' «i»Annals«/i», Livia is depicted as having great influence, to the extent where she "had the aged Augustus firmly under control \emdash so much so that he exiled his only surviving grandson to the island of Planasia".
Livia's image appears in ancient visual media such as coins and portraits. She was the first woman to appear on provincial coins in 16 BC and her portrait images can be chronologically identified partially from the progression of her hair designs, which represented more than keeping up with the fashions of the time as her depiction with such contemporary details translated into a political statement of representing the ideal Roman woman. Livia's image evolves with different styles of portraiture that trace her effect on imperial propaganda that helped bridge the gap between her role as wife to the emperor Augustus, to mother of the emperor Tiberius. Becoming more than the "beautiful woman" she is described as in ancient texts, Livia serves as a public image for the idealization of Roman feminine qualities, a motherly figure, and eventually a goddesslike representation that alludes to her virtue. Livia's power in symbolizing the renewal of the Republic with the female virtues «i»Pietas«/i» and «i»Concordia«/i» in public displays had a dramatic effect on the visual representation of future imperial women as ideal, honorable mothers and wives of Rome.
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| Person ID |
I61258 |
Glenn Cook Family |
| Last Modified |
19 Jun 2013 |
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| Photos |
 | Livia
Livia Drusilla, after 14 AD called Julia Augusta |
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