25 Livia Drusilla Interesting Facts - Wife of Emperor Augustus

(Last Updated On: October 6, 2021)

Livia Drusilla interesting facts will give un an overall idea about this Roman empress. Livia Drusilla, born on 30 January 59/58 BC and died on 28 September AD 29, was the wife of Emperor Augustus and the Roman Empress from 27 BC to 14 AD. After her formal adoption into the Julian family in AD 14, she was known as Julia Augusta.

Tiberius became emperor when Augustus died in 14 AD. As the emperor’s mother, Livia continued to wield political power. She died in the year 29 AD, Livia Drusilla interesting facts . She was Caligula’s great-grandmother, Claudius’ grandmother, and Emperor Nero’s great-great-grandmother. Claudius, who accepted Livia’s title of Augusta, deified her in 42 AD, interesting facts about Livia Drusilla.

Livia Drusilla interesting facts

1. Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus’ daughter Livia Drusilla was born on January 30, 59 BC, to his wife Alfidia.

2. Senator Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus and his wife Alfidia had a daughter named Livia.

3. Tiberius Claudius Nero was her husband, and they had two kids, Tiberius and Drusus, circa 43 BC.

4. Augustus died on August 19, 14 AD, and the Senate soon after deified him. He gave one-third of his estate to Livia and the other two-thirds to Tiberius in his testament.

5. She divorced Tiberius Claudius Nero in 38 BC and married Octavian, a political powerhouse.

6. In 27 BC, the Senate bestowed the title Augustus to Octavian, essentially crowning him Emperor. Livia was then crowned Empress of Rome.

7. Livia served as an influential confidante of Augustus as a Roman empress, and she was thought to be responsible for the murders of several of Augustus’ relatives, including his grandson Agrippa Postumus. Tiberius, Augustus’ son, was finally adopted as his successor.

8. Augusta (Cilicia) is the city named for her.

9. The most famous legend was that Livia, unable to poison Augustus’ meals in the kitchens because he insisted on only eating figs plucked fresh from his garden, put poison on each fruit while it was still on the tree to prevent him from eating it.

10. Tiberius grew jealous of his mother’s political position, particularly the notion that she had bestowed the crown on him. Tiberius denied the Senate’s extraordinary title of Mater Patriae (“Mother of the Fatherland”), which the Senate wanted to bestow on Livia at the start of his reign.

11. Tiberius’ retirement to Capri is attributed to his inability to bear his mother any longer, according to ancient historians.

12. Her Villa ad Gallinas Albas, north of Rome, is now being excavated; the National Museum of Rome has its famous paintings depicting imagined garden vistas.

13. All of her honors were restored and her deification was ultimately completed 13 years later, in AD 42, under the reign of her grandson Claudius. Diva Augusta (The Divine Augusta) was her moniker, and she was represented at all public games by an elephant-drawn chariot.

14. “Once, when three nude men met her and were about to be put to death as a result, she saved their lives by stating that such men are in no way different from statues to a chaste lady,” Dio writes.

15. While ancient sources describe certain unpleasant rumors, they usually picture Livia as a lady of haughty and queenly characteristics, loyal to her emperor husband for whom she was a suitable companion, and always poised and dignified.

16. Women were to call her name in their sacred vows, and a monument of her was erected in the Temple of Augustus alongside her husband’s. Races were conducted in her honor, and women were to invoke her name in their sacred oaths. Augustus’ and her tombs were later plundered at an unknown period.

17. Livia was instrumental in the development of her sons Tiberius and Drusus.

18. Although all ancient sources agree that Livia was Augustus’ closest confidante and counselor, the degree of her power and plotting has remained a point of contention due to many attempts by her political adversaries to discredit her dynasty.

19. When asked how she had gained such a dominating influence over Augustus, she replied that she had done so by being strictly chaste herself, doing joyfully whatever pleased him, not interfering in any of his affairs, and, in particular, by pretending not to hear or see his passion’s favorites.”

20. Augustus would jot down lists of topics to discuss with Livia, according to Suetonius, who had access to imperial documents and then take detailed notes of her responses to be examined afterwards.

21. Meanwhile, in Tacitus’ Annals, Livia is famed for wielding such power that she “had the old Augustus firmly under control—so much so that he banished his only surviving grandson to the island of Planasia.”

22. Tacitus goes on to describe her as “a true calamity to the nation as a mother, and to the Caesars’ home as a stepmother,” as well as “a submissive wife, but an overbearing mother.”

23. She was the first woman to appear on provincial coins in 16 BC, and her portrait images can be chronologically identified partially by the progression of her hair designs, which represented more than just keeping up with the fashions of the time as her depiction with such contemporary details translated into a political

24. Livia serves as a public image for the idealization of Roman feminine traits, a motherly role, and finally a goddesslike depiction that refers to her virtue, becoming more than the “beautiful woman” she is described as in ancient writings.

25. Livia’s ability to use the feminine virtues Pietas and Concordia to symbolize the Republic’s rebirth in public displays had a major impact on the visual depiction of future imperial women as ideal, honorable mothers and wives of Rome.

25 Livia Drusilla Interesting Facts – Wife of Emperor Augustus

Livia Drusilla interesting facts

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