From exile to the house of Augustus
Livia was born in 59 BCE, the daughter of Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus and Alfidia. During the civil wars that followed Julius Caesar’s assassination, her father took the losing Republican side and died at Philippi; as a child Livia fled Italy with her first husband, Tiberius Claudius Nero, and their young son, the future emperor Tiberius. After the family returned from exile, the nineteen-year-old Octavian — captivated, ancient writers say, on sight — persuaded her to divorce her husband in 38 BCE while she was pregnant with her second son, Drusus, and married her within days of the child’s birth.
A public model and private power
For more than five decades beside Augustus, Livia combined the public image of a traditional Roman matrona with wealth, property, patronage, and privileged access to the ruler. Ancient authors describe her as an influential adviser. The extent to which she directly shaped policy is difficult to measure, but her exceptional position is clear from the honours she received.
Succession, suspicion, and Julia Augusta
Livia promoted the careers of Tiberius and Drusus. Tacitus and Cassius Dio connect her to the deaths of rival heirs and even to Augustus’s death, but these hostile allegations are not demonstrated facts — see how Tiberius became emperor for the full, sourced account of what is documented and what is rumor. Augustus adopted her into the Julian family in his will as Julia Augusta. Relations with Tiberius later deteriorated; he declined some proposed honours and did not attend her funeral.
A dynasty after death
Livia died in 29 CE. Claudius deified her in 42 CE as Diva Augusta. Through Drusus she was grandmother of Claudius, great-grandmother of Caligula, and an ancestor of Nero; through Tiberius she was mother of Rome’s second emperor.
Historical sources
Tacitus, Annals 1.3–5; 5.1–2
A critical account of Livia’s influence, succession rumours, and death.
Cassius Dio, Roman History 48.44; 56.30; 58.2
Her marriage to Octavian, the death of Augustus, and posthumous honours.
Suetonius, Tiberius 50–51; Claudius 11
Tensions with Tiberius and deification under Claudius.
Portrait: Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikimedia Commons. Public domain. Resized for display.