DOMVS IVLIO–CLAVDIATHE IMPERIAL FAMILY ARCHIVE
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Sister of Germanicus and Claudius

Livilla

Livilla

Dynastic role
Sister of Germanicus and Claudius
Life
c. 13 BCE – 31 CE
Archive group
Daughters and sisters

Livia Julia, generally known as Livilla, was the younger sister of Germanicus and the future emperor Claudius. Her marriage to Drusus the Younger joined the two principal Claudian branches of the imperial household.

Sister, wife, and dynastic mother

Livilla was a daughter of Drusus the Elder and Antonia Minor, making her the younger sister of Germanicus and Claudius. She married Drusus the Younger, the son of Tiberius. Their children included a daughter, Julia Livia, and the twin sons Tiberius Gemellus and Germanicus Gemellus.

Sejanus and the hostile tradition

Ancient narratives connect Livilla to the praetorian prefect Sejanus and accuse them of involvement in her husband’s death. These allegations are central to Tacitus and Cassius Dio, but the surviving accounts were written later and their dramatic details cannot all be independently verified.

Historical sources

Tacitus, Annals 2.43; 2.84; 4.3; 4.40; 4.60
Livilla’s family, the birth of her twins, and the allegations concerning Sejanus.

Cassius Dio, Roman History 57.22; 58.11
A later account of Livilla, Sejanus, and her death.

About the sources and further reading