Livia Drusilla, also known as Julia Augusta, was the first Empress of Rome. Like
her husband, the Emperor Augustus, she set the standard by which all subsequent
imperial consorts would be judged and she set that bar quite high. Aside from
being the wife of Emperor Augustus she was the mother of Emperor Tiberius,
grandmother of Emperor Claudius, great-grandmother of Emperor Caligula and
great-great grandmother of Emperor Nero. Livia Drusilla was born on January 30,
59 BC, the second daughter of Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus and his wife
Aufidia, a respected, upper class Roman family. In 43 BC her father married her
to Tiberius Claudius Nero, who was her patrician cousin and, incidentally, an
enemy of the faction of Julius Caesar and his nephew and adopted heir Octavian
(later Augustus). A year later she gave birth to her first child, the future
Emperor Tiberius. So deeply involved was her father in the plot against Caesar
that he killed himself at the battle of Philippi along with two of the main
assassins of Caesar. Her husband continued the struggle though, fighting with
Marc Antony against Octavian during his rise to power. When Octavian proved
victorious Livia Drusilla had to flee, with the rest of her family to Sicily and
later Greece.
When Livia Drusilla returned to Rome after a general
amnesty she was pregnant with her second son (Drusus the Elder) when she met
Octavian who, despite being married at the time, fell instantly in love with
this woman from a family who had long opposed his own. In 39 BC Octavian
divorced his wife Scribonia on the very same day she gave birth to his only
surviving child; Julia the Elder -who would herself grow up to have a pretty
scandalous reputation, but what a traumatic day for Scribonia! Tiberius Claudius
Nero divorced Livia who gave birth to his second son only three days before she
married Octavian with her ex-husband ‘giving he away’ at the wedding. There was
a real attraction between Octavian and his new wife but, as usual, there were
some political considerations involved in all of this as well. Tiberius Claudius
Nero knew that, despite his efforts, Octavian was the new man in charge, soon to
be monarch in charge, and Octavian also knew that he would need an alliance with
a member of the patrician class to gain more support amongst the republican
elite. Traditionally the common people had been the base of support for Julius
Caesar and the rise of his family in Rome. Certainly by the standards of pagan
Rome, and really by any standards, they had a very successful and certainly a
very enduring marriage which lasted 51 years; as long as they lived.
Not long after Marc Antony was defeated and Octavian
became Augustus Caesar, the first Emperor of Rome. He was very careful to tread
softly in introducing an imperial monarchy to the traditionally republican
Romans and his wife was instrumental in helping him in this regard. They did not
live in lavish luxury nor were they extravagant in any of their habits. Livia
Drusilla was the model Roman wife but she was also influential, the most trusted
advisor of the Emperor and someone who was not shy with her opinions but who
often interceded with her husband to get things done and obtain appointments for
those she favored. Yet, in their modest home Livia Drusilla was a devoted wife.
She made most of the clothes the Emperor wore, attended to the household and set
an example by refusing to wear lavish gowns or expensive jewelry but instead
being very charitable, very generous and urging the Emperor to show mercy to his
enemies and bring people together under the new monarchy. Her husband was so
appreciative of her that he gave her financial independence, erected a statue of
her for the public to honor and she came to have a sort of secondary court all
her own. All across the empire she came to be revered as the ideal Roman
wife.
However, the Empress was not without criticism. As with so many of
the Roman emperors there were those who tried to portray Livia Drusilla, not
just as an imperfect consort, but as a scheming, ambitious and even murderous
woman devoted to securing the power of her children, her favorites and herself.
However, the fact is that almost all of these accusations are totally baseless
with nothing more to back them up but convenient assumption. Emperor Augustus
did have his step-son Tiberius married to his own daughter and eventually
adopted as his heir but this was a long process and depended on the loss of
other candidates that his wife could have had nothing to do with. Even Roman
historians who were no great supporters of the imperial monarchy dismiss
accusations against Livia as totally unfounded. She was proud, regal, very
conscious of her position in the empire and in the public eye but she was
certainly no scheming murderess. She had her favorites and tried to advance them
as was common at the time and as the wife of Augustus Caesar she was able to
accomplish a great deal in this regard and this is probably the source of such
accusations.
Although Augustus had not been an entirely faithful husband,
Livia had been a very faithful wife and remained so until the death of her
husband in 14 AD. She saw her son Tiberius become Emperor of Rome and her late
husband deified by the senate. Augustus had left one third of his estates to his
wife, the rest to her son and his adopted heir. He extended her official
membership into the Julian dynasty and the title of Augusta. Thus honored by
both her late husband and her son she was able to live a comfortable life in her
remaining years, using the name Julia Augusta, as a very honored and revered
figure in Roman life. However, her power and prestige eventually caused a rift
between her and her son Tiberius who blocked the senate from granting her the
title of ‘Mother of the Country’. Some have asserted that when Tiberius left
Rome for his pleasure grotto on Capri it was to get away from his interfering
mother. They were still at odds when she died in 29 BC and Emperor Tiberius
blocked efforts to grant her further honors by the senate. Her full titles would
not be restored until the reign of Emperor Claudius. At that time, in 42 BC,
Julia Augusta was deified and statues of her placed alongside her husband in his
temple.
No comments:
Post a Comment