Livia Drusilla

Portrait of Livia (cast of an original) in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek

Livia Drusilla (born January 30, 58 BC ; † 29  AD in Rome ), usually just called Livia for short , was the long-time third wife of the Roman emperor Augustus . After his death she was called Julia Augusta and was the first Roman woman to bear the imperial title Augusta . Elevated to the goddess of her grandson, Emperor Claudius , after her death, she was called Diva Augusta from 42 AD .

In 38 BC In BC Livia Drusilla married the triumvir Gaius Caesar, the later Augustus, who was the second most powerful man in Rome after Mark Antony at that time, under circumstances that many Romans found scandalous . This moved it to the center of the military and political conflicts of that time. The rise of the young Caesar Oktavian from triumvir to princeps and thus the most powerful man in the Roman Empire was also her own. The fact that the marriage lasted 52 years until Augustus 'death was unusual for the time, especially since Livia was unable to fulfill Augustus' wish for a child because of a premature birth associated with serious complications. Therefore, even if the marriage may have been determined by political motives, mutual affection and respect were crucial to its survival. Despite or because of the stormy beginning of their relationship, Livia was concerned about her good reputation as a wife and exemplary mother. As part of the Augustan propaganda of the restored republic, it worked since 27 BC. BC as a living incarnation of social and moral renewal. Augustus recognized this role with honors, especially 9 BC. BC, and admitted her political influence, because he used to discuss important questions of politics with her and to seek her advice. Four emperors descend from Livia: she was the mother of Tiberius , the grandmother of Claudius , the great-grandmother Caligula and the great-great-grandmother Nero .

Life

Origin and family

On the third day before the calendar , the beginning of the month, February 58 BC. Livia was born in Rome as the daughter of Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus and Alfidia. In Livia's birth year, January was still 28 days, so she was born on January 27th. In 45 BC Caesar reformed the Roman calendar and added three days to January. But Livia did not re-date her birthday, but stayed with the phrase “the third day before the calendar”. This now fell in the new calendar on January 30th, which became her official date of birth.

Livia's father, Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus, was a native of Claudian and came from the old patrician nobility. Presumably as an adolescent he was adopted into the Livian family by Marcus Livius Drusus the Younger , whose marriage had remained childless . These were not patricians, but senators of plebeian origin. But like the Claudians, they belonged to the politically active noble families of the republic who had provided numerous office holders for centuries. Livia's grandfather was the tribune of the people in 91 BC. The aim was to obtain Roman citizenship for the Italian allies of Rome. After the adoption, Livia's father took the name of his adoptive father Marcus Livius Drusus and added the nickname Claudianus, which indicated his patrician origin. As was common practice, his daughter, who was born after the adoption, was given the surname of the new sex as a name: Livia , with the nickname in the affectionate pet form Drusilla . Livia's mother, Alfidia, was a member of the rural municipal aristocracy. Claudianus should probably have it in March 59 BC at the latest. Not least because of their wealth got married.

After Caesar's death in 44 BC Claudianus joined the party of the Caesar assassins, joined in 43 BC. Open to Decimus Brutus and wanted to give him command of two legions . Because of this partisanship and in order to collect his large fortune, the triumvirs Octavian , Marcus Antonius and Lepidus set at the end of October 43 BC. Chr. Claudianus on the notorious proscription lists . With them, they declared their political opponents as enemies of the state for outlawed and confiscated their property in favor of their own war chests to the Civil War to successfully finish against the murderers. Claudianus only had to flee to the eastern provinces, where he joined the army of the Caesar murderers under the command of Marcus Brutus and Gaius Cassius .

Wedding with Tiberius Claudius Nero 43 BC Chr.

Under these difficult circumstances, he married his only child, Livia, to Tiberius Claudius Nero , a distant relative. In this way he was able to transfer at least part of his property to his daughter in the form of a dowry. Livia was just 15 years old, while Claudius Nero must have been at least 26 years older than his wife because of the age groups linked to the official career. Before Livia could give birth to her first child, her father committed suicide: two months before she was born, it was in September 42 BC. Came to the double battle of Philippi , in which the armies of the Caesar murderers were defeated by the triumvirs Mark Antony and Octavian. In desperation over defeat and with no hope of a future, Claudianus threw himself into his sword in his tent. On November 16, 42 BC BC Livia gave birth to her first son on the Palatine Hill , the preferred residential area of ​​the republican aristocracy in Rome. He was given the same name as his father, Tiberius Claudius Nero.

Divorce from Tiberius Claudius Nero and marriage to Octavian (39 BC)

Livia's husband, like his father, had initially joined the Caesar murderers, but then made an about-face and proved useful to the triumvirs. So he avoided being put on the proscription list, and in 42 B.C. BC even made the leap into a praetorist office . In this function he relied entirely on Marcus Antonius, the most powerful man in the triumvirate, and supported its goals in the Peruvian civil war . After the defeat of Antony's supporters, Claudius Nero fled with Livia and their two-year-old son Tiberius from the victorious Octavian in 40 BC. To Sextus Pompeius in Sicily, then to Greece to Marcus Antonius. In Sparta the family finally found a safe haven and for some time found a safe refuge, because the Spartans belonged to the clientele of the Claudians and were obliged to help the family of Claudius Nero. In the second half of 39 BC After the triumvirs had reconciled themselves and made peace with Sextus Pompey in the Treaty of Misenum , Livia was able to return to Rome with her husband and son . There is some evidence that Livia and Octavian died on September 23, 39 BC. Chr. Met in whose house for the first time. The Triumvir celebrated its 24th birthday this year with great effort, because it associated it with the bearded shear festival. On this occasion he organized a public banquet. When he met Livia at this festival, he fell in love with her. Shortly before, after barely a year of marriage, he had his second wife Scribonia sent the letter of divorce. It was scandalous that he arrived at her place exactly on the day that their first child, Julia , was born. In his "Memoirs" Augustus later justified himself by stating that he had decided to divorce "thoroughly disgusted by her depraved character."

In October 39 BC BC Octavian asked Claudius Nero to divorce Livia, although Livia was six months pregnant with a second son, Drusus . That ruled out a marriage to another man according to the current rules. But Octavian got a special permission from the college of pontifices . Claudius Nero did not hesitate to obey, and on the occasion of the wedding even took on the role of the bride's father when he led the almost 20-year-old Livia to the young groom. The date of the wedding is clear from literary tradition. In contrast, inscriptions place this event on January 17, 38 BC. Three days after the birth of Drusus, which Suetonius in the biography of Emperor Claudius dates to January 14th. This is an official date that Emperor Claudius had decided on the feast day, because the birthday of his grandfather (Marcus) Antonius also falls on the same day . According to the imperial calendar ( Fasti Praenestini) that was January 14th. It has nothing to do with the actual date of the marriage and the birth of Drusus. In reality, Drusus must have been born in the third month after the wedding . So only the literary tradition is historically credible. According to this, the wedding must have taken place three months earlier than officially stated in the festival calendar, i.e. mid to late October 39 BC. Later, the official wedding date was January 17th, 38 BC. Set.

Octavian is said to have coveted Livia, according to Tacitus , “out of lust for her beauty”. Suetonius emphasizes a nuance more matter-of-factly that although Octavian “took Livia away from her husband Tiberius Nero when she was already pregnant”, “she loved and valued her in a unique way and with unique loyalty.” A passionate love affair indeed likes that have been a decisive driving force. But this motive alone does not explain why Octavian wanted to marry Livia so hastily. A political calculation must have been added: in this divorce and remarriage, the change of front of the former Antonius supporter Claudius Nero to Octavian played an important role. The marriage enormously strengthened Octavian's base in the ancient aristocracy. There can be no question of “bride robbery”, as Tacitus suggests, since Augustus Claudius had asked Nero to cede Livia to him. The fact that her first husband was present at the wedding and played an important role in the ceremony underscores that he had complied with the request to commit himself to the strong man in Rome. His earlier engagement against Octavian in the Peruvian War made him docile now. It had become clear to him that high government offices could not be obtained without the approval of the triumvirs. It is certainly no coincidence that Livia's great cousin Appius Claudius Pulcher was born in 38 BC. Became consul. On the other hand, Octavian was very interested in the wedding; for he wanted to reconcile himself with the old republican aristocracy after he had fulfilled his duty of revenge for his murdered adoptive father Caesar. The new allies attached great importance to the public demonstration that everything was right. In order to relieve himself and Livia, Octavian had Drusus, who was born in his house, handed over to his biological father, who immediately recognized him as his son. When Claudius Nero died some time later, Octavian became the guardian of his two sons on the basis of his will and took them into his house.

Obviously in the propaganda struggle of 33 and 32 BC. Chr. Antonius spread that Drusus was a son from an adulterous relationship with his stepfather (= Caesar Octavian). Suetonius emphasizes that this was just a rumor. He adds that the only thing that is certain is that the mocking verse immediately made the rounds: Those who are lucky enough to have a three-month-old even have them. He quotes it in Greek so that it can only have been put into circulation in the Greek-speaking area of ​​the east, over which the triumvir Antony ruled. As a historically certain fact, Suetonius only reports that Livia gave birth to Drusus in the third month after her marriage to Augustus - at this point she was already pregnant . In doing so, he takes the rumor ad absurdum.

The wife of a triumvir (38-27 BC)

Livia at a young age, around 31 BC BC ( Louvre , Paris)

Livia and Octavian in transition from republic to monarchy: From the second triumvirate to the duovirate (43–36 BC)

The triumvirate was an epoch of transition from the aristocratic republic to the monarchy. On November 27, 43 BC The triumvirate "for the reorganization of the state" received a legal basis through the Lex Titia . The law gave the triumvirs to effectively combat the state of emergency for five years (42 to the end of 38 BC) dictatorial powers, which were only limited by the principle of collegiality, i.e. the compulsion to make all decisions unanimously. The triumvirate is defined as a "triple dictatorship " because the people with the Lex Titia had placed all power over the res publica and the Roman empire in the hands of the triumvirs and thus disempowered themselves.

Because of this concentration of power of their men, the women of the triumvirs moved much more into the public eye than was previously the case for the women members of the republican noble houses. As the wife of the second most powerful triumvir after Marcus Antonius, Livia achieved a special political and social position.

In the Treaty of Taranto 37 BC The triumvirate became another five years from the beginning of 37 to the end of 33 BC. And at least Octavian had the people in Rome legalize this second term. On September 3, 36 Octavian won a complete victory over Sextus Pompey at Naulochus and conquered Sicily. When his colleague Lepidus challenged him for the island, Octavian achieved through skillful agitation that his troops overflowed to him. Lepidus was stripped of his triumviral power by popular vote. His share of triumviral violence was transferred to the two remaining triumvirs. The empire was now divided into two halves: Antony ruled in the east, the west was entirely in the power of Octavian. Livia's husband had caught up with Mark Antony in power and influence. Honors granted to him by the Senate and the people of Rome served to exaggerate this personal position: He was given the sacrosanctitas of a tribune and the right to sit on the tribune bench. Both rights make him appear particularly responsible for the welfare of the broad mass of the population. They already point to the authority of the tribunes, which have existed since 23 BC. BC should form a central legal basis for Augustus' power in the state.

The special position of Livias and Octavias , Octavian's sister and wife of the triumvir Mark Antony, was expanded to the same extent : at the instigation or with the tolerance of Octavian, they were given 35 BC. The following special rights are granted:

• By resolution of the concilium plebis (= plebiscitum ) the same sacrosanctitas , ie “holiness” as possessed by the tribunes of the people, only detached from their office. As in the case of Octavian, the Roman plebs who protected the tribunes should see an attack on Livia or Octavia as an attack on themselves.

Detached from the office of tribune, the “holiness” of Octavian and now Livias and Octavias in this new form should symbolize the inviolability and religious consecration of the monarch and his house; because for the first time the dictator Caesar 44 BC. This special right was granted. Both women were freed from guardianship and were given complete freedom to manage their own affairs independently and on their own responsibility. This privilege was a great honor, as it raised Livia and Octavia far above the status of the usual matrona , that is, married woman. They were attested to have a male awareness of responsibility. In addition, they were legally equal to the highly respected Vestals . These enjoyed the privilege because they rendered an invaluable service to the Roman state community.

• Statues of them should be placed in public places. According to Roman tradition, women had not been honored in this way in public spaces until then; because the honor had to be decided by the Senate and the people of Rome, which they mostly gave to higher magistrates for services to the state.

What is particularly significant about these privileges is that Octavian even included the wives of his family in honors that actually belonged to him alone as the victorious general over Sextus Pompey and Lepidus. In doing so, he was already making dynastic claims that were rooted in the Hellenistic kingship, but represented something completely new for Rome. Here, in fact, a development was heralded in which the ruling family soon alone represented the entire people and finally took their place .

33 BC Her first husband Tiberius Claudius Nero died. Their son, the nine-year-old Tiberius , organized funeral games - gladiator fights - for which Livia bore the costs, although Tiberius was officially the organizer of the games. Tiberius and Drusus left their father's house and moved to the household of their mother and stepfather Octavian, because Nero had appointed Octavian in his will as the guardian of his sons. Livia's contribution to the funeral ceremony once again illustrates the special role that she played during the triumvirate. On the one hand, it shows that she wanted to promote the careers of her sons under all circumstances, and on the other hand, it illustrates the family loyalty and integrity of the house, which Octavian's propaganda highlighted as a counter-image to Antonius' disloyalty to Octavia and the children they conceived. For the first time it becomes clear how strongly Livia's role was centered on domus , how it then became formative in principle .

The "Emperor's wife" of Princeps Augustus (30 BC to 14 AD)

Livia and the transition from duovirate to principate (36 BC to 27 BC)

The two women of the triumvirs Octavian and Antonius, Livia and Octavia , had stood since Lepidus' disempowerment in 36 BC. In the public eye. Your 35 v. A special position of equal rank soon gave way to an absolute primacy of Livia and the Julio-Claudian house over the women of all other republican aristocratic houses. This turning point came when Octavian succeeded in defeating Antony and the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra VII on August 1, 30 BC. To end the last civil war and become the undisputed ruler of the Roman Empire.

As early as 36 BC BC Antony had effectively separated from Octavia in favor of his new lover, the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra , and thus anticipated the break between the two triumvirs. Octavia refused the divorce, as her brother asked her, forcing him to formally continue the triumvirate. The honors from 35 BC But accepted it. End of 33 BC The triumvirate came to an end, but both triumvirs retained the triumviral power - now replaced by office - by each accusing the other of being responsible for the ongoing acute emergency. In 32 BC BC Antony divorced Octavia in all forms. He sent agents to Rome who brought her the usual formula for divorce - " You may take your things with you ". This snub against his Roman wife, when Octavian also published the scandalous content of the will of Antony with its clauses in favor of Cleopatra and their children, led to a sudden change of mood of public opinion in Rome (consensus universorum) and abandoned the strategy of 35 v. To be a complete success. The Roman plebs now evaluated the attack on the "sacrosanct" Octavia as an attack on themselves and decided by law to deprive Antony of the triumviral power, while Octavian was charged with the war against Cleopatra. So he was since the middle of 32 BC. Sole owner of triumviral power. From now on it was a pure dictatorship , since automatically the proportion of the triumvirs who had left the group increased to what was left.

On August 1, 30 BC BC Octavian ended the civil wars with the victory over Antony and Cleopatra and thus fulfilled the most important commission of the Lex Titia from 43 BC. In the years 29 and 28 BC He gradually restored the order of the state, and then on January 13, 27 BC. BC to release the restored res publica from its triumviral one-man potestas into the sovereignty of the Senate and people of Rome. At the urging of the senators and the people of Rome to continue to lead the state in the interests of internal peace, he agreed, after a reasonable period of hesitation, to take responsibility for the endangered and not yet fully pacified provinces of the Roman Empire For this purpose, he had a temporary empire proconsulare of the Senate and the people of Rome that was extended again and again until the end of his life . It was 23 BC. After Octavian resigned from the consulate. The time limit for this so-called Imperium proconsulare maius and the need to have it legally extended by the Senate and the people remained unaffected. The republican character of the new order came into play here. It also manifested itself in the consulate that Octavian had from 31 BC. Until 23 BC Year after year clad at the side of a colleague. In the last sentence of chapter 34 of his report of deeds , Augustus summarizes his view of the essence of the principate: “Since that time (27 BC) I surpassed all others in terms of social prestige ( Auctoritas ) , but I had authority (Potestas) no more than the others whom I also had colleagues in my office. ”The constitutional reality of a monarchy had existed since 27 BC. In the fact that Augustus was the "princeps par excellence" who, because of his services to the state, surpassed all other citizens in personal status, social prestige and charismatic aura. This power is symbolized by the nickname Augustus , which was given to him on January 16, 27 BC. Was awarded. According to Cassius Dio, it means that its wearer rises above the human and is close to the divine. In contrast to this, Augustus sees his magistrate authority. With the exception of the consulate, Augustus held no other republican offices and year after year a new colleague was elected by the People's Assembly ( Comitia Centuriata ) who could have vetoed his decisions. Nevertheless, Augustus does not mention that he had official powers such as the Imperium proconsulare and since 23 BC. The lifelong tribunicia potestas accumulated, which were detached from office and thus incompatible with the republican system. And yet in the transfer and extension of these official powers by law from the Senate and the people of Rome, a piece of the sovereignty of the bearers of the old Res publica (= Senatus populusque Romanus, SPQR ) becomes visible. So one could use the principate of Augustus since 27 BC. Define BC as a de facto monarchy in the legal forms of the republic.

Augustus acted in this tense relationship between the monarchy and the renewed republic and he wanted Livia to do the same. She did him a favor and fulfilled her new role in an exemplary manner. In doing so, it made an important contribution to stabilizing the new system of rule.

Livia's image on coins

Idealized portrait of Livia as Lady Justice on a Dupondius coin, approx. 22–23 AD.

In this context, the finding that there are no coins with the portrait of Livia before the reign of Tiberius becomes more important. From this it can be concluded that Augustus did not want to present his wife publicly like Antonius Cleopatra, but instead committed her to an extra-public role after the victory over Egypt, which corresponded to the ideal of the matron , i.e. the honorable Roman wife of the republic.

The situation is different in the east of the Roman Empire. In Egypt, Livia is depicted on coins during Augustus' lifetime. Since the Nile land since August 1st, 30 BC Due to its special status as a Roman province under the personal jurisdiction of the Princeps, Augustus undoubtedly personally authorized coins with the image of Livia. She takes on the usual function of a queen or pharaoh in general in the east and in Egypt in particular. From around 19 BC BC Livia appears regularly on bronze coins minted for Egypt with the legend Liouia Sebastou . This corresponds to the Greek variant of the Latin formula Livia Augusti and means "Livia, wife of Augustus". Livia is portrayed on these coins in the iconography of a Ptolemaic queen and various goddesses such as B. adapted to the fertility goddess Ceres. In the cities of Asia Minor, too, Livia is often depicted on coins in Hellenistic double portraits with Augustus together as a royal couple and was already dubbed Augusta during his lifetime . An approximation to female deities, e.g. B. at Vesta or Demeter, is also common here. On a coinage from Thessalonica in the province of Macedonia Livia is expressly referred to as the "goddess Livia".

Livia's fate and role in the period after 30 BC Was directly connected with the problem of succession in the Augustan house. This again reveals the monarchical structure of the principate. We owe Suetonius the news that Augustus dearly wanted children from Livia, but did not have any from her. She only gave birth to one thing, but it came too early and was not viable. Perhaps the fact that Livia did not give birth to a successor to Augustus is one reason why she did not appear on coins of the West until Augustus' reign ended. But where it corresponded to the usual forms of communication such as in Alexandria and the Poleis of the East, Augustus had his wife depicted on coins in the position of a divinely revered Hellenistic queen.

Statues and portraits: the external representation of Livia as emperor's wife and mother

Statue of Livias with attributes of Ceres (Louvre, Paris)

An unusually large number of statues with the portrait of Livia have been found. The abundance already documents their outstanding importance for the ruling family. They also served to show the world how Augustus Livia wanted to see the highest female representative of this family in the picture, in order to optimally propagate the dynastic claim of his house. Portraits that were created during Augustus' lifetime show Livia with a pigtail hairstyle, the so-called nodus. It can be recognized particularly well in the portrait of Livia, the "Albani Bonn type" made of black basalt (27 BC - 14 AD), Louvre Paris, shown here first . The first known portrait type of Livia with such a hairstyle, the "Marbury Hall type", was probably around 15 BC. BC when Livia was in her mid 40s. The second official portrait of the "Fayum type" of the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek , Copenhagen (4–14 AD) is, in contrast to this, designed ageless. Just as the new state order of Augustus is supposed to last forever, the pictures of the ruling family were made ageless and Livia's portrait was adapted to that of her husband. While the physiognomy suggests the dynastic ambitions of the ruling couple and thus the monarchical structure of the principate , the hairstyle and costumes of the Livia portrait, on the other hand, point to the venerable tradition of the republic. Both elements are supposed to characterize the matron, the strict aristocratic wife of the old aristocratic republic, and are due to the ideology of the restored republic . The maternal trait is part of the image of the Roman matron, since it was her chief task to bear legitimate children to her husband. This aspect is particularly emphasized by the monumental statue from the Louvre Museum in Paris, which Livia with her nodus hairstyle and traditional matron costume matches the life-giving goddess Ceres with a bundle of ears and cornucopia. Because of the emphatically maternal aspect of the portrait of Livia, the statue has a lot to offer to associate the statue with the adoption of Tiberius by Augustus in AD 4, when Livia began to be stylized as the imperial mother. An origin as early as 9 BC. Chr. Cannot be excluded.

Fragments of Livia's personal testimonies

Not only the portraits, but also fragments of her memorable sayings confirm that Livia fully fulfilled her role as the ideal wife. When asked in later years how she had gained such a powerful influence on Augustus, she replied that she had achieved this by embarrassing herself on being morally impeccable, gladly fulfilling all his wishes, not getting into his affairs mixed and, above all, made it seem as if she didn't hear or notice anything of his love stories . Augustus is said to have tolerated the sexual escapades, yes, as is said, even with the help of his wife. In a letter, his brother-in-law Mark Antony takes Octavian's love life before 32 BC. Chr. On the grain: What has changed you so much? That I penetrate the queen (= Cleopatra VII.)? She is my wife. Did I start now or nine years ago? And you, are you only penetrating Drusilla? Indeed, if you are reading this letter, you must have penetrated Tertulla or Terentia or Rufilla or Salvia Titisenia or all of them. Or does it make a difference where and with which you get erections? Augustus' affairs with married women, including the wife of Maecenas, were not denied by his friends either. They excused her with political ends; H. Espionage purposes. But there can be no question of this if the emperor until his last days abused virgins, some of whom even Livia is said to have personally conveyed to him. Regardless of her husband's antics, Livia wanted to be portrayed as a role model for the faithful wife and to be perceived by others. The picture drawn by her corresponds exactly to the entry in the Late Republican collection of sayings by Publilius Syrus (85): “A decent woman rules her husband through obedience” . And in the year 9 BC When Livia and Augustus were happily married for almost 30 years, the philosopher Areios from Alexandria praised his mother Livia in a consolation immediately after the death of Drusus with the words: “Your husband's always present companion, not only what is in the public penetrates, is known, but also all the more hidden impulses of your souls. ” In the praise of the exemplary wife and mother your own nature will appear, but it will have been influenced by Augustus.

Livia's privileges from 9 BC Chr.

At the beginning of this year 9 BC Augustus honored Livia with privileges that emphasized her role as a mother: as part of his marriage and moral laws, he awarded her the ius trium liberorum , a newly created award that mothers of three live-born children were entitled to. He granted the same privilege to the Vestals . This right freed Livia from the tutelage of a tutor and from penalties for childlessness. It was already 35 BC. Was released by a guardian, now the privilege has been renewed and justified with the fulfillment of the birth norm in the sense of the Augustan marriage laws. Statues were also granted to her again. It was still an extraordinary honor, only that the statues were set for her because of her merits. They consisted of having born and raised two sons who had now achieved great military successes in Germania (Drusus) and Pannonia (Tiberius). The honorary resolutions of the year 9 BC BC were not captured as a reaction to the death of Drusus, as Cassius Dio suggests, but associated with the solemn dedication of the Ara Pacis on Livia's birthday. That was at the beginning of the year. In the same year Drusus broke his lower leg when he fell from his horse on his return from his successful campaign on the Elbe. He died 30 days later towards the end of the year.

The honors for Livia and the Janus face of the Augustan principate

With the honors Augustus wanted to distinguish Livia as a blessing mother of successful general and at the same time as an exemplary emperor's wife, as mater patriae (= "mother of the fatherland") and femina princeps (= "female princeps"). The aforementioned portrait type of the monumental statue of Livia as the goddess Ceres who gives blessings reflects the renewed increase in prestige. It cannot therefore be ruled out that it was already introduced this year as part of their new statuary privilege and not until AD 4.

The privileges of the year 9 BC Chr. Illustrate the Janus head of the principate : On the one hand they move within the framework of the marriage and moral laws with which Augustus serves the ideology of the restored republic. On the other hand, the reality of the monarchy is clearly visible behind the republican facade; if Augustus had the Ara Pacis Augustae inaugurated on January 30th, he was undoubtedly pursuing a dynastic intention because January 30th was Livia's birthday. It is true that any appearance of an exaltation by Augustus which contradicts the tradition of the res publica is avoided. But the relief images and especially the large processional frieze, on which the princeps and his relatives are depicted at the founding sacrifice, still make the altar of peace the most impressive monument of the new dynasty.

At the same time as the Ara Pacis , the Augusti solarium was dedicated. It was the largest sundial and calendar of all time, a monument to the sun god Sol , erected west of the Ara Pacis. The pointer of the sundial was an obelisk, about 30 m high, which had been specially brought from Heliopolis in Egypt. He stands in front of the Italian Parliament today. The monthly lines as well as the days and hours were set in bronze in the pavement of the probably elliptical complex. The floor of the network of lines covered an area of ​​160 × 75 m, larger than that of the Augustus Forum. The Ara Pacis and the Mausoleum of Augustus were included in the line network . The line network was aligned so that the Ara Pacis was exactly on the line of the equinox, the autumn equinoxes. The shadow of the top of the obelisk fell on the evening of that day, on September 23, exactly in the entrance of the altar and referred to the birthday of Augustus, to whom the altar of peace had been consecrated. According to the monument, the gods predetermined from birth that he would end civil wars and bring peace to the world after defeating Antony and Cleopatra. The line of the winter solstice was also connected to the altar of peace from two points. The time of this solstice was the beginning of the zodiac sign of Capricorn (Capricornus) and coincided with the time of Augustus' conception. Like the Ara Pacis, the Augusti Solarium are two central components of a building system that clearly emphasizes dynastic-monarchical ideas. This impression is confirmed by the fact that both buildings were inaugurated on Livia's birthday. Edmund Buchner , whose research results on the sundial have now been questioned, sums it up as follows: “With Augustus begins - a new day and a new year are visible on the solarium and Ara Pacis: a new era of peace with all of its own Blessings, with abundance, abundance, and bliss. This system is, so to speak, the horoscope of the new ruler, huge in its dimensions and pointing to cosmic relationships. "

Livia's political and financial influence as Mater familias

Augustus did not prevent Livia from exerting political influence on his decisions. He had important conversations with her, based on notes from his notebook, so as not to say too much or too little due to the circumstances.

Livia also had the right to manage her large fortune independently without a guardian. One of their extensive holdings was a mine in Gaul, where a particular type of copper was mined. She donated a columbarium to her slaves and freedmen . H. a large grave complex with niches to hold the ash urns. The house of the dead contains over 1000 urns. At least 90 people could be identified who undoubtedly belonged to Livia's staff and were entrusted with around 50 different activities. Before 14 AD, freedmen and slaves of the imperial family spoke specifically of the domus Caesarum et Liviae . The households of Augustus and Livia also appear separately in the literary sources. This means that Livia had direct supervision of her household and had her own household organization. Your city household consisted of a servant staff of about 150 servants. Noteworthy is a construction crew in their service that cannot be traced to any other empress. Perhaps she was involved in the lucrative Roman construction business.

In addition, Livia owned a splendid country villa in Prima Porta around 12 km north of Rome called "zu den Hennen" (ad Gallinas) . The legend explains the name as follows: When Livia visited her estate immediately after her wedding to Augustus, an eagle flew past her with a white chicken that was holding a branch of laurel in its beak and left it in hers as he had stolen it Fall lap. Livia decided to raise the poultry and have the branch planted; later the hen hatched so many chicks that the villa was still called "To the Chickens" at the time of Suetons. The name refers to the poultry breeding of the empress. She raised white chickens on the estate, which were believed to have magical significance. But a laurel bush grew out of the branch so lush that when the emperors were about to celebrate a triumph , they would go there to pluck the laurel branches. In the last year of the Emperor Nero's life , lightning struck the emperor's sanctuary and tore his scepter from the hands of the statue of Augustus. On April 20, 1863, a monumental statue with “empty” hands was found in the park of this villa, adorned with an impressive and historically significant tank relief: The famous Augustus statue of Prima Porta, best preserved to this day of all the statues of the first Princeps . Her immense wealth enabled Livia to gain gratitude and loyalty through generosity - just like Augustus. At the same time, the striving for economic independence can be clearly seen. But she was careful not to show her wealth to the outside world through wastefulness or lavish lifestyle. Their restrained lifestyle was very much like that of Augustus. The wine and salad on their modest table were famous throughout the city. And the princeps wore robes that had been made in-house under the supervision of his wife. She wanted to come as close as possible to the ideal of the ancient Roman mater familias , which was in keeping with Augustus' program of renewal and the ideology of the restored republic.

Livia's construction activity

Livia had dilapidated temples repaired at her own expense. She focused on sanctuaries of deities of women's life and had the temples of Fortuna muliebris and Bona Dea restored. She rounded off her husband's efforts to restore the numerous sacred buildings in Rome, which had been neglected in the turmoil of the civil wars and left to decay. In his report of the deeds , Augustus boasts that in his sixth consulate (28 BC), with the authorization of the Senate, he repaired all of the sanctuaries, 82 in total, that had fallen into disrepair at that time. Both were convinced that only by returning to the gods could the world rule of Rome be guaranteed and the decline could be stopped by the rebuilding of the temples.

In January 7 BC Together with Tiberius, Livia consecrated a magnificent portico, which was named after her as the donor Porticus Liviae . The park that it enclosed became a popular recreation spot for townspeople. There she had a temple built for Concordia , the goddess of unity. According to Ovid's testimony, Livia built and consecrated the temple as a public testimony to her harmonious marriage to Augustus. The poet has reproduced the crucial aspect of their building propaganda. He also notes that she wanted to draw attention to the importance of the temple through elaborate furnishings. The temple was dedicated on June 11th. It was the feast of the Mater Matuta , on which their temple at the Forum boarium and the sanctuary of Fortuna Virgo were consecrated. With the choice of the consecration date, Livia connected Concordia with the two deities of marriage and the family. Two ancient temples and cults of women's life were again given attention, which also made Livia's sanctuary more important. The fact that Livia cared so much for the cult of Concordia , the goddess of family life, sprang from her commitment to marriage and family. Through her construction work, she supported her husband's legislation on marriage and the birth rate. Ovid emphasized Livia's intentions more clearly than in the case of the Temple of Concordia in his report on the renovation of the Temple of Bona Dea on the Aventine. Afterwards, Augustus's wife restored the sanctuary to emulate her husband's example. This shows that Ovid wanted this measure to be placed in the larger context of the Augustan program of moral renewal. It goes very well with this program that she had the temple of Fortuna Muliebris , the goddess for women and family life , restored; for this goddess was inextricably linked with the ideal of pudicitia , conjugal fidelity.

Livia in the role of the exemplary emperor's wife (matrona)

Livia fulfilled the role of Emperor's wife in an exemplary manner by supporting her husband's politics with advice and action, as far as he wished. She accompanied him on all journeys, for example to the Orient in 30/29 BC. BC and 16 BC To Gaul. In the private, but also publicly representative space, Livia embodied the strict Roman matrona , without developing political ambitions in Rome's public life. The ancient authors are unanimous in this judgment: Valerius Maximus particularly attests to her chastity in public (pudicitia) . The poet Ovid emphasizes their moral way of life. Seneca describes her as a woman who carefully guarded her reputation, and Velleius emphasizes that she was " the most brilliant of the Roman women in origin, modesty and form ". Even Tacitus, who paints a negative picture of her overall in his work, has to admit that her behavior was impeccable. But he criticizes her for having significantly exceeded the sphere of activity of an old Roman matron with regard to her independent household by proving to be too affable. Her role as matron corresponded to the fact that she took a lively interest in the fate of the members of the imperial family: After the tragic death of her son Drusus in 9 BC. Chr., Who hit her badly, she took his family into her home. From 6 BC From BC to AD 2 Livia feared for her firstborn son Tiberius, who had withdrawn into voluntary exile in Rhodes after a falling out with Augustus. When Augustus adopted his stepson and made him his son in AD 4, Livia must have been very relieved. Her mother role was accentuated and further enhanced by the decision of Augustus: From now on she was no longer to be regarded solely as the wife of the princeps and mother of a successful general, but also as the mother of a future princeps. Although she was very interested in Tiberius' political career, rumors that she had eliminated other possible successors such as Lucius and Gaius Caesar or Agrippa Postumus , and even caused the death of her husband Augustus in AD 14, were nonsensical and unfounded. If anything, Livia was only involved in the murder of Agrippa Postumus, 12 BC. Son of Agrippa, born later in BC, by the daughter of Augustus, Iulia, entangled.

The Princeps death in 14 AD: Livia as heir to the deceased and priestess of the deified Augustus

Marble head of the aged Livia, 1st half of the 1st century ( Roman-Germanic Museum , Cologne)

On August 19th, 14 AD, a good month before his 76th birthday, Augustus died in the arms of Livia with the words: Livia, remember our marriage in the rest of your life and greetings! She buried her husband's remains in his mausoleum on the Field of Mars. Shortly before that, the will had been opened, the last version of which was Augustus on April 3, 13 BC. Chr. Partly written by hand, partly on his dictation by two freedmen had set up and deposited with the Vestals.

In this will Augustus had made provisions for Livia: two thirds of the inheritance should go to Tiberius and one third to her. In order to give her part of his fortune by law, Augustus had the Senate resolved during his lifetime that his wife should be exempted from the Lex Voconia . This law from 169 BC BC forbade every member of the first census class to appoint a woman as an heir. Augustus had some women released from this by resolution of the Senate as part of his marriage legislation. The dispensation was necessary in each individual case in order to create the legal possibility for women of the upper class, who at the same time had the ius liberorum , to become heirs. Without the dispensation from the Senate, the ius liberorum had no legal relevance for the appointment of an heir. One of the women who were additionally privileged in this way was Livia, who was 9 BC. Had received the honorary right of the ius trium liberorum . With her share of Augustus' fortune, she rose to become the richest woman in Rome.

With great commitment she reached the Senate that Augustus was officially elevated to god on September 17th, 14 AD. She herself became the priestess of Divus Augustus. That a woman could become a priestess of a male god and make sacrifices in his honor was unique in Rome. Livia expanded her unique position through this prestige gain. In public it was reflected in the right that from then on she was entitled to a lictor who preceded her with a bundle of rods on all public occasions. So far, only the Vestals, the priestesses of Vesta, have enjoyed this honor.

The marble head shown shows the portrait of Livia after the death of Augustus with a new hairstyle in the type of the goddess Ceres , 14–42 AD. A characteristic of the Ceres type are the woolen cords hanging from the neck, the so-called vittae , which also characterize a married woman. It was the completely redesigned portrait of Livia, which not only in the hairstyle, but also in the proportions of the face, the classical Greek idol of the 5th century BC. Was approximated. The new image was intended to publicize Livia's changed role as widow and priestess of the deified husband throughout the Roman Empire. There is, of course, no official prototype of the new portrait, as Tiberius refused to institutionalize Livia's role under his principate.

Livia with the bust of Divus Augustus; Cameo made of sardonyx , irregularly layered, after AD 14, setting from the 17th century in gold and enamelled

The shortcoming compensates for gems that were privately commissioned. Livia has immortalized a carved stone clamp with a raised depiction from AD 14-29, now the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien , as the priestess of Divus Augustus: The picture of the gem shows her with attributes of the goddess Ceres (bundles of ears and poppies) and the great oriental mother goddess Cybele (wall crown), the magna mater of the Romans. On her right hand she holds the portrait head of the deified husband. Livia is identified here with two important mother goddesses.

The “Emperor's Mother”: Livia as Iulia Augusta in the reign of her son Tiberius (14 to 29 AD)

Livia was adopted into the Julian family on the 3rd or 4th September 14 AD on the basis of Augustus' will and received the Augusta title. Her official name was from then on Iulia Augusta . She was the first woman to use the feminine form of the honorary name Augustus. After the adoption, the special political and social position that Livia had already had as "imperial wife" was additionally upgraded by being named "imperial mother" of the new Princeps Tiberius. This was entirely in keeping with Augustus' dynastic intention. But this special status was never institutionalized and given political influence.

Empress Livia and Emperor Tiberius

On the other hand, she had already received divine veneration during Augustus' lifetime in the east of the Roman Empire, which after his death and her elevation to Augusta began to spread more and more in the west. So she was worshiped in Antequaria (Anticaria) in the southern Spanish province of Baetica as genetrix orbis (= the bearer of the earth ). Livia did everything to strengthen the reputation of the deified Augustus through honors. In this context, the Greek historian Cassius Dio speaks of her as an autocratrix (“autocrat”) by converting the Latin imperial title imperator into the female sex and translating it into Greek. Pontius Pilatus , the prefect of Iudaea, during whose term of office Jesus was known to be crucified, had coins minted in Livia's death year, on the obverse of which the legend Tiberius Caesar could be read and on the reverse analogously for Livia: Iolia Kaisaros , "Iulia (des) Caesar". The formulation shows that Empress Livia was rated as equal to Emperor Tiberius . Indeed, Livia's activities increasingly moved from the private sphere into the public sphere. She reached the height of her power in AD 22. As priestess of Augustus, according to the festival calendar from Praeneste, she consecrated a statue to Divus Augustus on March 23 of that year at the Marcellus Theater: “Julia left a statue for the deified Augustus, the father Augusta and Ti (berius) Caesar set up at the theater of Marc [ellus]. ”The entry in the calendar proves that this was no longer a private consecration. And it contained a grave affront to Tiberius. Livia took advantage of his absence from Rome and put her own name before that of her son, the reigning Princeps. No wonder Tiberius was very upset; for the hierarchy of the imperial house would have corresponded to the order that was correctly followed a year later by the cities of the province of Asia . Through their provincial assembly they applied for a temple for Tiberius, his mother (Livia) and the deity of the Roman Senate. Tiberius agreed to his divine worship first and that of his mother second for this province.

In 25 AD, the provincial parliament of the Spanish province of Hispania ulterior applied to the Senate to build a temple for Tiberius and his mother based on the model of the province of Asia. When this was being discussed in the Senate, Tiberius rejected the Spanish proposal with a keynote address. The emperor justified this with the fact that his consent to the construction of a temple for him in the province of Asia based on the example of Augustus was only an exception. He assumes that the one-time acceptance of such honors has found understanding, "but to be venerated in statues of the gods in all provinces is ambitious and arrogant." No senator has escaped the criticism, Tiberius, without her name To expressly mention, practiced on his mother: In her “ambition” she promoted the tendency to be worshiped as a goddess throughout the Roman Empire. The impression arises that Tiberius refused numerous other requests to establish a cult for him because they also included Livia. In any case, in his answer to the city of Gytheion / Achaia, which wanted to provide him and Livia with images of gods and altars, he refused this for himself and at the same time sarcastically remarked that Livia would decide and express herself. When it was suggested that the month of September should be renamed after him in Tiberius and the month of October after Livia in Livius , Tiberius refused again, in order not to have to accept an equal status with his mother. His argument, which he was always talking about, was that "the honors for women must be limited". This corresponded to his way of thinking, since he also rejected excessive honors for himself. The majority of researchers interpret the sources to mean that the domineering Livia represented an unbearable burden for the reign of Tiberius. But the authors mentioned overlook the great advantage that Tiberius received from Livia's reputation and her skillful interaction with old and new friends of the imperial clientele, especially in the first ten years of his reign, when his principate was not yet established and had to survive the change in leadership. Since the patron's protection and help could only be activated at the client's request, the patron had to be accessible for this mutual support system to work. Augustus had given his adoptive son, whose shy and dismissive nature was well known to him, the popular Livia for good reason. Only through them could the important system of internal relations between people, political parties and the imperial house continue to be maintained and thus the still unstable principle of Tiberius could be consolidated.

Tiberius tried to limit his mother's power in two stages. At first he took her "every influence on public affairs, but left her to run the domestic affairs," as Cassius Dio reports. The second stage of Livia's disempowerment began at least since AD ​​26, when Tiberius withdrew permanently to Capri and entrusted the Praetorian prefect Seian with the administration of the Roman Empire: As Tiberius withdrew from his mother's influence, her power also became difficult shocked. Suetonius analyzes this strategy as follows: “Because he felt hemmed in by his mother Livia, since in his opinion she claimed an equal share in the exercise of power (potentia) , he avoided frequent meetings with her and long conversations in private it does not appear that he is being ruled by their advice ”.

Livia's death 29 AD

When Livia died in Rome three years later at the age of 86 and was buried in the Augustus mausoleum , Tiberius refused to leave Capri and attend the public burial. The rift between mother and son went so deep that Tiberius even refused to officially elevate Livia to divinity proposed by the Senate. Sueton's description can hardly be surpassed in terms of drama:

“In any case, during the three whole years that she was alive after he left, he only saw his mother once a day, and then only for a few hours. When she fell ill soon afterwards, he did not bother to visit her. And when she died, he nourished the hope that he would come, but then, when her corpse, disfigured by several days' delay and decayed, was finally buried, forbade her elevation to deity. "

Diva Augusta : Livia's long path to deification by her grandson Emperor Claudius (January 17, 42 AD)

The marble head of Livia Drusilla as Diva Augusta from the time after 42 AD was placed on another Roman marble statue in the 18th century; Larger than life statue, now in the Louvre in Paris

Only Claudius , grandson of Tiberius C. Nero and Livia, third emperor after Augustus, granted her divine honors just under a year after he came to power on January 17, 42 AD. Claudius was only connected to Augustus through his grandmother Livia. With the official deification of Livia, he, who was the first princeps not to be the son or grandson of a deified ruler, was able to gain a share in the sacred consecration of the imperial family. He therefore deliberately set the date for this state ceremony on the official wedding day of Livia and Augustus. On this occasion, he had coins minted with the inscription: Divus Augustus - Diva Augusta , thus placing Livia at the side of her husband and first emperor. Accordingly, the official name of the temple, in which the cult images of the imperial couple were housed, was templum Divi Augusti and Divae Augustae ("Temple of the deified Augustus and the deified Augusta"). He also ordered that in future the sacrificial service be performed for them by the Vestals and that the women should swear by their names. Livia was identified with the goddess Vesta , who she embodied on an inscription from Lampsakos during her lifetime.

In addition, on the day of her deification, Livia was granted a further honor at the circus parade, a wagon pulled by elephants, just like Augustus owned one. Owning elephants was a privilege only of the emperors. The pachyderms were trained and kept in an enclosure between Laurentum and Ardea. They were used in triumphal parades and circus games. In the present case, the statues of Augustus and Livia drove into the circus on a similar carriage drawn by elephants. Elevated to Diva Augusta, Livia had posthumously achieved the greatest possible honor and was now completely on an equal footing with her equally idolized husband Augustus. As a goddess, Livia was no longer just a daughter, wife or mother, but finally achieved her own status.

Historical significance of Livia

Livia, the first and most important imperial woman in the Roman Empire

When Livia Drusilla - probably in October 38 BC. BC - married the triumvir C. Caesar, she stepped out of the shadow of secondary importance as the wife of Tiberius Claudius Nero. As the wife of the second most powerful man in the state after Antonius, she moved to the center of the military and political disputes of that time. The rise of the young Caesar Oktavian from triumvir to princeps and thus the most powerful man in the Roman Empire was also her own. The fact that the marriage should last 52 years until the natural death of Augustus is unusual for the time, because in aristocratic circles marriages were mostly not for life, but were a proven means of securing short-lived political alliances. The long duration of the marriage is all the more remarkable as Livia Augustus' wish for a child could not be fulfilled because of a premature birth associated with serious complications. So with all political motives for marriage, mutual love and deep respect must have been at play. Livia cared for her good reputation as a wife and exemplary mother throughout her life. As part of the Augustan propaganda of the restored republic, it worked since 27 BC. BC as a living incarnation of social and moral renewal. Augustus recognized this role with honors, especially 9 BC. BC, and admitted her political influence, because he used to discuss important questions of politics with her and to seek her advice. When Emperor Caligula later dubbed Livia Odysseus in her petticoat , this presupposes an extraordinary degree of political and intellectual abilities in her. Livia kept a cool head even in critical situations, where Augustus sometimes reacted heatedly. She seems to have been a pure intellectual, which led Emperor Caligula, the successor to Tiberius, to his snappy bon mot.

Ancient judgment

Livia, wife of the first Roman emperor Augustus and mother of his successor Tiberius , was the first and most important empress of Rome. Nevertheless, the ancient authors did not paint such a contradictory and ambivalent picture of any other woman from the families of Rome's aristocratic elite as of her: The judgment fluctuates between two poles that could not be more contradicting: unscrupulous intrigues and power politicians who also do not face poisoning recoils. Or: embodiment of the ideal of the exemplary wife and always striving for the well-being of her biological children like stepchildren (step-) mother. The negative image goes back above all to the historian Cornelius Tacitus , who was also critical of the principate of Augustus (see also Senatorial Historiography ). Traces of it can also be found in Cassius Dio and the Roman emperor biographer Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus . The positive judgment on Livia's life is conveyed primarily by the sources from the Augustan period. It still has a fragmentary effect on the later tradition of Cassius Dio and Suetonius.

Research history

Due to the ambivalent source situation, the judgments of modern research about Livia oscillate equally between these two poles: This is how the non-fiction author Helmut Werner ranked them in his work: Tyranninnen. Cruel Women of World History 2005 into the gallery of those women who wrote history through their bloodthirstiness and obsession with power. At the same time, the playwright Rolf Hochhuth has in his historical story: Livia and Julia. Dismantling the historiography tries to expose Livia as the (poison) murderer of seven potential successors of her husband. She never lost sight of the goal of enforcing her son, Tiberius, who was now the only biological son after the death of Drusus, against Augustus' biological heir as his successor. Hochhuth made Octavian the father of Livia's second son Drusus instead of Claudius Nero and concluded: Livia had agreed with her first husband Claudius Nero to go to Octavian's bed and let him impregnate him; because they had conspiratorially made the plan to "take revenge on Octavian, on the murderers of their father by clearing his grandson Tiberius past the emperor's grandchildren ... to free the way to the throne". According to Hochhuth, Livia was her husband Claudius Nero's gloomy avenging angel - destined to destroy Augustus' biological heirs.

Robert Graves contributed to the spread of the negative assessment in his fictional autobiography of the emperor Claudius. For several generations, Graves literally cemented Livia's characteristics to the role of a poisoner and a potentate devoured by ambition, in whose hands the true power of the res publica restituta converges: "Augustus ruled the world, but Livia ruled over Augustus." Golo Mann's negative judgment points in the right direction . He characterized her as "the eternal stepmother, her gaze fixed on her great Hätschelhans Tiberius, without love and mercy for her stepchildren."

In his standard work on the Roman Revolution, the renowned English ancient historian Sir Ronald Syme transferred his almost personal dislike of the first Princeps to his third wife and degraded her to a career maker who was used to command and who, with the help of a narrow clique, governed the state and made an honorable public appearance should have stood in the greatest possible contradiction to their secret activities. According to the English ancient historian, there was no escape for Augustus from this terrifying woman. In his assessment, Syme provided the most memorable analysis of the connection between Livia and Octavian in 39 BC. "The marriage to Livia Drusilla was a political alliance with the Claudians, if not that alone. The cold beauty with the thin lips, the thin nose and the determined look had inherited in full the political abilities of two houses, the Claudii and the Livii, which in Rome had power in their own right. She used her cleverness for her own benefit and that of her family. Augustus never failed to take her advice on state affairs. It was worth it to have and she never revealed a secret. "

On the other hand, favorable judgments were made about Livia early on. Joseph Aschbach developed a positive image of Livia as early as 1864: “Livia gradually knew how to get so intimately acquainted with the whole spirit of his (Augustus') politics and government that he recognized in it the living expression of what he himself wanted and strived for and spiritual intercourse with her became indispensable for him. "

Jochen Bleicken judged in the same tenor in his biography of Augustus from 1998 when he characterizes Livia as the exemplary wife and mother of her own children and those of other children who were entrusted to her and continues literally: “She had the same ability to assert herself and the same consistency in the practice of everyday life as Augustus in politics ... Augustus and Livia seem to have become more alike as spouses in a marriage over 50 years through mutual respect and adjustment. We do not know of any serious rift, which certainly was not least due to Livia's strict moral attitude, who did not allow herself what she looked after her husband. "

In view of these contradicting sources and the modern reception that depends on them, it is impossible to write a biography of Livia that corresponds to reality. There is a complete lack of self-testimonies from Livia, which would give an insight into her own world of thought and would make it possible to consider not only the external history of her political and social role but also her inner spiritual and moral development. Almost all of the material on Livia comes from historiographical texts written by men that reflect very different concepts about the ideal of female life and the public role of women. Often her portrayals of Livia do not really aim at her as a woman, but use her as a medium to indirectly pass judgment on the princeps and the principate. It is therefore extremely difficult to separate reality and fiction from one another.

In the latest biography of Livia from 2008, the ancient and cultural historian Christiane Kunst therefore presented “The life of the publicly visible or, in other words, the person made visible to the public almost without exception as Livia's life”. With reference to the difficult source situation and poverty, art writes a story of Livia embedded in a cultural-historical analysis of the image of women of this epoch.

Causes of Livia's “broken” biography in ancient sources and in modern reception

The positive judgment on Livia, which shaped contemporary tradition, turned into the opposite image of an unscrupulous power politician and poisoner in post-Augustan historiography, especially in Tacitus. The fascination of this female figure extends to the present day. It was received in 1973 by Golo Mann, in 2005 by Helmut Werner and the playwright Rolf Hochhuth.

Facts of great historical importance include that Livia was at the center of the power of the Roman Empire until her death in AD 29: the first years as the wife of the triumvir Octavian, then at the side of 30 BC. Princeps Augustus became the sole ruler and finally became the mother of the second ruler, her son Tiberius. It was their direct descendants who provided all the rulers of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and some of them were still raised in their household. One of them, her grandson Claudius and fourth Princeps , had her elevated to goddess in order to express his bond with Augustus, who was also deified, and to legitimize his rule dynastically.

Augustus was the creator of the principate , which combined the sole rule of a princeps who was superior in charisma and social prestige with republican traditions and legal forms. The coupling of tradition and innovation should make the principate bearable for the old aristocratic elites and the people. This was a long-term project that was not yet completed even after the death of Augustus in AD 14. Livia was at the center of this political development throughout her marriage to Augustus. The definition of the future role of the imperial wife in Rome developed from her person. After Augustus' death she stepped into the political limelight for 15 years as the mother of his successor. She reached the height of her power around 22 AD. In the years that followed, up to her death, this led to conflicts between mother and son, not least because the position of the imperial widow and imperial mother in the early principate had not yet been clarified. All in all, that was a very sensitive political problem; for in constitutional reality the principate was a military monarchy, in constitutional form and legal theory, however, Augustus and also Tiberius insisted that the republic be restored. There was no place for the existence of an empress , neither in the form of the imperial wife nor that of the imperial mother ; for both functions would have revealed the dynastic-monarchical character of the principate. In stark contrast to this official policy of concealing the actual position of the ruler behind a republican facade, there was now Augustus' effort to implant a dynastic succession into his principal. One can read off an important fact from Augustus' public honorary resolutions for his wife: Livia's political importance increased as it became more and more probable that the older Claudian line, which could not claim to be related to Augustus by blood, would succeed in the Principate would fall. Livia's political function, which was superior to all other women, in the propaganda and self-portrayal of the early principate consisted above all in the fact that she embodied the dynastic legitimation of the new system of rule.

In the honors of the years 35 BC BC and especially 9 BC On the one hand, Augustus honored Livia's merits because, in line with his moral and marriage legislation, she exemplified the republican ideal of the ancient Roman aristocratic wife and mother. But when he consecrated the Ara Pacis and the Solarium Augusti in the northern part of Campus Martius on Livia's birthday, January 30th, in the same year , this honor was considered to be the bearer of the dynastic legitimation of the monarchy. Livia as a living incarnation of traditional values ​​and morals of the restored republic and the same Livia as the embodiment of dynastic-monarchical aspirations - this reveals the inextricable contradiction of their public position and inevitably led to a “broken” biography; for the greater its importance as the bearer of the dynastic legitimation of a monarchical system became, especially in the time after Augustus' death, the more it became the target of anti-monarchical historiography and defamed as a power-obsessed intriguer and poisoner. According to the principle: Much enemy, much honor , the negative image of Livia in post-Augustan historiography confirms the positive image of the Augustan period rather than refuting it: Livia was and remains the first and most important of all Roman empresses. Its world-historical significance, which continues to have an impact on numerous statues, coins and inscriptions to this day, is that it also gave the early principate a feminine face and made a significant contribution to the consolidation of the principate founded by Augustus.

swell

• Cassius Dio : Roman History . Translated by Otto Veh , Artemis-Verlag, Zurich 1985, ( English translation )
• Helmut Freis (Ed. And transl.): Historical inscriptions on the Roman Empire from Augustus to Constantine, I. Inscriptions from the time of the Julio-Claudian dynasty a) Historical events. 2. Holidays of the Imperial House, Fasti Praenestini . 2nd revised edition. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1994, ISBN 3-534-08586-8 (Texts on Research Volume 49).
• Gaius Plinius Secundus : Natural history : Latin - German. Edited and translated by Roderich König in collaboration with Joachim Hopp and Wolfgang Glöckner. 37 volumes. Zurich et al. 1990–2004, ISBN 3-7608-1618-5 .
• Res gestae divi Augusti . Meine Taten , edited by Ekkehard Weber , Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf 2004 (first 1970), ISBN 3-7608-1378-X .
• Suetonius : Emperor biographies from Gaius Iulius Caesar to Domitian . Numerous editions, for example in all received works , Essen 2004 (German translation). Text (Latin) , English translation
• Tacitus , Annals : the historical work does not begin until Augustus' death, but contains numerous retrospectives on his reign. Numerous editions, for example Latin and German ed. by Erich Heller, Munich a. Zurich 1982. Text (Latin / English)
• Velleius Paterculus : Roman History. Historia Romana. Translated and edited in Latin / German by Marion Giebel, Reclam, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-15-008566-7 ( Latin text with English translation ).

literature

Scientific literature

• Annetta Alexandridis : The women of the Roman imperial family. An examination of their pictorial representation from Livia to Iulia Domna . Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 2004, ISBN 3-8053-3304-8 .
• Ernst Baltrusch : Regimen morum. The regulation of the private life of senators and knights in the Roman Republic and early Imperial times . Beck, Munich 1989 ( Vestigia , Volume 41) ISBN 3-406-33384-2 .
• Anthony A. Barrett: Livia. First Lady of Imperial Rome. Yale University Press, New Haven - London 2003, ISBN 0-300-09196-6 .
• Jochen Bleicken : Augustus. A biography . Fest, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-8286-0027-1 .
• Klaus Bringmann , Thomas Schäfer : Augustus and the establishment of the Roman Empire . Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-05-003054-2 .
• Klaus Bringmann: Augustus. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2007, ISBN 978-3-534-15419-7 .
• T. Robert S. Broughton : The Magistrates of the Roman Republic . Volume I: 509 BC - 100 BC and II: 99 BC - 31 BC Cleveland, Ohio 1951/1952 (reprinted Ann Arbor 1968).
• Edmund Buchner : The sundial of Augustus . Reprint from RM 1976 and 1980 and addendum on the excavation 1980/1981, Zabern, Mainz 1982, ISBN 3-8053-0430-7 .
• Manfred Clauss : Emperor and God. Cult of rulers in the Roman Empire . Teubner, Stuttgart-Leipzig 1999, ISBN 3-519-07444-3 .
• Alexander Demandt : The private life of the Roman emperors . Beck, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-406-40525-8 .
• Angelika Dierichs : The ideal image of the Roman empress. Livia Augusta. In: Thomas Späth, Beate Wagner-Hasel (ed.): Women's worlds in antiquity. Gender order and female life practice . Metzler, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-476-01677-3 , pp. 241-262.
• Werner Eck : Augustus and his time . Beck Munich 1998, ISBN 3-406-41884-8 .
• Walter Eder : Augustus and the Power of Tradition: The Augustan Principate as "Binding Link" between Republic and Empire. In: Kurt A. Raaflaub , Mark Toher (Eds.): Between Republic and Empire. Interpretations of Augustus and His Principate . Berkeley, Los Angeles, Oxford 1990, ISBN 0-520-08447-0 , pp. 71-122 (reprinted in: K. Galinsky (ed.): The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Augustus . Cambridge et al. 2005, ISBN 0 -521-80796-4 , p. 13 ff.).
• Volker Fadinger : The foundation of the principle. Source-critical and constitutional studies on Cassius Dio and the parallel tradition . Munich 1969.
• Pierre Gros : Aurea Templa. Recherches sur l'Architecture religieuse de Rome à l'époque d 'Auguste . École française de Rome, Rome 1976 (Bibliothèque des Écoles françaises d'Athènes et de Rome, fasc. 231).
• Dietmar Kienast : Augustus. Princeps and Monarch . 3rd expanded edition. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1999, ISBN 3-534-14293-4 .
• Dietmar Kienast: Roman imperial table. Basic features of a Roman imperial chronology. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1990, ISBN 3-534-07532-3 .
• Frank Kolb : Rome. The history of the city in ancient times . 2nd revised edition. Beck, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-406-46988-4 .
• Christiane art : Livia: power and intrigue at the court of Augustus . Klett-Cotta , Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-608-94228-6 ( review ).
• Claudia-Martina Perkounig: Livia Drusilla - Iulia Augusta. The political portrait of the first empress of Rome. Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 1995, ISBN 3-205-98221-5 .
• Hans-Werner Ritter: Livia's elevation to Augusta. In: Chiron 2 (1972), pp. 313-338.
• Andrea Scheithauer: Imperial building activity in Rome. The echo in ancient literature. Steiner, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-515-07465-1 (Heidelberg ancient historical contributions and epigraphic studies 32).
• Paul Schrömbges: Tiberius and the Res publica Romana. Investigations into the institutionalization of the early Roman principate. Habelt, Bonn 1986, ISBN 3-7749-2207-1 .
• Heinrich Schlange-Schöningen : Augustus . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 2005, ISBN 3-534-16512-8 .
• Thomas Späth : “Women's Power” in the Early Roman Empire? A critical look at the historical construction of the “imperial women”. In: Maria H. Dettenhofer (Ed.): A pure man thing? Women in male domains of the ancient world . Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-412-08693-2 .
• Hildegard Temporini-Countess Vitzthum (Ed.): The Empresses of Rome. From Livia to Theodora . Beck, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-406-49513-3 , especially pp. 21-102.
• Rolf Winkes: Livia, Octavia, Iulia. Portraits and representations . Providence and Louvain-la-Neuve 1995 (Archaeologia Transatlantica, 13).
• Paul Zanker : Augustus and the power of images. 2nd Edition. Beck, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-406-32067-8 .

Fiction

• Rolf Hochhuth : Livia and Julia. Langen / Müller, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-7844-2982-3 .
• Dietrich Oldenburg : Piso's crime. Haag and Herchen, Frankfurt 2010, ISBN 978-3-89846-586-1 .

Web links

Commons : Livia Drusilla  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Livia Drusilla in the catalog of the German National Library
• Donna Hurley: Short biography (English) at De Imperatoribus Romanis (with references).

Remarks

1. ↑ CIL 9, 3661 ; Cassius Dio 48: 43-44 ; see. on this C.-M. Perkounig, Livia Drusilla-Iulia Augusta , 1995, pp. 31-33.
2. ↑ Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 21. Also on the generally accepted date 58 BC. Recently, doubts have been expressed with the argument that the Ara pacis on January 30, 9 BC. Was consecrated in honor of the 50th birthday of Livia: Anthony A. Barrett, The Year of Livia's Birth. In: Classical Quarterly Vol. 49, 1999, pp. 630-632. In contrast, Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 21 f. in favor of 58 BC Chr.
3. ↑ Suetonius, Tiberius 3.1 .
4. ^ T. Robert S. Broughton, Magistrates of the Roman Republic , Volume 2, pp. 21 f. with the source evidence.
5. ↑ CIL 9, 3660 (= Inscriptiones Latinae selectae 124/5); Suetonius, Tiberius 3.1 ; Tacitus, Annals 5,1,1 ; 6.51.1 .
6. ↑ On this and the question of a political background to the marriage Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 23 f. and 34.
7. ↑ Cicero , ad familiares 11,19,1.
8. ↑ Cassius Dio, 48,44,1 . On the unrestricted punitive power of the triumvirs as the formal legal basis of the proscriptions Volker Fadinger , The Justification of the Principle , 1969, p. 40 f. with the source evidence.
9. ↑ On his praeture 42 BC Chr .: Suetonius, Tiberius 4,2 ; T. Robert S. Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic , Volume II, p. 359 and Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 40. A minimum age of 40 was required for this office: Livy 40, 44, 1 . Anders Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 28, who wants to deduce from his official career that he was "at least 15 years older than his wife."
10. ↑ Velleius 2.71.3.
11. ^ Suetonius, Tiberius 5.1 .
12. ↑ Velleius 2.76.1; Suetonius , Tiberius 6.2 and Cassius Dio 54.7.2 .
13. ↑ Velleius 2,77,1–3 and Tacitus, Annalen 5,1,1 .
14. ↑ Cassius Dio 48,34,3 .
15. ↑ Suetonius , Augustus 62.2 and Cassius Dio 48.34.3 .
16. ↑ Suetonius, Augustus 62,2 : pertaesus, ut scribit, morum perversitatem eius . Also Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 47 and 288 note 8, where Suetonius, Augustus 69.2 instead of 62.2 is accidentally given as evidence.
17. ^ Suetonius, Claudius 1,1 .
18. ^ Suetonius, Claudius 11.3 . Antony's birthday, after his defeat at Actium in 31 BC. Was declared by the Senate to be a bad day: Cassius Dio 51,19,3 .
19. ↑ Velleius 2.79.2; see. also 2,94,1 and Cassius Dio 48,44,3 ; on the problem of dating now in detail Art, Livia , p. 48 and 336-340: Appendix 1: The birth of Drusus and the wedding date of Livia and Octavian .
20. ^ So correct Suetonius, Claudius 1,1 ; see. also Dietmar Kienast, Nero C. Drusus , No. II 24, in: DNP 3.1997, Col. 15 against Suetonius, Claudius 11.3 .
21. ^ Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, pp. 336–338.
22. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 5,1,2 : cupidine formae .
23. ↑ Suetonius, Augustus 62,2 : Liviam Drusillam matrimonio Tiberi Neronis et quidem praegnantem abduxit dilexitque et probavit unice ac perseveranter.
24. ↑ See Klaus Bringmann, Augustus , Darmstadt 2007, p. 81.
25. ↑ Cf. Thomas Späth, “Frauenmacht” in the early Roman Empire? , P. 183 with note 66.
26. ↑ Werner Eck, Augustus , Munich 1998, p. 24 f.
27. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 5.1 .
28. ↑ Heinrich Schlange-Schöningen, Augustus , Darmstadt 2005, p. 63, adopts the version of Tacitus, who, however, has to confess that this is an "uncertain" thesis.
29. ^ T. Robert S. Broughton, Magistrates of the Roman Republic II, p. 390 with the sources and Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 48 f.
30. ↑ Jochen Bleicken, Augustus , Berlin 1998, p. 209.
31. ^ Suetonius, Claudius 1 ; see. also Cassius Dio 48,44,5 and Klaus Bringmann, Augustus , p. 81.
32. ↑ On this in detail with the sources Volker Fadinger, Prinzipat , p. 48 ff. And Dietmar Kienast, Augustus. Princeps and Monarch , 3rd expanded edition. Darmstadt 1999, p. 37 ff.
33. ↑ See also Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 66.
34. ↑ On this in detail with all sources Volker Fadinger, Prinzipat , p. 89 ff. And Dietmar Kienast, Augustus , p. 53 ff.
35. ↑ Cassius Dio 49.15.5 ; see. Wolfgang Kunkel, Roland Wittmann, State Order and State Practice of the Roman Republic. Second section: Die Magistratur , Handbuch der Altertumswwissenschaft X.3.2.2, Munich 1995, p. 664.
36. ↑ Cassius Dio 49,38,1. According to Paul Schrömbges, Tiberius and the Res publica Romana , p. 376, note 214, unlike in the case of Octavian's model for the privilege of Livias and Octavias, it was not the sacrosanctitas of the tribune of the people, but that of the vestals . On the other hand, Christiane Kunst, Livia , p. 79 rightly so. Cassius Dio speaks explicitly of the inviolability of the tribunes of the people and not that of the vestals.
37. ↑ See Festus 318 under the heading sacrosanctus and Walter Eder : Sacrosanctus. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 10, Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-476-01480-0 , Sp. 1203 ..
38. ↑ Cassius Dio 44,5,3 ; on this in detail with the parallel sources Martin Jehne , Der Staat des Dictators Caesar , Passauer Historische Forschungen 3, Böhlau, Köln-Wien 1987, 96 ff. with note 4 (p. 96), ISBN 3-412-06786-5 . To Caesar, the dictator, as a model for Octavian for the honors in 35 BC. Chr. Jochen Bleicken: Augustus. Berlin 1998, p. 654.
39. ↑ Cassius Dio, 49,38,1 .
40. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis Historia 34,30.
41. ↑ Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 78 ff.
42. ↑ Werner Eck, Augustus , p. 29.
43. ↑ Suetonius, Tiberius 7.1 .
44. ↑ Cassius Dio 48,44,4f. ; on this Werner Eck, Augustus , p. 25.
45. ^ Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 82.
46. ↑ digests 24,2,1; Plutarch, Antonius 57.3.
47. ^ Augustus, Res gestae , chap. 34; Plutarch, Antonius 58: 3-5; Cassius Dio 50,3,3-5 and Suetonius , Augustus 17,1 ; on this Volker Fadinger, Prinzipat , p. 233 ff.
48. ↑ Plutarch, Antonius 60; Cassius Dio 50,4,3-4 .
49. ↑ On this automatism Appian, civil wars 5,1; on this Volker Fadinger, Prinzipat , p. 244 with note 2.
50. ^ Augustus, Res gestae , chap. 34; on this in detail Volker Fadinger, Prinzipat , p. 296 ff. and most recently Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 86.
51. ↑ Cassius Dio 53,12,1-7 and 13 = Klaus Bringmann, Thomas Schäfer, Augustus , p. 193 f .: Source 21.
52. ↑ Cassius Dio 53,32,3-6 = Bringmann, Schäfer, Augustus , pp. 194–196: source 22.
53. ↑ Cassius Dio 53,16,8 .
54. ↑ On the connection of republican traditions and legal forms with the reality of a new monarchy as an essential feature of the Principate, cf. the fundamental study by Eder, Augustus and the Power of Tradition: The Augustan Principate as “Binding Link” between Republic and Empire , pp. 71 ff. The reduction of the Roman change of ruler to that of a traditional European monarchy did not exist in the early Principate nor can it be inherited in this way; so rightly the criticism of Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 13 against Rolf Hochhuth's dismantling of historiography using the example of Livia and Julia .
55. ^ Joseph Vogt, The Alexandrian Coins. Foundation of an Alexandrian Imperial History , 2 vols., Stuttgart 1924, p. 14; on this and on the dating of the coins last see Kunst, Livia , p. 101 f. and 295 note 34.
56. ↑ On Livia as Vesta and Neue Demeter Peter Frisch (ed.): The inscriptions of Lampsakos (inscriptions of Greek cities from Asia Minor 6), Bonn 1978, no. 11; Ovid, Ex Ponto 4,13,29.
57. ↑ Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 103 f. with the evidence.
58. ^ Suetonius, Augustus 63 . It is not clear from this note whether the child was born dead or died within the first week. Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 95, suspects that this miscarriage could have led to the couple's sterility. Pliny, Naturalis Historia 7.57 speaks of a "physical rejection" (dissociatio corporum) of the couple, which has led to sterility.
59. ↑ See Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 104.
60. ↑ On this in detail Dierichs, Idealbild der Roman Kaiserin , p. 241 ff .; Alexandridis, women of the Roman imperial family p. 31 ff. And Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 105 ff.
61. ↑ With the nodus hairstyle, the head hair is combed from the back to the front and turned into a wave, the nodus, on the forehead. The ends of the twisted hair are then braided into a braid and pulled back to the nape of the neck on the top of the skull, where they end in a knot together with the rest of the hair, which is braided into a braid: Marion Mannsperger, Hairstyle Art and Artificial Hairstyle. The hair fashion of the Roman empresses from Livia to Sabina, Bonn 1998, p. 32 f.
62. ^ Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 108 with illustration 28.
63. ↑ Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 108 f. with Fig. 13 in comparison with Fig. 23.
64. ↑ On the matron costume : Horaz, Saturae 1,2,94-100 and BI Scholz, Investigations on the costume of the Roman "matrona" , Cologne-Weimar-Wien 1992, p. 30.
65. ^ Rolf Winkes: Livia, Octavia, Iulia. Portraits and representations. Providence and Louvain-la-Neuve 1995, p. 55; in agreement Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 109 f. with fig. 1.
66. ↑ Cassius Dio 58,2,5 .
67. ^ Suetonius, Augustus 71 .
68. ^ Suetonius, Augustus , 69.2 .
69. ↑ Cassius Dio 54,19,3 .
70. ↑ Suetonius, Augustus 69.1 .
71. ^ Suetonius, Augustus 71 ; on this Alexander Demandt, Privatleben , p. 80 and Klaus Bringmann, Augustus , p. 81 and 93.
72. ↑ fragment Areus = Seneca, Dialogi 6,4,3; on this and on the person of the Areios Klaus Bringmann, Augustus , p. 27 and p. 254 A. 40.
73. ↑ On this in detail Dietmar Kienast, Augustus , p. 165 ff. And Ernst Baltrusch, Regimen morum , p. 162 ff .; on the aims of the legislation p. 178 and 180 ff.
74. ↑ ^{a b} Cassius Dio 55,2,5 .
75. ↑ Cassius Dio 56,10,2 ; see. also 55,2,5 . Caesar already had 59 BC BC made the receipt of a field lot dependent on at least three children: Suetonius, Caesar 20.3 ; Cassius Dio 38.7.3 .
76. ↑ Ernst Baltrusch, Regimen morum , p. 170.
77. ↑ So following Cassius Dio Baltrusch, Regimen morum , p. 170 with note 258: "... as consolation for the loss of your son ..."
78. ↑ Consolatio ad Liviam 303; on this Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 156.
79. ^ Res gestae Divi Augusti 12; Ovid, Fasti 1,709; Cassius Dio 54,25,3 : on the date Fasti Praenestini = CIL I², p. 248; on the dynastic character of consecration cf. also W. Suerbaum, Strange Birthdays. The nonexistent birthday of M. Antonius and the premature birthday of the elder Drusus. In: Chiron Vol. 10, 1980, pp. 327-355, here 336; in agreement Dietmar Kienast, Augustus , p. 239.
80. ↑ On the victim scene cf. Ovid, Fasti 1,719 ff.
81. ↑ Dietmar Kienast, Augustus , p. 240. On the Ara Pacis in detail Paul Zanker, Augustus, p. 177 ff .; see. also Andrea Scheithauer, imperial building activity in Rome. The echo in ancient literature , Stuttgart 2000, p. 88 f. and note 498 with further literature.
82. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis Historia 36, 72 f. describes the solarium in detail.
83. ↑ The dedicatory inscription on the Egyptian obelisk explicitly reminded of the subjugation of the Nile land: CIL VI 701 and VI 702; Edmund Buchner, Sundial of Augustus , p. 7 with plate 109.1 on p. 82 and Scheithauer, Kaiserliche Bautaktion , p. 69, note 358.
84. ^ Edmund Buchner, Solarium Augusti and Ara Pacis, p. 347, in: Römische Mitteilungen 83, 1976, 347, reprinted in: Ders., Die Sonnenuhr des Augustus, p. 37; on the dynastic aspect of the building system cf. also Paul Schrömbges, Tiberius, 202 and Dietmar Kienast, Augustus, p. 241 with A. 117, there on the research controversy about the credibility of Buchner's results.
85. ↑ Suetonius, Augustus 84.2 ; see. also Alexander Demandt, Das Privatleben der Roman Kaiser , p. 183: 10e, where the source reference Suetonius, Augustus 64 (in note 53) needs to be improved from 64 to 84.2. Incidentally, Octavian's adoptive father Caesar was the first to use a paginated notebook in contrast to the scrolls that were customary at the time: Suetonius, Caesar 56.6 .
86. ↑ Cassius Dio 49,38,1 .
87. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis Historia 34.2.
88. ↑ CIL VI p. 878 ff. On this, Jukka Korpela, Die Grabinschrift des Kolumbarium "Libertorum Liviae Augustae." A source-critical investigation. In: Arctos Vol. 15, 1981, pp. 53-66, and Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, pp. 255 and 314 f. A. 43 with further literature.
89. ↑ CIL 6, 21415 .
90. ↑ Susan Treggiari, Domestic Staff at Rome in the Julio-Claudian period. In: Histoire Sociale / Social History Vol. 6, 1973, p. 247.
91. ↑ For good reasons, most recently Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 255.
92. ↑ Cassius Dio 48.52.3-4 and 63.29 ; Pliny, Naturalis historia 15, 136-137; on this Alexander Demandt, Private Life of the Roman Emperors , Munich 1996, p. 67: 4 s and Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 274, according to which Emperor Claudius had the divine omens put into circulation on the occasion of the consecration of Livia in AD 42 in order to propagate the family integration of his grandmother and thus of himself in the ruling house of Augustus.
93. ^ Suetonius, Galba 7.1 .
94. ↑ On the history of the find Heinz Kähler, The Augustus statue from Primaporta , Cologne 1959, pp. 7–9 with plate 22. On the site of the find, the villa of Livia, Kähler, a. OS 3–5 and much more detailed MM Gabriel, Livia's gardenroom at Prima Porta , New York 1955; Jane Clark Reeder, The Statue of Augustus from Prima Porta, the underground complex and the omen of the Gallina alba. In: American Journal of Philology Vol. 118, 1997, pp. 89-118; Jane Clark Reeder, The Villa of Livia ad gallinas albas , Providence RI, 2001 (Archaeologia Transatlantica 20) and Allan Klynne, The Prima Porta garden archaeological project. Terra sigillata from the Villa of Livia, Rome. Consumption and discard in the early Principate , Diss. Uppsala 2002.
95. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis Historia 14.60; 19.92; Suetonius, Augustus 72,1 and 74ff.  ; Cassius Dio 54,16,4 f.
96. ^ Suetonius, Augustus 73 .
97. ↑ CIL 6, 883 ; Valerius Maximus 1,8,4; Seneca, Dialogi 6,4,3; Ovid, Fasti 5,157-158.
98. ^ Res Gestae divi Augusti 20; see. the list of restored temples in P. Gros, Aurea Templa, p. 32 f.
99. ↑ Horace , Carmina 3,6,1 ff .; on this P. Gros, Aurea Templa , p. 20 ff., especially p. 27 and A. Scheithauer, Kaiserliche building activity , p. 51 against Frank Kolb, Rome , p. 363, according to which the Princeps with the restoration of the sanctuaries was primarily not religious Had intentions.
100. ↑ Cassius Dio 54.23.6 and 55.8.2 ; Pliny, Naturalis Historia ; Ovid, Ars Amatoria 1.71-72 and Fasti 6.637 ff .; Strabon 5,3,8.
101. ↑ Ovid, Fasti 6,637 f .; on this Andrea Scheithauer, Imperial Building Activities , p. 75.
102. ↑ C.- M. Perkounig, Livia , p. 64 with the sources.
103. ↑ Ovid, Fasti 6.479 f.
104. ↑ Ovid, Fasti 6,569.
105. ↑ See also Andrea Scheithauer, Imperial Building Activity , p. 76.
106. ↑ Ovid, Fasti 5,157 f.
107. ↑ Pliny, Naturalis Historia 14.60; Seneca, Dialogi 6,3,3. On Livia's ability to adapt to Augustus as the foundation of an exemplary marriage throughout life, cf. also Jochen Bleicken, Augustus , 653.
108. ↑ Seneca, Dialogi 6,4,3 and Tacitus, Annalen 3,34,6 .
109. ↑ Krinagoras, Ep. 26; Flavius ​​Josephus , Antiquitates Iudaicae 17,1,1.
110. ↑ Cassius Dio 54,19,6 .
111. ↑ Valerius Maximus 6,1,1.
112. ↑ Ovid, Epistulae ex Ponto 3,1,117.
113. ↑ Seneca, Dialogi 6,4,3; see. also Cassius Dio 54,16,5 ; 58,2,4-6 and Macrobius, Saturnalia 2,5,6.
114. ↑ Velleius 2,75,3: genere, probitate, forma Romanorum eminentissima.
115. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 5,1,3 ; see. Explanatory on this Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 254.
116. ↑ Consolatio ad Liviam 95 ff .; Seneca, Dialogi 6.2.3-5.
117. ↑ Valerius Maximus 4,3,3.
118. ↑ Suetonius, Tiberius 10.2 . On the motives of Tiberius cf. Jochen Bleicken, Augustus , 635 f.
119. ↑ Velleius 2.103; Suetonius, Tiberius 21.2 ; Tacitus, Annals 4,57,3 .
120. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 1, 3, 3–4 . 1,5,1.1,6,2; Cassius Dio 53,33,4 . 55,10a, 10 ; 56,30,1-2 ; on this in detail Claudia-Martina Perkounig, Livia Drusilla-Iulia Augusta , pp. 82–118; on the research controversy as to whether Augustus or already Tiberius is responsible for the murder of Agrippa Postumus and Sempronius Gracchus, the lover of the elder Julia, Dietmar Kienast, Augustus , p. 146 with A. 223.
121. ^ So the accusation in Cassius Dio 57,3,6 and Tacitus, Annalen 1,6,2 , most recently Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 188 f. and considers 279 - of course only in this case of death - to be credible. Anders Jochen Bleicken, Augustus , Berlin 1998, p. 668, who had Tiberius give the order to murder for reasons of state because he was the main beneficiary of the removal of Agrippa Postumus. The most detailed and most reliable account of the circumstances of death is given by Suetonius , Augustus 97.1-100.1 ; see. also Suetonius, Tiberius , 21 f. ; Velleius 2,123 and Cassius Dio 56,46,1-4 .
122. ↑ Suetonius, Augustus , 99.1 : Livia, nostri coniugii memor vive, ac vale!
123. ↑ Suetonius , Augustus , 100: 2-4 .
124. ↑ Suetonius, Augustus 101.1-4 .
125. ↑ Cassius Dio 56,32 .
126. ↑ Gaius 2,226,274; on this with the other sources Broughton, The Magistrates of the Roman Republic , Vol. I, p. 169; see. also Baltrusch, Regimen Morum , pp. 73 ff. and 171.
127. ↑ Cassius Dio 56,10,2 .
128. ↑ Velleius 2.75.3; Cassius Dio 56.42.4 and 56.46.1 ; on this in detail Perkounig, Livia Drusilla-Iulia Augusta , pp. 82–118.
129. ↑ Cassius Dio 56,46,2 .
130. ↑ Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 214 f. with fig. 14 and 239 ff.
131. ↑ Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 192, Figure 18 and p. 215 f. and Jochen Bleicken, Augustus , Berlin 1998, 665.
132. ↑ Tacitus, Annalen 1,8,1 ; Cassius Dio 56.43.1 ; on the approximate date Kienast, Römische Kaisertabelle , p. 84.
133. ^ Suetonius, Augustus 101,2 ; Tacitus, Annals 1,8,1 ; Cassius Dio 56.43.1 ; on this in detail Hans-Werner Ritter, Livia's elevation to Augusta. In: Chiron Vol. 2 (1972), pp. 313-338.
134. ↑ Hans-Werner Ritter, Livias survey , pp. 324–334 and Helena Stegmann: Livia Drusilla No. 2. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 7, Metzler, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-476-01477-0 , Sp. 367 ..
135. ↑ 30/29 BC Cult in Athens: IG III 316 and in the whole Orient: Rudolf Hanslik : Livia 2. In: Der Kleine Pauly (KlP). Volume 3, Stuttgart 1969, Col. 688.
136. ↑ CIL 2, 2038 ; see. also CIL 10, 7340 and Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 186 f. and 212.
137. ↑ Cassius Dio 56,46,3 .
138. ↑ Cassius Dio 56.47.1 ; on this Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 240.
139. ↑ Karl Jaroš, In Matters Pontius Pilatus , Mainz 2002, p. 69, Fig. 14.
140. ↑ CIL I², p. 236, line 7 to April 23: sig (num) divo Augusto patri ad theatrum Marc [elli] Iulia Augusta et Ti (berius) Augustus dedicarunt. the German translation after Helmut Freis (ed.): Historical inscriptions on the Roman Empire , p. 4. Also Manfred Clauss, Kaiser und Gott , p. 83.
141. ↑ Tacitus, Annalen 4,15,3 : Asiae urbes templum Tiberio matrique eius ac senatui.
142. ↑ Tacitus, Annals 4,37,1 .
143. ↑ Tacitus, Annalen 4,37,3 : per omnes provincias effigie numinum sacrari ambitiosum, superbum. On this Manfred Clauss, Kaiser und Gott , p. 83 f.
144. ↑ AE 1929, 99-100 = SEG 11, 922-923; on this Clauss, Kaiser und Gott , pp. 84 ff. and 331.
145. ^ Suetonius, Tiberius 26.2 ; Cassius Dio 57.18.2 .
146. ↑ Tacitus, Annalen 1,14,2 : illegal moderandos feminarum honores dictitans.
147. ^ So Ernst Kornemann, Tiberius , Stuttgart 1960, p. 60 f. and p. 103; Erich Koestermann, The Majesty Processes under Tiberius , Historia Vol. 4, 1955, p. 72; see. also Manfred Clauss, Kaiser und Gott , p. 239 and most recently Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 213.
148. ↑ Vilborg Ísleifsdóttir, Tiberius, the Senate and the Imperial Cult, 1987, 4 = archive link ( memento of the original from October 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 
149. ↑ Cassius Dio 57,12,6 .
150. ↑ Suetonius, Tiberius 50.2 ; Tacitus similarly explains in Annalen 5,1,3 the retreat of Tiberius to Capri: “It is also handed down that he was ousted by his mother's excessive lust for power. He refused her participation in the rule and could not completely exclude her because he had received the rule as a gift from her. "
151. ↑ Cassius Dio 58,2,3 .
152. ↑ Suetonius, Tiberius 51.2 ; Tacitus, Annals 5,2,1 ; Cassius Dio 58,2,1-3 ; on this Manfred Clauss, Kaiser und Gott , p. 361 and Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 243–245 and 273.
153. ^ Suetonius, Claudius 11.2 ; see. also Cassius Dio 60,5,2 .
154. ^ Art, Livia , p. 192, Figure 12 = RIC² 101.
155. ↑ Cassius Dio 60.5.2 ; on this Dietmar Kienast, Augustus. Princeps and Monarch. 3rd expanded edition. Darmstadt 1999, p. 237 note 106 and here section Livia's image on coins .
156. ^ Suetonius, Claudius 11.2 .
157. ↑ CIL 6, 8583 = Hermann Dessau , Inscriptiones Latinae selectae 1578.
158. ↑ Cf. Alexander Demandt, Das Privatleben der Roman Kaiser , p. 155: 8.x.
159. ^ Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 277.
160. ↑ Seneca, Dialogi 6,3,3; Suetonius, Augustus 84.2 ; Tacitus, Annals 5,1,3 ; Cassius Dio 55,22,1f. and 58,2,3 ; Seneca, de clementia 1,9,6.
161. ^ Suetonius, Caligula 23.3 ; on this in detail Christiane Kunst, Livia , pp. 218–245, chap. 10: Odysseus in women's clothes .
162. ↑ See Jochen Bleicken, Augustus , Berlin 1998, p. 654.
163. ↑ So Livia is supposed to help her son and herself to power, the death of Marcellus 23 BC. (Cassius Dio 53,33,4 ; Seneca, Dialogi 6,2,5), that of Gaius and Lucius Caesares (Tacitus, Annalen 1,3,3 ; Cassius Dio 55,10a, 10 ), of Augustus himself ( Tacitus, Annalen 1,5,1 ; Cassius Dio 56,30,1 ) and of Germanicus (Tacitus, Annalen 3,3,1 ; 3,17, 2 ff. ). She is also said to have caused Agrippa Postumus (Tacitus, Annalen 1,3,4 ) and Iulia (Tacitus, Annalen 4,71,4 ) to be banished and killed.
164. ^ Rolf Hochhuth, Livia and Julia. Dismantling of historiography , Munich 2005, p. 233.
165. ^ Rolf Hochhuth, Livia and Julia , p. 218.
166. ↑ Robert von Ranke Graves, Ich, Claudius, Kaiser und Gott , 12th edition. Munich 1991, p. 13.
167. ↑ Golo Mann in an article from 1976 in the Neue Rundschau with the title Experiment on Tacitus. In: Times and Figures. Writings from four decades. Frankfurt / Main 1979 (reprint) 1989, pp. 359-392, here p. 383.
168. ↑ Ronald Syme, The Roman Revolution. Power struggles in ancient Rome. Fundamentally revised and for the first time complete new edition, ed. v. Friedrich W. Eschweiler and Hans G. Degen, Stuttgart 2003, p. 246.
169. ↑ Ronald Syme, The Roman Revolution. Power struggles in ancient Rome. Fundamentally revised and for the first time complete new edition, ed. v. Friedrich W. Eschweiler and Hans G. Degen, Stuttgart 2003, pp. 353 and 403.
170. ↑ Ronald Syme, The Roman Revolution. Power struggles in ancient Rome. Fundamentally revised and for the first time complete new edition, ed. v. Friedrich W. Eschweiler and Hans G. Degen, Stuttgart 2003, p. 400.
171. ^ So Christiane Kunst, Livia , p. 10.
172. ↑ Ronald Syme, The Roman Revolution , Oxford 1939, p. 340, cited in the translation by Friedrich Wilhelm Eschweiler and Hans Georg Degen, Stuttgart 2003, p. 354.
173. ^ Joseph Aschbach, Livia wife of the emperor Augustus. A historical-archaeological treatise , Vienna 1864, p. 10.
174. ↑ Jochen Bleicken, Augustus , p. 653 f.
175. ^ Christiane Kunst, Livia. Power and intrigue at the court of Augustus , Stuttgart 2008, p. 12.
176. ^ Christiane Kunst, Livia. Power and intrigue at the court of Augustus , Stuttgart 2008, pp. 11-14.
177. ↑ Christiane Kunst, Livia , Stuttgart 2008, p. 12 f.
178. ↑ See also Paul Schrömges, Tiberius and the Res publica Romana , p. 202 f.
179. ^ Edmund Buchner , The Sundial of Augustus , Philipp von Zabern, Mainz 1982, ISBN 3-8053-0430-7 , p. 10.

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