 previous article in this issue | next article in this issue  |
Preview first page |
Document Details : Title: Livia before Octavian Author(s): HUNTSMAN, Eric D. Journal: Ancient Society Volume: 39 Date: 2009 Pages: 121-169 DOI: 10.2143/AS.39.0.2042609 Abstract : Continued interest in the role of women in antiquity and in the dynastic arrangements of the Julio-Claudian dynasty has focused considerable attention on the prominent figure of Livia Drusilla, wife of Augustus and mother of Tiberius. As a result, the importance of Livia in the ancient sources has also provided fertile ground for modern authors. Yet while Livia is a well-documented figure in her own right during the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius, most of what is known about the first twenty years of her life stems from her relationship with the two men who dominated her early and teenage years: her father, M. Livius Drusus Claudianus, and her first husband, Ti. Claudius Nero. From these men Livia derived social status and aristocratic connections that made marriage to her particularly attractive to Octavian. These connections, resulting from strategic adoptions and marriages, created family alliances that Livia maintained and which help explain the rise of certain families early in the principate of Augustus. |
|
