Violent Fems of the Ancient World

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Part 2.  First Empress of Rome, though she never went by that title, Livia Drusilla's rise to power began when the young woman was noticed by the victorious Imperator Octavian, nephew and heir of Julius Caesar. It was an unlikely match, she was the daughter and wife of his enemies and heavily pregnant with her second son.

Perhaps for those reasons she made the best match, to prove he could reconcile with his enemies, or perhaps just take something precious from them? And she was fertile, sure to give an heir to the powerful young man who had turned the Republic of Rome into an Empire.

How bad was she? Livia gains her 'evil' reputation from her ruthlessness and influence over her husband. Never able to directly access power, she nonetheless proved a cable advisor and possibly unofficial caretaker for Rome while her husband toured. 

Unable to bear children with Octavian, who had restyled himself 'Augustus', first man of Rome, Robert Graves 'I Claudius' depicts her as ruthlessly arranging the murder of no less than three of Augustus blood relatives who had been earmarked for succession, including her own grandson, Germanicus, to ensure that her firstborn son, Tiberius, would follow after his stepfather. Whether she had a hand in it or not her son did survive his rivals to become the second Princeps (Emperor) of Rome.

Both Cassius Dio and the misogynistic Tacitus claim that to ensure her son's ascension she killed her aging husband by painting the figs on his favourite tree with poison.


Livia plays a short but vital role in the first novel of my Aquila trilogy.

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