LIVIA
DRUSILLA: 58BCE-29CE
A.K.A. the wife
Octavion "stole" while pregnant with another man's child
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Livia was a fine
young woman married to Tiberius Claudius Nero; she was six months pregnant
with their second son when she was divorced in order to marry Octavion.
While certain people seemed shocked at this sudden change, no one raised
too much of an outcry over it (OCD 876).
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"Although she had
no further children [by Augustus], she retained Augustus' respect and confidence
throughout his life. As consort of the princeps, she became an effective
model of old fashioned propriety, her beauty, dignity, intelligence and
tact fitting her for her high position. She played a role in the Augustan
system which was unusually formal and conspicuous for a woman..." (OCD
876)
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Augustus' last words
were apparently to his wife; his will made her part of the Julio-Claudian
line, and thus a mater familias of sorts. After her husband's death,
Livia became one of the leading figures in Augustus' cult following. She
must have done something to impress the Romans; she was later deified (OCD
876).