Livia : first lady of Imperial Rome / Anthony A. Barrett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barrett, Anthony, 1941-

Contributor:

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Livia, Empress, consort of Augustus, Emperor of Rome, approximately 58 B.C.-29 A.D.

Livia.

Empresses--Rome--Biography.

Empresses.

Rome--History--Augustus, 30 B.C.-14 A.D.

Rome.

Genre:

Biographies.

Penn Provenance:

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Physical Description:

xix, 425 pages, 14 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, [2002]

Summary:

Livia (58 B.C.-A.D. 29) -- wife of the first Roman emperor, Augustus, and mother of the second, Tiberius -- wielded power at the center of Roman politics for most of her long life. Livia has been portrayed as a cunning and sinister schemer who eliminated her opponents, both within her own family and outside of it. In this biography (the first in English devoted to her), Livia emerges as a much more complex individual -- a woman who skillfully won the support and even affection of her contemporaries, and who was widely revered after her death. Anthony A. Barrett, author of acclaimed biographies of Caligula and Agrippina the Younger, here examines Livia's life and her role in Roman politics. He recounts her marriage to Augustus at the age of nineteen; her essential contributions to Augustus' initially tenuous position as ruler; her unprecedented authority during his reign; and her conflicts with Tiberius, who was unwilling to concede to his mother the kind of authority that Augustus had intended for her. Livia's remarkable life spanned two reigns that established the pattern of government for the Roman empire over the next four centuries.

Contents:

Map of the Roman World at the Time of the Death of Livia xiv

Significant Events xvii

Part I The Life of Livia

1. Family Background 3

2. Marriage 19

3. In the Shadows 28

4. The Public Figure 45

5. A New Reign 73

Part II Livian Themes

6. The Private Livia 103

7. Wife of the Emperor 115

8. Mother of the Emperor 146

9. Woman of Substance 174

10. Friend, Patron, and Protector 186

11. Death and Reputation 215

2. The Roman System of Government 303

3. Livia's Maternal Origins 305

4. Livia's Name 307

5. Livia's Birthdate 309

6. Husbands of Scribonia 311

7. The Birth of Drusus 313

8. Livia's Aedes and the Temple of Concord 315

9. The Domus Augusta 317

10. The Conspiracy of Cornelius Cinna 318

11. The Celebration of Livia's Marriage 320

12. Palatine Vesta 321

13. The Title Augusta in the Julio-Claudian Period 322

14. Antonia as Augusta 324

15. Augustus' Palatine Residence 326

16. Livia's Festival on the Palatine 329

17. Date of the Letter to the Samians 331

18. The Cult of Bona Dea and Livia 333

19. Agrippina and Livia in AD 28-29 335.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 387-412) and index.

ISBN:

0300091966

OCLC:

49225411