Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - Livia Drusilla: The Most Powerful Woman in Rome

Episode Date: July 26, 2022

If you go through the history of ancient Rome, you will find the stories of many important men.  What you won't find are the tales of many great women. Women in Roman history are given little to no mention. There is one major exception to this, however: Livia Drusilla.  Learn more about the most powerful woman in Roman history, and determine if she was one of history’s most shrewd Machivelliean characters or if she was just misunderstood on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Subscribe to the podcast!  https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Darcy Adams Associate Producers: Peter Bennett & Thor Thomsen   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Search Past Episodes at fathom.fm Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/everything-everywhere-daily-podcast/ Everything Everywhere is an Airwave Media podcast." or "Everything Everywhere is part of the Airwave Media podcast network Please contact [e-mail] to advertise on Everything Everywhere. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you go through the history of ancient Rome, you'll find the stories of many important men. What you won't find are the tales of many important women. Women in Roman history are given little to no mention. There is one major exception to this, however. Livia Drusilla Learn more about the most powerful woman in Roman history, and determine if she was one of history's most shrewd Machiavellian characters, or if she was just misunderstood.

On this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. Before I get into the details of Livia Drusilla's life, I should address the bigger topic of women in ancient Roman society. society. Egypt had several female rulers. England had many significant female rulers. China had a female

emperor by the name of Wu Zitan, which I'll probably have to do a future episode on. Rome, however, had no female emperors before the collapse of the Western Empire. Some women ruled over the Eastern Byzantine Empire, but there were no women who came even close to power in the West. Why was that the case? You've probably heard of the term patriarchy. However, ancient Rome, quite literally had a patriarchy. The term patriarchy comes from the Latin word pater, which means father. In Rome, the head of a household was known as the paterfamilius, and had the literal power of life and death over everyone in his family. In Latin, this is known as patria potestis. The literal meaning of patriarchy means the rule of the father, which was the case in Rome. Women in Rome were

not expected to take part in public life. They couldn't attend political assemblies or vote, and certainly they couldn't be members of the Senate. Their marriages were often arranged by their fathers, and they could have been married off as young as the age of 12, although being married off at that age wasn't that common. The domain of women was expected to be in the home, raising children and making clothing. However, this was more of an ideal than a reality. For very poor families, women would often have to work. For very rich families, women would often be involved in the political machinations of their husbands or sons. Within the confines given to them by Roman society, women in the right families could potentially exercise an enormous amount of influence

from behind the scenes. Enter Livia Drusilla. Livia's father was Marcus Liviaus Drus Claudianus. And the name Livia Drus is the feminized version of her father's name, Liviaus, which was the Roman naming convention at the time for women. She was born in the year 59 BC. The important thing to note here is that Livia was a member of the Claudii clan. The Claudiae were one of the oldest and most esteemed families in Rome, and until the rise of Julius Caesar, were probably higher in status than the Giuliai. She was married to a distant cousin by the name of Tiberius Claudius Nero, who was also a member of the Claudiii. Sadly, her family picked the wrong side in the various Roman civil wars. Her father sided with Julius Caesar's assassins and was killed at the Battle of Philippi. Later, Livia and her

husband joined the side of Mark Anthony, who was fighting Julius Caesar's great-nephew and posthumously adopted son, Octavian. Livia and her husband had a son named Tiberius and had to flee to Greece for a while before a peace treaty was signed, and they could return to Rome. When she returned to Rome in 39 BC, at the age of 20, she met Octavian. At the time they met, Livia was pregnant with her second child, who would later be named Drusus, and Octavian was married to a woman named Scribonia, who was also pregnant. Now, according to legend, Octavia immediately fell in love with Livia. He divorced Scribonia on the day she gave birth to his daughter, Julia,

and then pressured Tiberius Claudius Nero to divorce Livia. Three days after she gave birth to Drusus, Octavian and Livia were married, with Tiberius Claudius Nero, giving away the bride, his ex-wife, as if he were the father. It isn't known how true the story is about Octavian falling in love with Livia. Roman marriages weren't about love, but then again, Octavian was the most powerful man in the city of Rome at that time, and could pretty much do whatever he wanted.

Obviously, he found Livia a far better match for what he wanted to do than Scribonia. Livia was smart. She could grasp the complex web of politics, which was Rome, and advise Octavian. She proved herself to be fertile, which was also important in a Roman marriage. However, that being said, she became pregnant only once with Octavian and miscarried. Despite being married for 51 years, they never had a child together. Probably the most important thing to Octavian was that Livia was a claudii. Not only were they held in high esteem, but her husband and father had fought against him,

and this was a great way to turn an enemy into an ally. Octavian eventually defeated Mark Anthony, becoming the world's most powerful and richest man, and he was given the name Augustus by the Senate. Augustus and Livia would be called in modern parlance a power couple. In addition to actually ruling the empire, Augustus and Livia had to perform as the perfect Roman husband and wife. Augustus had preached a platform of traditional Roman values he wanted everyone to get behind, so he and Libya had to play the part of Rome's first family embodying Roman virtue. Behind the scenes, however, their family was anything but. This is a family-friendly

podcast, but let's just say what Augustus did in private, didn't match what he said in public. In 35 BC, Augustus gave Livya the legal right to mend her own money, which most women weren't allowed to do in Rome. She ran and managed her own financial empire, which included copper mines in Gaul, papyrus manufacturing in Egypt, and palm groves in Judea. Like many powerful Roman men, she had her own system of clients and patronage, where she sponsored and funded men who were running for elected office. So far, other than being married to the most powerful man in the world, and having certain legal rights other women didn't have, what I've described doesn't necessarily make her the most powerful woman in Roman history. Where things really started to become a soap opera

was when the issue of who would become Augustus's successor came up. Remember, Augustus and Livia each had children, but they didn't have any children together. Augusta had a daughter, Julia, and Livia had two sons, Tiberius and Drusus. Augustus planned to have one of his male heirs from the Giuliai clan take over after him. In 23 BC, Augustus fell ill, and everyone thought he was going to die. He gave his signet ring to his best friend and number two man, Marcus Agrippa, who was the subject of a previous episode. Augustus, however, did not die, and after he got better, he shifted his attention to his nephew and son-in-law, Marcellus.

And, yeah, his nephew married his daughter. Their family tree is really messed up. Marcellus had no experience in politics or the military. Later that same year, after Augustus recovered, Marcellus had a mysterious fever and died at the age of 19. Julia got remarried to Agrippa, and they had three sons, three grandsons of Augustus, who were all candidates to succeed him. The oldest of the three was named Gaius. Gaius was raised to be a leader. He went into the army and became a general at a young age. He received what was considered a minor wound trying to subdue the kingdom of Armenia.

However, he died from this seemingly minor wound within a year at the age of 23. Next up was his brother Lucius. He died of a sudden illness that struck him while traveling through Gaul in the way to Hispania. He died at the age of 18. The final grandson was Agrippa Posthumus, who was named as such when he was born after the death of his father. Agrippa. Agrippa posthumus was actually adopted by Augustus, but was later banished from Rome because of his wild nature, and he was murdered soon after Augustus died. Livia's youngest son, Drusus was an accomplished general, and served in Germany. He fell from his horse, fell ill,

and died from his wounds at the age of 29. Basically, there were a whole lot of suspicious deaths of young, healthy men who were all in line for the throne and who all died of either fevers or complications from minor illnesses. So, who benefited from all of these deaths? Livia's eldest son, Tiberius. Who did the only daughter of Augustus Mary after her husband Agrippa died? Tiberius.

The Roman historian Tacitus basically points a finger at Livia and says she was responsible, at least partially, for these deaths. This has resulted in two very different pictures of Livia, which have developed over the years. The first paints Livia as a Machia Puppetmaster who was pulling the strings behind the scenes, angling to make her son emperor. One by one, she killed off all the rival claimants to the imperial throne by poison.

I actually saw a great meme online once that says, Livia kills everyone, and it had her statue in places like the Grassy Knoll and Ford's Theater. But that pretty much sums it up. Livia kills everyone. The other version of the story paints Livia as a woman who is maligned by historians who are looking for a scapegoat. The wives of emperors have often been painted as very. villains, and Livia was just the first to get such treatment. She was blamed for a series of

unfortunate events over which she had no control. The problem is, both of these arguments have a valid point. Were women maligned by early Roman historians? Yeah, that very easily could have happened to Livia. On the other hand, because women were shut out of Roman public life, the only option they had was to exercise power through their husbands and sons. The only way Livia could remain relevant was if her son was to succeed Augustus's emperor. So, she made that happen. Once Tiberius was the heir apparent, Augustus himself was the only thing standing in the way. Legend has it that when Augustus was close to death, he was so paranoid of being poisoned

that he would only eat figs he picked from the tree himself. So, Livya put poison on all the figs in the garden. Again, two thousand years after the fact there is no proof of this, and it could just be a malicious rumor. Or maybe she actually just poisoned the figs. When Augustus died in the year 19, he left two-thirds of his estate to Tiberius and one-third to Livia. He posthumously granted Livia the title of Augusta and adopted her into the Giuliai clan. Her new name until her death was Julia Augusta.

With her son now emperor, Julia Augusta received even more honors and wielded even more unofficial power. Whereas she was a confidant and an advisor to Augustus, she now appeared to be domineering over her son. Tiberius began to resent and despise his mother. The constant rumors that she was the one who put him in power weakened him. He began by doing small things such as vetoing a Senate resolution that named her Matur Patriai, or mother of the country. The title, Potterpatrii had been given earlier to Augustus. Tiberius eventually became so fed up with his mother that he left Rome entirely

and moved to the island of Capri. If you remember back to my episode on the worst Roman emperors, it was this move that changed Tiberius from being one of the better emperors to being one of the worst. When Livia became sick, Tiberius refused to come to Rome. Finally, in the year 29, 10 years after the death of Augustus, Livia Drusilla, aka Julia Augusta, passed away at the age of 87. Tiberius did not come to Rome to attend the funeral. After the death of Augustus, the Senate deified him and declared him to be a god.

Deification was Livia's last wish. However, her son refused to sanction it. His successor, Caligula, her grandson, also refused to deify her. It wasn't until her grandson Claudius became emperor that he made it happen. Livia Drusilla had a lasting legacy. After her deification, all Roman women would have to swear their oaths to her name. All empresses who came after were ultimately compared to her. She was the first woman ever to appear on a Roman coin.

The first Roman imperial dynasty is called the Julio-Claudian dynasty. The Claudian part all came from Lerner. Livia. All of the emperors in that line were descended from her, not necessarily Augustus. Both of her historical interpretations have appeared on television. The Machiavellian version is portrayed masterfully by Sean Phillips in the 1976 BBC miniseries, I. Claudius. And if you haven't seen I Claudius, then you must do so. The other version of her appeared in the 2021 TV series called Domina, where Livia is the central character. In this version, Livia is more heroic and not as scheming. The show has been renewed for a second season, which should be out in 2023.

Regardless of what side you happen to support in the Livia debate, the one thing you cannot deny is that she was unquestionably the most influential and significant woman in the history of the Roman Empire. Everything Everywhere Daily is an airwave media podcast. The executive producer is Darcy Adams. The associate producers are Thor Thompson and Peter Bennett. Today's review comes from listener Gas Guy 1979 over at Apple Podcasts in Canada. They write, The Best Podcast. This is the best podcast.

If you haven't listened to it yet, you are missing out. It's the perfect blend of interesting topics mixed with the perfect duration and dictation. Gary never fails to surprise me with super informative topics that I never would have thought to look into. This pod has started so many Google Search rabbit holes after I've listened. It's truly the best. Thanks, Gary.

Well, thanks, Gas Guy. Oh, actually, I'm sorry about that. You're from Canada, so I should pronounce it correctly. Gas Ghee. Creating the perfect blend of topics isn't easy. It comes from an ancient recipe I found in the back of a clay tablet. Take one heap of history, mix in a dash of science, and a pinch of mathematics. And it's best shaken, not stirred.

Remember, if you leave a review or send me a boostogram, you two can have it read on the show.