Editing Livia (section)

==Wife to Augustus==
{{multiple image|align=left
|image1=Augusto capite velato 04 - Museo archeologico nazionale delle Marche.jpg
|caption1=Bust of Augustus, [[National Archaeological Museum of the Marche Region]]
|image2=Portrait of Livia, the wife of the emperor Octavian August.jpg
|caption2=Bust of Livia, [[Hermitage Museum]]
}}

After peace was established between the Triumvirate and the followers of Sextus Pompeius, a general amnesty was announced, and Livia returned to Rome, where she was personally introduced to Octavian in 39 BC. At this time, Livia already had a son, the future emperor [[Tiberius]], and was pregnant with the second, [[Nero Claudius Drusus]] (also known as Drusus the Elder). Legend said that Octavian fell immediately in love with her, despite the fact that he was still married to [[Scribonia (wife of Octavian)|Scribonia]].<ref name = Hurley>Hurley, D. (1999). [http://www.roman-emperors.org/livia.htm "Livia (Wife of Augustus)]." Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors.</ref> Octavian divorced Scribonia on 30 October 39 BC, the very day Scribonia gave birth to his only biological child, daughter [[Julia the Elder]].<ref>Cassius Dio [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/home.html Roman History]. 48.34.3. (Vol. VI, Loeb Classical Library edition, 1917. Harvard University Press. Translation by Earnest Cary)</ref> 

Seemingly around that time, when Livia was six months pregnant with her second child, Tiberius Claudius Nero was persuaded or forced by Octavian to divorce Livia. She gave birth on 14 January; three days later Octavian married Livia after waiving the traditional waiting period. On the day of his wedding to Livia, Octavian received a supposed omen of an eagle dropping a white hen with a laurel branch in its mouth into Livia's lap. This omen was interpreted as being an indication toward Livia's fertility, as she had given birth to two sons in her short two years of marriage to Nero.<ref name="Flory, Marleen B. 1993, pp. 287">Flory, Marleen B. “Livia and the History of Public Honorific Statues for Women in Rome.” ''Transactions of the American Philological Association'', vol. 123, [Johns Hopkins University Press, American Philological Association], 1993, pp. 287–308, {{doi|10.2307/284333}}.</ref>  This was ironic because her first pregnancy by Augustus ended in a stillbirth, and she was unable to ever conceive another child.<ref name="Flory, Marleen B. 1993, pp. 287"/> Tiberius Claudius Nero was present at the wedding, giving her in marriage "just as a father would."<ref>Cassius Dio 48.44.1–3</ref> The importance of the patrician Claudii to Octavian's cause, and the political survival of the Claudii Nerones are probably more rational explanations for the tempestuous union. Nevertheless, Livia and Augustus remained married for the next 51 years, despite the fact that they had no children apart from the single stillbirth. She always enjoyed the status of privileged counselor to her husband, petitioning him on the behalf of others and influencing his policies, an unusual role for a Roman wife in a culture dominated by the [[pater familias]].<ref name = Hurley/>
[[File:Livia Drusilla Louvre Ma1233.jpg|thumb|Sculpture of Livia in Egyptian [[basanite]], c. 31 BC, [[Louvre]], Paris]]

After Mark Antony's suicide following the [[Battle of Actium]] in 31 BC, Octavian returned to Rome triumphant; on 16 January 27 BC, the Senate bestowed upon him the honorary title of ''Augustus'' ("honorable" or "revered one"). Augustus rejected monarchical titles, instead choosing to refer to himself as ''Princeps Civitatis'' ("First Citizen of the State") or ''Princeps Senatus'' ("First among the Senate"). He and Livia formed the role model for Roman households. Despite their wealth and power, Augustus' family continued to live modestly in their house on the [[Palatine Hill]]. Livia would set the pattern for the noble Roman ''matrona''. She wore neither excessive jewelry nor pretentious costumes; she took care of the household and her husband (often making his clothes herself), always faithful and dedicated. In 35 BC, Octavian gave Livia the unprecedented honor of ruling her own finances and dedicated a public statue to her. She owned and effectively administered copper mines in Gaul, estates of [[Judean date palm|palm groves]] in [[Herodian kingdom|Judea]], and dozens of [[papyrus]] marshes in [[Roman Egypt|Egypt]]. She had her own circle of clients and pushed many protégés into political offices, including the grandfathers of the later emperors [[Galba]] and [[Otho]].<ref name = Hurley/>

With Augustus being the father of only one daughter (Julia by Scribonia), Livia revealed herself to be an ambitious mother and soon started to push her own sons, Tiberius and Drusus, into power.<ref name = Hurley/> Drusus was a trusted general and married Augustus' favorite niece, [[Antonia Minor]], having three children: the popular general [[Germanicus]], [[Livilla]], and the future emperor [[Claudius]]. Drusus was killed in a riding accident only a few years later, dying in 9 BC.<ref name="Flory, Marleen B. 1993, pp. 287"/> This was also the same year in which Livia was honored by the dedication of the [[Ara Pacis|Ara Pacis Augustae]] as a birthday present.<ref name="Flory, Marleen B. 1993, pp. 287"/> Tiberius married Augustus' daughter Julia in 11 BC and was ultimately adopted as Augustus' heir in AD 4.

Rumor had it that Livia was behind the death of Augustus' nephew [[Marcellus (nephew of Augustus)|Marcellus]] in 23 BC.<ref>Cassius Dio 53.33.4</ref> After Julia's two elder sons by [[Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa]], whom Augustus had adopted as sons and successors, had died, the one remaining son, [[Agrippa Postumus]], was adopted at the same time as Tiberius, but later Agrippa Postumus was sent into exile and finally killed. [[Tacitus]] charges that Livia was not altogether innocent of these deaths<ref>Tacitus [http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/tac/index.htm ''Annals.''] 1.3; 1.6. (The Works of Tacitus tr. by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb 1864–1877),</ref> and [[Cassius Dio]] also mentions such rumours.<ref>Cassius Dio 53.33.4, 55.10A, 55.32; 57.3.6</ref> There are also rumors mentioned by Tacitus and Cassius Dio that Livia brought about Augustus' death by poisoning fresh figs, although modern historians view this as unlikely.<ref>Tacitus ''Annals'' 1.5</ref><ref>Cassius Dio 55.22.2; 56.30</ref> Augustus' granddaughter was [[Julia the Younger]]. Sometime between AD 1 and 14, her husband [[Lucius Aemilius Paullus (consul 1)|Lucius Aemilius Paullus]] was executed as a conspirator in a revolt.<ref>Suetonius, ''The Lives of Caesars'', Life of Augustus 19</ref> Modern historians theorize that Julia's exile was not actually for adultery but for involvement in Paullus' revolt.<ref>Norwood, Frances, "The Riddle of Ovid's Relegatio" ''Classical Philology'' (1963) p. 154</ref>  Tacitus alleged that Livia had plotted against her stepdaughter's family and ruined them. Julia died in AD 29 on the island to which she had been sent in exile twenty years earlier.<ref>Tacitus, ''Ann.'' IV, 71</ref>